way of blocks than was generally
available in Mr. Wells' boyhood, the same is not true when it comes to
facilities for peopling and stocking the resulting farms and
communities that develop.

Mr. Wells tells us that for his floor games he used tin soldiers and
such animals as he could get--we know the kind, the lion smaller than
the lamb, and barnyard fowl doubtless overtopping the commanding
officer. Such combinations have been known to children of all
generations and play of the kind Mr. Wells describes goes on in spite
of the inconsistency of the materials supplied.

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

But when we consider fostering such play, and developing its
possibilities for educational ends, the question arises whether this
is the best provision that can be made, or if the traditional
material could be improved, just as the traditions concerning blocks
are being improved.

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

A few pioneers have been experimenting in this field for some years
past. No one of them is ready with final conclusions but among them
opinion is unanimous that constructive play is stimulated by an
initial supply of consistent play material calculated to suggest
supplementary play material of a kind children can manufacture for
themselves.

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

Blocks are of course the most important type of initial material to be
provided; beyond this the generally accepted hypothesis is embodied in
the "Do-with" series which provides, first a doll family of
proportions suited to block houses, then a set of farm animals and
carts, then a set of wild animals, all designed on the same size
scale, of construction simple enough to be copied at the bench, and
suggesting, each set after its kind, a host of supplementary toys,
limited in variety and in numbers only by the experience of the child
concerned and by his ability to construct them.

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

[Illustration: Small wooden toy.]*

This working hypothesis for the selection of toys is as yet but little
understood either by those who buy or those who sell play materials.
The commercial dealer declares with truth that there is too little
demand to justify placing such a series on the market. Not only does
he refuse to make "Do-withs" but he provides no adequate substitutes.
His wooden toys are merely wooden ornaments without relation to any
series and without playa