The child should be taught to determine the degree of smoothness, size, shape, quality (of cloth), and many other things of value by touch. You can give an experienced dry goods clerk a piece of cloth and he can tell without looking at it what kind it is, and about what grade. This is entirely a matter of development upon the part of the clerk. When he began this work he could not tell muslin from long-cloth.
Parents will get a good idea of what is going on in the child's mind, and the training he is receiving by watching the little fingers work in all these exercises for the development of the sense of touch. Try the exercises yourself and see what is required to do them accurately. In this way you will be better able to help the child. Washing the hands in tepid water before the exercises of touch will increase the sensitiveness of the fingers. Have the child touch lightly with the pads at the ends of the fingers. Increase the difficulty of the exercises as he progresses.
Exercise—Blindfold the child and hand him articles which are somewhat familiar and have him tell, by feeling, what they are. Have him describe them. If a knife, what kind of a knife it is. If a box, what kind of a box it is—about how long? how wide? how high? If you ask the child to give these estimates in inches after removing the blindfold have him make the actual measurements. Have the child describe the article, giving all the details possible, and find any peculiarities or irregularities by feeling.
Exercise—Give the child an article with which he is not familiar and have him describe it. See how much he can learn by touch alone. Then let him see if he can learn any more by sound, by knocking the article against something to determine what it is made of, whether solid or hollow, etc.
Exercise—Give the child, while blindfolded, a book which he has recently read and see if he can identify it by the size, shape, thickness, and quality of paper.
The Game of the Button Bag
From your button bag select a number of different buttons, two of each kind. Let the child sort out the pairs and thus become somewhat familiar with the sizes and shapes. Then mix the buttons, blindfold the child, and let him match the pairs entirely by feeling. Have him lay them out in pairs as he matches them. Then take off the blindfold and let him see them just as he has matched them, and count for himself how many are right and how many wrong.
Game of Matching Cards
Take a piece of cardboard and cut it into many shapes, as suggested by the illustration below. Make two pieces of each figure exactly alike. Let the child match them and see that there are two of each kind. Then mix them, blindfold him and have him pick out the pairs by feeling. There should be at least 12 sets—more if desired.
Animal Cookies
A similar game to the one above can be played with a box of animal cookies. Pour the cookies out on a large plate. Blindfold the children and let them select pairs of animals or as many of a kind as possible. Let them name the animals by feeling.
Game of Insets
The expensive Insets used by the Montessori School can be satisfactorily made out of heavy cardboard and accomplish the desired result. Take a piece of cardboard of good thickness and draw on it some of the figures illustrated above. After they are cut out with a sharp knife, smooth the edges so that they will fit easily into the places from which they came. The cardboard from which they are cut may be fastened to another or tacked to a thin board. The game is to blindfold the child, give him the cutouts and by the sense of touch let him find the proper hole and fit the piece into it. As the pieces are fitted into their places they may be left there until the board is filled. This exercise is a little more difficult than most of the others. Encourage the child to keep at it.
The Game of the Rag Bag
Cut a number of pieces of different kinds of cloth. Show them to the child and have him feel of them and become acquainted with the pieces so as to know them by name. Blindfold him and give him one of the pieces of cloth and have him tell by feeling what kind it is. Put all the pieces in the rag bag (any large bag will do). Blindfold the child again and let him pick out the kind of cloth you name. See how many he can get correctly. Have him choose velvet, silk, satin, calico, muslin, broadcloth, etc., using all the common varieties of cloth. Children need not be blindfolded if the bag is held so they cannot see. Blindfolding increases the curiosity and thus the interest in the games.
The Game of Dry Goods Clerk
Cut from the scraps in your rag bag two pieces each of all the different kinds of cloth that can be found there. Make the pieces about two by four inches and have them all of one size and shape. Let the child examine them and match them in pairs. Have him feel of them and see that they all feel different. Do not have more than two pieces of any one kind of cloth. Pay no attention to color. Now mix the pieces in a pile on the table, blindfold the child and seat him in front of them. Have him match the pieces by feeling and lay each aside. When finished, have the child look at the pairs as matched, counting for himself the points won.
The Game of—Who Is It?
Blindfold two or three children. Silently select one of the others to be identified by the blindfolded children by means of touch. Let the blindfolded ones feel of the child—his hair, face, clothes and shoes. In this way see which one will first be able to name him. To win this game depends a great deal on the child's observation of what the other children are wearing. The game of Blind Man's Buff is similar and good, but usually has a good deal of sound to assist the one guessing.
The Game of—Weighing
Get a pair of scales and let the child weigh anything he wishes. Let him learn to accurately judge a pound, then to estimate the weight of an article before placing it upon the scales. Teach the child comparative weights by lifting articles and determining which is the heavier. Encourage him to make a pair of balances with which he can balance one object against the other after he has compared them by holding one in each hand. Many variations can be easily made of these ideas, to help the child to become accurate in estimating weights. All practice will be more interesting if there is a record made, and the spirit of competition is introduced.
Measuring
Give the child a measure—quart or pint—and let him learn to estimate the capacity of the different utensils of the kitchen. He should in this manner become able to judge accurately the contents of different containers. The child should learn to estimate in pecks, bushels, etc. This is good exercise and a valuable ability for later life.
Let the games given here suggest new ones to be used; any factor which will vary or add to the game is valuable. Keep always in mind the fact that the highest usefulness of the games is training the senses to be more accurate.