2. The Period of Early Childhood

This period is from three to six years. It begins in an interest in live things, in domestic animals, and later in flowers, wind, rain, stars, and other expressions of nature. The child now finds delight in picture-books, short stories of animals, birds, and flowers. When a little older he enjoys fables, short fairy stories, and folk and wonder-tales, short moral stories and imaginative stories of home, play, and humor. Historic tales of the nation and Bible stories, well adapted and simplified in language, will prove of the greatest interest to children of this early period. No hard and fast lines can be drawn in ages. Allowance must always be made for temperament, disposition, heredity, and family environment. I have found little children, under three years of age, reproducing to me, without having previously seen me, or hearing them from me, several of the fairy stories and fables in this volume; and I have found boys and girls nine and ten years old still enjoying them. But with the average child such short fairy and folk-tales are keenly enjoyed between the ages of three and six years.