[Sidenote: Gardens]

In still another way the earth may be utilized, for children may
make gardens of it. Indeed, there are those who say that no child's
education is complete until he has had a garden of his own and grown
in it all sorts of seeds from pansies to potatoes. But a garden is
too much for a young child to care for all alone. He needs the help,
advice, and companionship of some older person. You must be careful,
however, to give help only when it is really desired; and careful also
not to let him feel that the garden is a task to which he is driven
daily, but a joy that draws him.

[Sidenote: Kites Windmills Soap-bubbles]

(2) _The Air_. The next important plaything is the air. The kite and
the balloon are only two instruments to help the child play with it.
Little windmills made of colored paper and stuck by means of a pin
at the end of a whittled stick, make satisfactory toys. One of their
great advantages is that even a very young child can make them for
himself. Blowing soap-bubbles is another means of playing with air.
By giving the children woolen mittens the bubbles may be caught and
tossed about as well as blown.

(3) _Water_. Perhaps the very first thing he learns to play with is
water. Almost before he knows the use of his hands and legs he plays
with water in his bath, and sucks his sponge with joy, thus feeling
the water with his chief organs of touch, his mouth and tongue. A few
months later he will be glad to pour water out of a tin cup. Even
when he is two or three years old, be may be amused by the hour,