"The tendency toward the American disease neuritis is increased by the excitement of confusing noise and motion. Let the child, dressed in a bathing suit, dig and wade, build forts and hollow out tunnels, make molds with pails and pattypans, bury himself in the sand and wriggle out, sprinkle "sugar" through a funnel made of heavy paper or through a tin sieve, or run a sand mill. One toy should be used at a time and its possibilities almost exhausted before another one is supplied.
All the excursions, whether to country or seashore, should aim to promote the child's love of nature and to arouse a desire for understanding it rather than just collecting facts about it. Information can
be imparted when the child's curiosity is aroused or when he needs it to help him in his play; the "how" and "why" of facts that he can discover for himself should never be supplied, but every opportunity should be given him to find answers to his own questions.
A child of four or five may have a definite object for his walk—to watch the blacksmith or to look at the fire engine. His walks should make him acquainted with his neighborhood; if in the city, he should know its buildings, its streets, and the shops in the vicinity; if in the country, he should know the kind of trees and crops near the house as well as the design of fence and gate. By the time he is six he should be able to find his way home from any point within a radius of at least half a mile. He should gain some idea of the points of the compass. This is the real beginning of the study of geography."
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