Page:Preparation of the Child for Science.djvu/61

Rh ask the carpenter how he begins; and that is a useful lesson in modesty. And he can get so delightfully dirty without any real soil or filth. But, if not in the carpenter's shop, then elsewhere, provide somewhere, somehow, opportunities for children to go wrong and make mistakes, under the protection of some one who will not interfere with them till they ask for guidance, unless serious mischief is threatening.

As preparation for hydrostatics, let the child dabble in water, with hands and feet, in warm water and cold, in salt water and fresh, as much as is safe from the health point of view. Let the baby have things to float in his bath, sticks, shells, toys of wood and china. Let him turn the water-tap on and hold his hands under it and experiment on making splashes of many shapes and kinds. I do not mean that you should tolerate such disorderly mischief as turning taps on the sly and flooding the house; that is bad training for the child as well as inconvenient for the household. But when you are by to see that no harm is done, let the child turn the water-tap when he wishes; not once in order that you may show him something that you can see happen, but habitually. Let him play with falling water. What is wanted is to get his finger tips, so to speak, quivering in response to the tremor of water at various