l always cut directly and
without modification or whether they shall be permitted to trim off the
imperfections of their first attempts. While any rule must always be
interpreted in the light of immediate circumstances, it is generally best
to cut directly, and after noting the defects, cut again. It is then
possible to compare the several attempts and see if improvement has been
made. Attention should be directed to the most glaring defect only, and an
attempt made to correct it. For example, if the dog's head is too large,
do not trim down, but cut another dog and try for better proportions.
Compare the second attempt with the first, to measure improvement. Even
little children can be taught to work in this thoughtful way, looking for
the defects in their own work and making definite attempts to correct
them. To this end much cutting from an unlimited supply of newspaper or
scratch paper will accomplish more than a few exercises in better paper
which must be trimmed and worked over for the sake of economy. If little
children are allowed to trim off, they are apt, in the pure joy of
cutting, to trim too much and lose the idea with which they started--a
process which tends to vagueness rather than clearness. To prevent this it
is often helpful to preserve both pieces of paper, _i.e._ the cutting and
the hole. (See Fig. 4.)

=Paper Tearing.=--Paper tearing serves many of the same purposes sought in
cutting, and has several strong points in its favor. Working directly with
the finger tips tends to develop a desirable dexterity of manipulation.
The nature of the process prevents the expression of small details and
tends to emphasize bold outlines and big general proportions. Working
directly with the fingers tends also to prevent a weak dependence upon
certain tools and tends to develop power to express an idea by whatever
means is at hand.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Paper tearing.]

=Posters.=--The term "poster" as here used includes all mounted pictures
made by children, such as cuttings, drawings, paintings, and scrap
pictures.

A poster may be the work of one child or of a group. A single poster may
tell the whole story, or a series of posters may be made to show a
sequence of events. A series of posters may be bound together in book
form. For poster making single sheets of paper, medium weight and of
neutral tone, are needed. The sheets should be of uniform size for
individual use so that they could be bound tog