Study of Child Life — Marion Foster Washburne

By the time he is four or five weeks old it is safe to play with him a little every day and Froebel has made his Play with the Limbs one of his first educational exercises In this play the mother lays the baby undressed upon a pillow and catches the little ankles in her hands Sometimes she prevents the baby from kicking so that he has to struggle to get his legs free sometimes she helps him so that he kicks more freely and regularly sometimes she lets him push hard against her breast All the time she laughs and sings to him and Froebel has made a little song for this purposes Since consciousness is roused and deepened by sensations remembered experienced and compared it is evident that this is more than a fanciful play that it is what Froebel claimed for it a real educational exercise By means of it the child may gain some consciousness of companionship and thus by contrast a deeper self consciousness Tanıtım Bülteninden