Educational Toys: Consisting Chiefly of Coping-Saw Problems for Children in School and the Home

The purpose in sending out this collection of toys is to promote among children a love for educational occupation. This book is intended to be of real service to parents and teachers who are intrusted with the arduous responsibility of child-training. It is with this object in view that the directions, drawings and photographs have been prepared.

The experience of almost twenty years as a teacher has convinced the author that only when the child approaches subject-matter with interest and enthusiasm can the best results be obtained. Giving a child an opportunity to make things, arouses his interest; therefore, learning by doing is a most effective method in gaining educational ends.

Toy-making incorporates this method, with several vital elements added. It takes into account the child's view-point, his proclivities and his emotions. It is a form of activity that appeals strongly to his fancy, has a direct relation to his environments, and is within the range of his mental grasp and constructive ability. His wonderful imagination endows the creatures of his handiwork with life, individuality and cunning. The toy problem is in harmony with the child's resourcefulness, his powers and his interests.

The problems contained in this book have been selected from those worked out in the Normal Model School.