Development of the speech function marks an epoch. “With language, the expression and representation of the internal begin; with language, organization, or a differentiation with reference to ends and means, sets in.” Speech for an infant is the immediate expression of his being. “He does not, as yet, know or view it as having a being of its own. Like his arm, his eye, his tongue, it is one with him, and he is unconscious of its existence.” Mental education now begins when this instinct of self-expression manifests itself and instruction of an informal type is now in order. “The child at this stage should see all things rightly and accurately, and should designate them rightly and accurately, definitely and clearly, and this applies to things and objects themselves, as well as to their nature and properties. He should properly designate the relations of objects in space and time, as well as with one another; give each its proper name or word, and utter each word in itself clearly and distinctly, according to its constituent vocal elements” (5: p. 50-51). Play is another form of self-expression. It is “the highest phase of child development--of human development at this period; for _it is self-active representation of the inner--representation of the inner from inner necessity and impulse_.” Indeed, play is the corner-stone of the kindergarten, and no one had before shown the inherent value of play to child life in such strong and beautiful words as did Froebel. “Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage, and, at the same time, typical of human life as a whole--of the inner hidden natural life in man and all things. It gives joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world.” “Cultivate and foster it, O mother!” exclaims he; “protect and guard it, O father!” For “the plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life, and a child that plays thoroughly, with self-active determination, perseveringly until physical fatigue forbids, will surely be a thorough, determined man, capable of self-sacrifice for the promotion of the welfare of himself and others. Is not the most beautiful expression of child life at this time, a playing child--a child wholly absorbed in his play--a child that has fallen asleep while so absorbed?” (5: pp. 54-55). Thus “play and speech constitute the element in which the child lives,” and he animates the whole world, organic and inorganic, with his newly awakened soul, full of self-expressing activity. “The child at this stage imparts to each thing the faculties of life, feeling, and speech. Of everything, he imagines it can hear. Because the child himself begins to represent his inner being outwardly, he imputes the same activity to all about him, to the pebble and chip of wood, to the plant, the flower, and the animal” (5: p. 54). In the emphasis Froebel laid on this animistic or anthropomorphic communion of the child with Nature lies another great merit.