Copyright, 1914, by
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE
Editor’s Introduction
This pamphlet is practically a sequel of The Dramatic Instinct in Children, one of the units in the American Home Series. The two should be studied together.
Children are naturally dramatic in giving expression to their ideas and convictions. But they need guidance in order that this inborn capacity for forcefulness, vividness, or charm may be realized. Supervised practice in controlling the imagination is no less important than is that of controlling impulses. To play a part in a little homemade drama or pageant helps the child to find his place and to do his part in the world’s work—and play. This pamphlet seeks to answer the question: How? as its companion undertakes to show what this disposition is.
The dramatic method in teaching has already found its way into the best schools. It will have an increasingly large place in the best homes.
It should be carefully noted that this brief study is not concerned primarily with amateur dramatics or theatricals. The author is not trying to tell parents how to train their children to become professional actors. He desires, rather, to point out how parents can help their children develop the latent powers of expression.