simple movements,
whereas _productive_ work entails a preliminary intellectual work of
preparation, and comprises a series of very complicated motor
movements, together with an application of sensory exercises.

The first is the work suitable for little children, who must
"exercise themselves in order to learn to coordinate their movements."

It consists of the so-called exercises of practical life which
correspond to the psychical principle of "liberty of movement." For
this it will be sufficient to prepare "a suitable environment," just
as we should place the branch of a tree in an aviary, and then to
leave the children to follow their instincts of activity and
imitation. The surrounding objects should be proportioned to the size
and strength of the child: light furniture that he can carry about;
low dressers within reach of his arms; locks that he can easily
manipulate; chests that run on castors; light doors that he can open
and shut readily; clothes-pegs fixed on the walls at a height
convenient for him; brushes his little hand can grasp; pieces of soap
that can lie in the hollow of such a hand; basins so small that the
child is strong enough to empty them; brooms with short, smooth, light
handles; clothes he can easily put on and take off himself; these are
surroundings which invite activity, and among which the child will
gradually perfect his movements without fatigue, acquiring human grace
and dexterity, just as the little kitten acquires its graceful
movement and feline dexterity solely under the guidance of instinct.

The field thus opened to the free activity of the child will enable
him to exercise himself and to form himself as a man. It is not
movement for its own sake that he will derive from these exercises,
but a powerful co-efficient in the complex formation of his
personality. His social sentiments in the relations he forms with
other free and active children, his collaborators in a kind of
household designed to protect and aid their development; the sense of
dignity acquired by the child who learns to satisfy himself in
surroundings he himself preserves and dominates--these are the
co-efficients of humanity which accompany "liberty of movement." From
his consciousness of this development of his personality the child
derives the impulse to persist in these tasks, the industry to perform
them, the intelligent joy he shows in their completion. In such an
environment he undoubtedly _works himself_ a