d in regard to tendency the question is
as to what motives are awakened in inventive activity and what
satisfaction there is in the end-result. This last question, as to
_why_ we imagine, is about the easiest to answer.

Play

Free imagination was spoken of a moment ago as a kind of play; and we
might turn this about and say that play, usually if not always,
contains an element of imagination or invention. Sometimes the child
makes up new games, very simple ones of course, to fit the materials
he has to play with; but even when he is playing a regular game, he
has constantly to adapt himself to new conditions as the
game-situation changes. We may take the child's play as the first and
simplest case of free invention and ask our questions regarding it.
What are the child's play-stimuli (toys), how does he manipulate them,
what end-results does he reach, and what satisfaction does he derive
from {486} playing? We can ask these questions, but it is not so sure
that we can answer them.

_What is a toy?_ Anything to play with. But what characteristics of an
object make it a real toy, which shall actually arouse the play
response? First, it must be such that the child can move it; and
almost anything that he can move serves, one time or another, for a
plaything. But the surest stimulus is a _new_ toy, the element of
novelty and variety being important in arousing manipulation as it is
in arousing exploration. However, to define a toy simply as something
moveable, and also new if possible, fails to satisfy the spirit of
inquiry, and about the only way to progress further is to make a long
list of toys, and classify them from the psychological point of view.
Thus we get the following classes of play-stimuli:

Little models of articles used by adults, such as tools, furniture,
dishes; and we might include here dolls and toy animals. The child's
response to this class of toys is imitative. Some psychologists have
been so much impressed with the imitative play of children and animals
(as illustrated by puppies playing fight), that they have conceived of
all play as a sort of rehearsal for the serious business of life; but
this conception does not apply very well to some of the other sorts of
toy.

Noise-makers: rattle, drum, bell, horn, whistle, fire-cracker.

Things that increase your speed of locomotion, or that move you in
unusual ways, as bicycle, skate, sled, rocking-horse, swing, seesaw,
merry-go-round. Here belong