(2) Sympathy is much more likely to rise spontaneously in the mother's
breast for the child's troubles than for the child's joys. She will
stop to take him up and pet him when he is hurt, no matter how busy
she is, but she too often considers it waste of time to enter into his
plays with him; yet he needs sympathy in joy as much as in sorrow. Her
presence, her interest in what he is doing, doubles his delight in it
and doubles its value to him. Moreover, it offers her opportunity for
that touch and direction now and then, which may transform a rambling
play, without much sequence or meaning, into a consciously useful
performance, a dramatization, perhaps, of some of the child's
observations, or an investigation into the nature of things.

(3) Right Material. Even given freedom and sympathy, the child needs
something more in order to play well: he needs the right materials.
The best materials are those that are common to him and to the rest of
the world, far better than expensive toys that mark him apart from
the world of less fortunate children. Such toys are not in any way
desirable, and they may even be harmful. What he needs are various
simple arrangements of the four elements--earth, air, fire and water.

[Sidenote: Mud-pies]

(1) _Earth_. The child has a noted affinity for it, and he is
specially happy when he has plenty of it on hands, face, and clothes.
The love of mud-pies is universal; children of all nationalities and
of all degrees of civilization delight in it. No activity could be
more wholesome.

[Sidenote: Sand]