Page:Preparation of the Child for Science.djvu/63

Rh trusted to handle a glass rod without cutting himself, let him have one and an old silk handkerchief. Do not attempt to explain why the comb must be rubbed with wool and the rod with silk; but let him find out that so it is. I have seen a charming set of toys made (from receipts published by Tyndal, for poor boys) out of paper and pith, wire and scraps of sheet tin, some sealing-wax and a few needles, with which two children, aged three and a half and five, played the whole afternoon. The habit of using them seemed to have evoked in the small mites a deftness of touch on apparatus, and a sort of personal acquaintance with what scientific people call the 'behaviour' of electric force, its manners and customs under a variety of conditions, quite different from any knowledge that would be imparted by any kind of teaching.

Of course the child has a magnet; but he too often uses it only for attracting the regulation ducks and fish; he should be provided with a box of iron filings and some small nails. A second magnet increases the range of free experimentation.

Most children delight in machinery which moves with a slow, steady, rocking motion. Let them waste as much time as they like in watching it. A hayband twister such as is