These three sets, the cubes, the prisms, and the rods, cause the child to move about and to handle and carry objects which are difficult for him to grasp with his little hand. Again, by their use, he repeats the training of the eye to the recognition of differences of size between similar objects. The exercise would seem easier, from the sensory point of view, than the other with the cylinders described above.
As a matter of fact, it is more difficult, as there is no control of the error in the material itself. It is the child’s eye alone which can furnish the control.
Hence the difference between the objects should strike the eye at once; for that reason larger 37 objects are used, and the necessary visual power presupposes a previous preparation (provided for in the exercise with the solid insets).
Fig. 13.––Board with Rough and Smooth Surfaces.
During the same period the child can be doing other exercises. Among the material is to be found a small rectangular board, the surface of which is divided into two parts––rough and smooth. (Fig. 13.) The child knows already how to wash his hands with cold water and soap; he then dries them and dips the tips of his fingers for a few seconds in tepid water. Graduated exercises for the thermic sense may also have their place here, as has been explained in my book on the “Method.”
After this, the child is taught to pass the soft cushioned tips of his fingers as lightly as possible over the two separate surfaces, that he may appreciate their difference. The delicate movement backwards and forwards of the suspended hand, as it is brought into light contact with the surface, is an excellent exercise in control. The little hand, which has just been cleansed and given its tepid bath, gains much in grace and beauty, and the whole exercise is the first step in the education 38 of the “tactile sense,” which holds such an important place in my method.
When initiating the child into the education of the sense of touch, the teacher must always take an active part the first time; not only must she show the child “how it is done,” her interference is a little more definite still, for she takes hold of his hand and guides it to touch the surfaces with the finger-tips in the lightest possible way. She will make no explanations; her words will be rather to encourage the child with his hand to perceive the different sensations.