HOW MANY?
This is really a game of guess. Shake a small bag full of beans before the children, and ask each to guess how many beans are inside.
It will be amusing to watch the eagerness which all will show, and how far apart the guesses will be.
Whoever comes nearest to the correct number should be presented with the bag of beans. And this gift will immediately afford healthful and jolly entertainment, because the bean-bag should be tossed and caught by one and another until the rosy-cheeked and out-of-breath children call a halt.
ALPHABETICAL PLAY.
Cut out a square of cardboard, six inches wide by six inches long. Put an eyelet in each of the two upper corners and run tape or ribbon through. Cut it of sufficient length to go over a child’s head. The children should wear the cardboard as if it was a breastplate.
You should have twenty-six children, and you will therefore require twenty-six pieces of cardboard. In the centre of each piece, paint a letter of the alphabet. Should you have fewer children, paint two or more letters on each cardboard, for you must use the entire alphabet.
The children should first march up and down in alphabetical order, keeping time to music. They may then join hands in couples and skip or waltz or whatever pleasing movements may be suggested.
After these exercises call for words, being careful which words you will require if you have doubled or trebled the letters. As each word is called, the child wearing the first letter steps forward, then the one wearing the second letter comes and stands by her side, and so on, until the word is spelled.