Part 1

MILLER'S MIND TRAINING _for_ CHILDREN

_A Practical Training for Successful Living_

_Educational Games That Train the Senses_

WILLIAM E. MILLER _AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER_ Alhambra, California.

BY WILLIAM E. MILLER ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA

AUTHOR OF _The Natural Method of Memory Training_

COPYRIGHT 1920 COPYRIGHT 1921

WILLIAM E. MILLER

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING FOREIGN COPYRIGHTS

CONTENTS--BOOK ONE

Page

A First Word to Readers 7

Training the Senses 9

Game of Hide the Watch 11

Results of Sense Training 12

To Develop the Sense of Touch 16 The Game of the Button Bag 17 The Game of Matching Cards 18 The Game of Insets 18 The Game of the Rag Bag 19 The Game of the Dry Goods Clerk 19 The Game of Who Is It? 20 The Game of Weighing 20 Measuring 21

Training the Ear 22 The Game of Whispering 23 The Game of Tapping 23 The Game Speak and I'll Name You 23 The Game of Silence 24 The Game of Drop It 24 A Musical Exercise 25 The Game of Blind Man's Ears 25 The Game of Telephoning 26 The Bell Game 27 The Game of Stop Thief 27 The Table Game 28 Care of the Ears 28

Training the Sense of Sight 29 Strive for More Detail 30 Training the Eye to Measure 32 The Game of Measuring 33

The Sense of Taste and Smell 37

Using Two of the Senses 38 Exercise for Two Senses 38

Improvement from Conscious Effort 40

The Faculty of Visualization 41 A Visual Test 41

Visual Process Natural 42

Training the Mind's Eye 43 The Picture Test 43 Test for Quick Reaction 43 Test for Color Reaction 44 Test for Order 44 The Letter Game 45 The Number Game 47 Practice with Geometrical Figures 48 Out of Door Game 49 Immediate Visualization 50

Training of Younger Children 51

Developing the Observation 52

Value of Observation 55

The Neglected Faculty 56 Picture Cards for Observation 59 Counting from Mind's Eye Pictures 59 The Game of Quick Counting 61 The Game of Visual Counting 62 Reproducing the Visual Picture 63 The Game of Color Cards 63 The Game of Picture Cards 64 The Seeing Game 65 The Game of Detective 66 A Game at the Dining Table 66 The Change About Game 67 The Game of Observation 67

Training the Sense of Location 68 The Game of Guide 69 The Game of Guiding Home 69 Make Play Profitable 70

Attention and Concentration 72 Exercise for Prolonging Attention 73 Divided Attention 75 The Degree of Attention 77 Expectant Attention 77 Cure for Diverted Attention 78

Parent Is Child's Interpreter 79

What Is Concentration? 80

Exercise for Concentration 80 The Construction of a Home 81 The Farmer and His Farm 82 The Farmer and His Crop 83 The Growing Plant 83

The Imagination 85 Test for Visual Reproduction 86 A Universally Useful Faculty 87 Children's Falsehoods 88 Reality of Illusions 89 Imagination a Curse or Blessing 90 Dissipating the Imagination 90 Exercises for the Imagination 91 The Story Games 91 The Game of Creation 92 The Picture Gallery 94

The Power of Suggestion 97 Indirect Suggestion 101 Indirect Positive Suggestion 101

Health Habits 105 Deep Breathing 106 Drinking Water 107 Rest and Sleep 108 Thinking Health 109 Ambition Pulls 111

A FIRST WORD TO READERS

Many requests from parents for a simple method of training children to think and remember have prompted this series of books on "Mind Training for Children."

Play is the child's great objective and this is capitalized in the methods used in presenting this subject. There are over fifty interesting games and as many exercises, all of which are based upon scientific principles. These will not only interest and amuse the children, but will result in the development of their senses and faculties. This will lead naturally to the improvement of the memory.

In the last book all this advancement is applied to the child's studies and school problems. Parents should read these books and use the ideas according to the ages of the children. Older children can read and apply the principles for themselves, but should be encouraged and guided by the parents.

Here is a great boon to mothers who need assistance in entertaining the children in the house or out of doors. For rainy days and children's parties there is a never-ending source of pleasure and continual profit in these Mind Training Games.

No equipment is required. All games and exercises are so planned that they are easily made of materials already in the home. The making of the games will interest the children for hours.

Sense training is fundamental to profitable education.

Memory is the storehouse of all knowledge--see that your child has a good one.

You can give your children a wonderful advantage by playing these games with them. They have the indorsement of educators. They are scientific, but simple and "lots of fun."

THE AUTHOR.

TRAINING THE SENSES

All through life you are accumulating knowledge, and storing it away for future usefulness. This knowledge becomes yours through one process, which is a series of impressions carried to your brain by the nerves connecting it with the sense organs of your body.

The future value of this knowledge will depend largely upon the accuracy of the first sense impression. If the sense impression is dim and indefinite the resulting knowledge will be uncertain and useless. If the sense impression is inaccurate the resulting knowledge will be an error and cause a mistake in judgment. The senses are the tools, by the use of which the mind accumulates the knowledge which it uses in memory, thought, judgment, imagination, and all the mental operations.

Professor W. Prior says: "The foundation of all mental development is the activity of the senses."

The first step in mental growth is the making of impressions on the brain by the senses. The senses are the instruments by the use of which all knowledge is acquired.

=Sense training is the logical beginning of all Education.=

You give your child an education to help him to succeed in life. First give him sharp tools--keen senses--that he may get the best results from the time spent in study.

An understanding of the proper use of the senses will enable you to make these impressions lasting--instead of fleeting.

=Lack of ability to properly use the senses is a handicap in life and a subtle foe to success.=

In the beginning all the brain does is to store the simple sense impressions. The baby sees his mother many times before he recognizes her. The eye nerve carries to the brain the picture of the mother's face and stores it there. Soon the brain perceives the similarity and the child recognizes her. The fact that in some way the brain retains the first, second, third, etc., impressions becomes the foundation of recognition.

If the sense nerve failed to carry the image of the face there would be no comparison and no recognition. Without sense impression there can be no knowledge. Imperfect sense impressions can only result in imperfect knowledge.

Each set of sense nerves carries its impressions to a different area of the brain. Each set has a distinct and localized memory. The ear memory is the auditory memory. There is the gustatory memory of taste; the olfactory memory of smell, and the tactual memory of touch.

The visual memory is the most accurate and lasting. The nerves connecting the eyes with the brain are many times larger than those of the other sense organs. Psychological tests have also proven the eye to be the most accurate of all the senses. Next to the eye comes the ear in both strength and exactness.

Sense Training Games

The training of the senses, important and necessary as it is, can be accomplished in a most entertaining and pleasant manner. The playing of games, so necessary in the life of children, can in most cases be used as the agency to gain this result.

Game of Hide the Watch

You can entertain your children for an hour with this game and at the same time, even without their knowledge, be training one of their most important senses.

Go into a quiet room and hide a watch where it will be out of sight but in a place where the ticking will be plainly audible. If the children are small it will be well to start with a small clock, or a watch which ticks loudly. Now let the children come into the room and, standing perfectly still, try to locate the watch by hearing it tick. Let them move around, but very quietly, so as not to disturb the others; or let all move at one time.

When one of them has located the watch allow that child to remain and assist you in hiding it for the others. A record can be kept to see who finds the watch the most often. One child must not be allowed to move noisily, or in any way disturb the efforts of the others. See to it that they use their ears and not their eyes; it will even be well to blindfold them.

Results of Sense Training

That the senses can be trained every one will at once admit. The world is full of examples, as the Indian savage with his keen sight and hearing. You may think this a natural born ability but there are many examples to prove the contrary. The American scouts, some of whom have gone into the Indian country when they were grown men, have become almost as proficient as the Indians themselves.

This fact of the unusual ability of the Indian is true today as well as in the story periods of the past. On a recent camping and canoeing trip through the lakes of Canada, it was a common occurrence for the Indian guide to say, "Washkeesh," meaning deer. No one in the party could see the animal, but the Indian would point out the exact spot, and as the party canoed silently along the shores the deer would soon become visible to all.

This training of the Indian was brought about largely by necessity. It was required for the preservation of his life. The same is true of the white man who has gone into the Indian's country. If we were all driven by the same necessity we would have the same keenly developed senses.

Prof. Magnusson says: "There is affecting our senses what may be called the disease of civilization. Civilized man does not have to use his senses." Let the realization of the importance of the ability spur you to conscious effort to secure this result for your children. It can be done by playing the games which are to follow--it is of great value.

Prof. Gates has demonstrated that by exercising one of the senses we actually build up brain matter. A child who is helped to cultivate the sense of sight will not only make more brain cells in the visual areas but will also make more brain generally; for the sense of sight correlates with all other areas of the brain. This is a result well worth striving for.

There are many other examples in the different trades of today. The Tea and Wine tasters have a very fine sense of taste and smell. The jeweler has a well developed sense of hearing so that he can detect irregularities in the ticking of a clock that are imperceptible to most of us. Makers of telescope lenses complete the smoothing of the surface by rubbing them with the fingers, being able in this way to detect the slightest roughness. The blind have a very fine sense of feeling and hearing. Deaf people often have a keen sense of sight.

=Necessity and Desire are the parents of all progress and development.=

You will notice that in all of these cases there are these two impelling motives which have caused this great improvement. Create in the child the desire to be unusual in this regard. Show him that the highest success of life necessitates this development. Also that in every case it comes as the result of individual effort. The one possessing this unusual capacity acquired it only as the result of his own continued practice. The senses cannot be developed in a day. They CAN be developed, however, if you will make any reasonable effort.

=The child will attach most value to that which gives him the greatest pleasure.=

This is a fact which you must keep in mind throughout all your efforts in child training. Whenever possible make the exercises into games and make them interesting. Do not work so long with one idea that it becomes tiresome or tedious to the child. Add anything that suggests itself to you that will give variety. When the child seems to be losing interest or paying only partial attention, vary the game or change to some other. In all the exercises it is helpful to note the results and keep careful watch of the progress made. Have competitive trials and championship records; always keep some incentive for further effort before him.

Encourage Individualism

Each child should be a rule unto himself. Do not encourage or strive for uniformity of desire or result in your children. Let them reveal those distinctive characteristics with which they are endowed and then encourage and assist them in their development.

A child will excel in some things and possibly be deficient in others. He will naturally wish to play most often that game in which he does best. Do not deny this game, but use it as a reward, when the child does well the thing he most needs. Use the promise to play it as an inducement to get him to do the more necessary or difficult exercise first.

Even in cases where the children are old enough to use these books themselves, parents should keep an oversight of the games used, to see that all of their senses, and especially the eye and the ear, are developed.

An all around development is most necessary. When parents join the game let it be an opportunity to introduce and encourage the most needed exercises.

=Training the senses will result in greater ability in all mental operations throughout life.=

=A few moments' daily use of the games and exercises in these books will attain the result.=

There is one principal instruction, that is--MAKE AN EFFORT--TRY.

Then persist, try again, let failure spur you to greater effort. Only he who continues to try, after others have tried and given up, will win the prize of success.

TO DEVELOP THE SENSE OF TOUCH

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.

TRAINING THE EAR

This is a very important sense; consider its relation to memory and how your decisions and judgments are based upon things you have heard or thought you heard.

Psychological tests have revealed the fact that the ear of the average person is mistaken thirty-four per cent of the time. Think of it--one-third of your ear impressions are mistaken. The resulting memory, judgment and action must suffer. This is true largely because of lack of a conscious effort to develop this important sense.

A Test Exercise