It would be well to explain that solid objects occupy less room than lighter substances—that a pound of feathers, e.g., would take up a large space, while a pound of lead would go into a very small compass.
Guessing Game.—When the object to be weighed has been chosen, a number of children are allowed to come out and hold it in turn, and say what they think is its weight. As the object is handed to the first child, the teacher says:
Can you tell the weight of this?
Mind you do not guess amiss.
Each child takes the object in its hand and guesses. The article is then weighed, and the child who has guessed most nearly its correct weight is allowed to choose the next object for weighing, and to call out the children who are to guess. He hands it to the first child, repeating the words of the rhyme.
5. MEASURING GAME
Before playing this game, the children should be well accustomed to the use of the foot-rule, marked with inches (cost, &c.[1]). Each child should have a foot-rule and measure its book, pencil, desk, &c.; it should also be taught to draw lines of different lengths with the rule on its slate; thus, teacher might say, 'Draw a standing-up (vertical) line six inches long,' or, 'Draw a lying-down (horizontal) line four inches long,' and so on. The children will thus get accustomed to estimating the length and breadth of objects, and will be able to play the game.
Suppose the slate to be the object chosen, the teacher holds it up so that all may see it, and then repeats the lines:
Think it over carefully,
And tell me what the length may be
Of this slate.
The children who are ready to answer then put their hands out, and the one who guesses correctly (or most nearly correctly) has the privilege of asking the next question, and stands in front of the class in readiness. Before proceeding, however, the first object should be measured, so that all may see that the answer was correct.
Perhaps the pencil may be the next object chosen, or a window-pane, ball-frame, desk, duster, book, &c., and instead of length, we may have breadth. The words would then be: