Building blocks are truly, as Froebel puts it, “the finest and most variable material that can be offered a boy for purposes of representation.”  The little boxes associated with the Kindergarten were originally planned for the use of nursery children two to three years of age, and in most if not in all Kindergartens these have been replaced by larger bricks.  It is many years now since, at Miss Payne’s suggestion, we bought some hundreds of road paving blocks, and these are such a source of pleasure that the children often dream about them.  Living out the life around presents much opportunity for making, which may be done with blocks, but which even in the Kindergarten can be done with tools.  Care must be exercised, but children have quite a strong instinct for self-preservation, and if shown how real workmen handle their tools, they are often more careful than at a much later stage.  To make a workable railway signal is more interesting and much more educative than to use one that came from a shop.  The teacher may make illuminating discoveries in the process, as when one set of children desired to make a counter for a shop, and arranged their piece of wood vertically so that the counter had no top.  It was found that to these very little people the most important part was the high front against which they were accustomed to stand, not the flat top which they seldom saw.  Another set of children made a cart on which the farmer was to carry his corn, and exemplified Dewey’s “concrete logic of action.”  At first they only wanted a board on wheels, but the corn fell off, so they nailed on sides, but the cart never had either back or front and resembled some seen in Early English pictures.

Any kind of cooking that can be done is a most important kind of making; even the very little ones can help, and they thoroughly enjoy watching.  “Her hands were in the dough from three years old,” said a north-country mother, “so I taught her how to bake, and now (at seven) she can bake as well as I can.”

Children delight in carrying out the processes involved in the making of flour, and they can easily thrash a little wheat, then winnow, grind between stones and sift it.  Their best efforts produce but a tiny quantity of flour, but the experience is real, interest is great, and a new significance attaches to the shop flour from which bread is ultimately produced.

Butter and cheese can easily be made, also jam, and even a Christmas pudding.  In very early Kindergartens we read of the growing, digging and cooking of potatoes, and of the extraction of starch to be used as paste.

Special anniversaries require special making.  We possess a doll of 1794 to whom her old mother bequeathed her birthday.  The doll’s birthday is a great event, and on the previous day each class in turn bakes tiny loaves, or cakes or pastry for the party.

Christmas creates a need for decorations, Christmas cards and presents, and Empire Day and Trafalgar Day for flags, while in many places there is an annual sale on behalf of a charity.