Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/144

134 The snow houses, caves and tunnels were more or less elaborate; 1 06 descriptions of houses were given and 84 of caves and tunnels. The houses were built by piling up snow and packing it down, digging out the centre of snowdrifts, or by rolling large balls and piling them up. A few quotations follow: M., 10. "Built snow house and put cat in it and closed door for ten minutes." M., 8. "Built snow house which held 5 boys." 4 M's. "Built house by first piling up snow then dug passage through it and then dug out inside; poured water over it to freeze it." M., 4; F., 8. "Built house by digging in deep snow bank, then filled entrance except door, then took carpet, stool and table in and ate inside." M., 9. "Built snow house against fence, could crawl in at one door and out at other; this was pleasant." F. "Built house by digging out room and putting chairs inside, had party inside; did not mind cold for we bundled up." M., 5 and F., 9. "Built snow up 4 feet high, patted it down with shovel dug out inside, sat in it with candle and ate like Eskimos." One thing that interested the children much was to make long tunnels into a snowbank and then dig out a large space in the interior of the bank and crawl back and forth. The opening into the interior must be small so as to be just large enough to crawl in and out. This gave special satisfaction as was also noticed with the cave houses.

One hundred and twenty children liked to roll large balls. A variety of reasons was given for this; some wanted to see how large they could make them, to see how long it would take them to melt, to see who could make the biggest, to roll them down hill, or just because they liked to make them.

It may seem strange to speak of snow as a factor in education and yet the opportunities here are simply unlimited in the northern states where there is a liberal supply. For purposes of construction and moulding there is no better material and it is evident that children enjoy this. If instead of prohibiting the play in snow, as is now so frequently done, children were encouraged to play with it and to construct objects, roll balls, mould figures and have snowball contests, it could be made a valuable help in education.

What part do strings play in the early life of children? What string games and plays interest them? Perhaps few persons fully appreciate the large and varied use which children make of them. Of the five hundred children reported upon, not one was there who did not have some interest in strings. The infant of two or three soon learns to tie chairs together, to pull objects attached to strings, or to play horse with strings for lines and harness. At this age the string is