  Playing store is a game of universal interest. Making a play store is a fascinating occupation. These are factors which cannot be overlooked in any scheme of education which seeks to make use of the natural activities of children. The downtown store stands to the children as the source of all good things which are to be bought with pennies. It is usually the first place outside the home with which they become familiar, and its processes are sure to be imitated in their play. In their play they not only repeat the processes of buying and selling, but try to reproduce in miniature what they regard as the essential features of the real store. If they are allowed to play this fascinating game in school, it may, by the teacher's help, become at once more interesting and more worth while. Curiosity may be aroused through questions concerning what is in the store, where it came from, how it got there, what was done to make it usable, how it is measured, and what it is worth. In seeking answers to these questions, the fields of geography, history, and arithmetic may be explored as extensively as circumstances warrant and a whole curriculum is Fig. 31.—Box house and stores. Grades one, three, and two. Columbia, Missouri. Being a subject of universal interest, it may be adapted to the conditions of the various grades. It being also impossible to exhaust the possibilities of the subject in any single presentation, it may profitably be repeated with a change of emphasis to suit the development of the class. For example, in the second grade, the study of the street is chiefly a classification of the various commodities which are essential to our daily life, and a few of the main facts of interest concerning their origin. Those a little older are interested in the processes of manufacture and the geography of their sources. In playing store, weights and measures, the changing of money, and the making of bills take on an interest impossible in the old-fashioned method of presenting these phases of arithmetic. Discussions and narratives supply oral language work, and descriptions, letters, and notes provide material for written exercises. The class may be divided into groups, each group contributing one store to the street, or the attention of the whole class may be centered on one store at a time, as the immediate conditions suggest. If the former method is used, as each store is finished it may be used as subject matter for the entire class, while the important facts concerning it are considered. The first permits a broader scope; the second a more exhaustive study. In either Fig. 32.—A village street. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri. General Directions.—Discuss the stores on a village street. Which are most important? Why? Decide how many stores the class can build, and choose those most necessary to a community. If self-organized groups[2] are allowed to choose the part they are to work out, both interest and harmony are promoted and leadership stimulated. Use a box for each store. Each group is usually able to provide its own box. Paper inside of box with clean paper, or put on a coat of fresh paint. Make appropriate shelving and counters of thin wood. Suggestions for Details of Representation.—Clay Modeling.—Clay may be used to model fruits and vegetables, bottles and jugs for the grocery; bread, cake, and pies for the bakery; different cuts of meat for the butcher shop; horses for the blacksmith shop and for delivery wagons. Clay representations may be made very realistic by coloring with crayon. Canned Goods.—Paper cylinders on which labels are drawn before pasting serve well for canned goods. Cylindrical blocks may be cut from broom sticks or dowel rods and wrapped in appropriately labeled covers. Cloth.—Rolls of various kinds of cloth should be collected for the dry goods store. Figures may be cut from fashion plates and mounted for the "Ready to Wear" department. Hats.—Hats may be made for the millinery store from any of the materials commonly used. This is a good way for girls to develop their ingenuity and resourcefulness. The Store Front.—The front of each store may be made of either wood or cardboard, the spaces for doors and windows being left open that the merchandise may be conveniently handled. Brick or stone fronts, second-story windows, offices, etc., may all be indicated as artistically as the capacity of the class permits by the use of Additional Projects.—In addition to representations of retail shops, various industries, such as the carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, flour mill, ice plant, and other familiar industries, may be represented. CoÖperative institutions, such as the post office and fire department, should be included in the study. Fig. 33.—A grocery. Fourth grade. Excursions.—Wherever possible, the plant should be visited by the class. Before making the visit, the class should discuss what they expect to see, and go prepared to find out definite things. Each child should have at least one question which he is to ask, or one item of Correlation.—While the building of a store is in progress the study of the sources and processes of manufacture of the various articles of merchandise will supply valuable subject matter in several fields. English.—Books containing information on the subject will be read with a definite purpose and more than ordinary interest. Especially if the group method is used, will the members of a group be proud to bring to the class interesting items concerning their particular part of the work. These narratives and descriptions may be made excellent practice in either oral or written English and will be of the sort Dewey characterizes as "having something to say rather than having to say something." Geography.—This study may also enter as deeply into the field of geography as the development of the class warrants. It will be geography of a vital sort. History.—The study of the process of manufacture opens up the field of industrial history, and in this, as in the geography, the study is limited only by the capacity of the class. Number.—In the field of number the possibilities are also unlimited, in studying the weights and measures used for different commodities, the actual prices paid for these things, and the usual quantities purchased. Playing store will involve the making of bills, the changing of money, and the measuring of merchandise. Different pupils may take turns acting as salesmen or cashier. The common practices of business life should be followed as closely as possible, only in this case each purchaser should make out his own bills. Actual purchase slips may be brought from home and used in number lessons. An inventory of the stock may be taken and will supply excellent practice in addition and multiplication. After the example of real stores, a stock-taking sale at reduced rates may be advertised. The writer answered such an advertisement by a third grade and asked how much could be purchased for one dollar. Pencils were busy at once, and a variety of combinations suggested. One pupil was quickly called to account by his mates for offering only ninety-five cents' worth of merchandise for the dollar. By these and numerous other exercises which will suggest themselves to lively children and Fig. 34.—A grocery. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri. Art.—The art side also may receive due attention in the general proportioning and arrangement of the stores, in the modeling of certain features from clay, as enumerated above, in the making of labels for boxes and cans, in the writing of signs and advertisements, and in the color combinations. These features are to a great extent incidental to other problems just as the use of good ILLUSTRATIONSFigure 32 shows about half the stores built by one third-grade class. Some of the subject matter drawn from the various stories was as follows: in connection with the grocery, a study of the source of various articles of food with oral and written descriptions of processes of manufacture; the common measures used in the grocery, and ordinary amounts purchased. In connection with the meat market, the names of various kinds of meat, the animals from which they are obtained, and the part of the animal which furnishes certain cuts; as, for example, ham, bacon, chops. The current prices and approximate quantity needed for a meal made practical number work. The bakery called for an investigation of the processes of bread making and a study of the material used. In all of the processes the teacher had opportunity to stress the necessity for proper sanitation. In connection with the dry goods store, the distinguishing characteristics of cotton, wool, linen, and silk were emphasized and illustrated by the samples collected for the store and by the clothing worn by the children. Common problems in measuring cloth enlivened the number lessons. The millinery store disclosed considerable ingenuity in the field of hat manufacture, and a lively business in doll hats was carried on for some time. Fig. 35.—A dry goods store. Third grade. The other stores of the village street offer further opportunity for becoming better acquainted with the common things which lie close at hand and touch our daily lives. Fig. 36.—Home in a hot country. Fig. 37.—Home in a cold country. |
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