e.g. draughts and dramatic games.  One form of play which seemed to him most important was constructive play, where there is expression of ideas as well as expression of power.  This side of play covers a great deal, and will be dealt with later; its importance in Froebel’s eyes lies in the fact that through construction, however simple, the child gains knowledge of his own power and learns “to master himself.”  Froebel wanted particularly to deepen this feeling of power, and says that the little one who has already made some experiments takes pleasure in the use of sand and clay, “impelled by the previously acquired sense of power he seeks to master the material.”

In order to gain real knowledge of himself, of his power, a child needs to compare his power with that of others.  This is one reason for the child’s ready imitation of all he sees done by others.  Another reason for this is that only through real experience or action can a child gain the ideas which he will express later, therefore he must reproduce all he sees or hears.

“In the family the child sees parents and others at work, producing, doing something; consequently he, at this stage, would like to represent what he sees.  Be cautious, parents.  You can at one blow destroy, at least for a long time, the impulse to activity and to formation if you repel their help as childish, useless or even as a hindrance....  Strengthen and develop this instinct; give to your child the highest he now needs, let him add his power to your work, that he may gain the consciousness of his power and also learn to appreciate its limitations.”

As the child’s sense of power and his self-consciousness deepen he requires possessions of his “very own.”  Says Froebel:  “The feeling of his own power implies and demands also the possession of his own space and his own material belonging exclusively to him.  Be his realm, his province, a corner of the house or courtyard, be it the space of a box or of a closet, be it a grotto, a hut or a garden, the boy at this age needs an external point, chosen and prepared by himself, to which he refers all his activity.”

As ideas widen the child’s purposes enlarge, and he finds the need for that co-operation which binds human beings together.  And so by play enjoyed in common, the feeling of community which is present in the little child is raised to recognition of the rights of others; not only is a sense of justice developed, but also forbearance, consideration and sympathy.

“When the room to be filled is extensive, when the realm to be controlled is large, when the whole to be produced is complex, then brotherly union of similar-minded persons is in place.”  And we are invited to enter an “education room,” where boys of seven to ten are using building blocks, sand, sawdust and green moss brought in from the forest.  “Each one has finished his work and he examines it and that of others, and in each rises the desire