Sympathy, (3) Right materials.

[Sidenote: Freedom]

(1) Freedom is the first essential, and here the child of poverty
often has the advantage of the child of wealth. There are few things
in the poverty-stricken home too good for him to play with; in
its narrow quarters, he becomes, perforce, a part of all domestic
activity. He learns the uses of household utensils, and his play
merges by imperceptible degrees into true, healthful work.

In the home of wealth, however, there is no such freedom, no such
richness of opportunity. The child of wealth has plenty of toys, but
few real things to play with. He is shut out of the common activity of
the family, and shut in to the imitation activity of his nursery. He
never gets his small hands on realities, but in his elegant clothes is
confined to the narrow conventional round that is falsely supposed to
be good for him.

Froebel insists upon the importance of the child's dress being
loose, serviceable, and inconspicuous, so that he may play as much
as possible without consciousness of the restrictions of dress.
The playing child should also have, as we have noticed in the first
section, the freedom of the outside world. This does not mean merely
that he should go out in his baby-buggy, or take a ride in the park,
but that he should be able to play out-of-doors, to creep on the
ground, to be a little open-air savage, and play with nature as he
finds it.

[Sidenote: Sympathy]