Susy Polly satisfied something of a creative Urge. You child psychologists,
wasn't the explanation something like that? And the wrecking of some of our
elaborate toy gifts, may that not be explainable in some such terms? May they
not be over-perfect, provoking a desire to change them so the imagination has
something to work on? ,

Thousands of young children frequent our toy play centers. We provide no
dominant directing leadership. We are experimenting with a situation rich in
varlety of playthings, offering their own suggestion. Both toys, and the rooms
themselves are clean, bright colored, attractive. Vividly draped windows, ap-
propriate murals, orderly cabinets and shelves, gayly painted furniture, clean
floors and coverings, provide a stimulating atmosphere. We do not plan the
experience for the children. The law of the jungle is not permitted to prevail.
There is that much of supervision. But we are not assuming that we must dctermine
Just what experiences the children are to have for the good of their health, or
mental growth, or socialization, or for the development of balanced personality.
Rather, we permit the children to evolve their own patterns of activity, living
their own lives, out of their own imaginations. We even have a specially designed,
individual panel type of sectional playhouse which the children may set together
in infinite variety, just as they do their varied building blocks - devices to
encourage them in adapting to the changing impulses of the moment. We are watch-
ing to see what life itself does to them, without either parental or pedagogical
interference, under guardianship which is democratic, rather than authoritarian,

Our toys lend themselves to constructive uses. They all give maximum freedom
to the creative imagination. They are not so complicated as to challenge a child
to discover what makes them tick, neither are they irritatingly stubborn in resist-
ing adaptation to new purposes. We have no destructiveness at all, either inten-
tional or passive. And incidentally, there is no theft. Even in one center with

a large Gypsy attendance, there is no theft. But what I want to emphasize here

~ Wie