(1) _Physical activity._ In place of the restlessness of the preceding period, activity directed toward more definite ends appears. It is very important that the activity be expended rightly, since its use in every action strengthens some one of the rapidly forming habits. (2) _Power of perception._ This is the ability of the mind to understand the sensations which senses and nerves send to the brain, or to interpret their meaning; as, for example, to know that the round yellow ball is an orange, or to recognize the different details in a picture. Perception grows constantly more quick and active as the child's store of knowledge increases. Two things must be remembered: (_a_) the teacher must be sure that the first idea of anything is the correct one, for it will be eradicated with difficulty, and upon it all future thinking in that line will be based; (_b_) since each sensation produces an idea embodying itself, and it is on these ideas that the soul is nourished, character must grow in quality like its food. "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." (3) _Memory._ The mind has greater power to retain that which is given to it than in the preceding period, though it holds these facts disconnectedly rather than related into systematic knowledge, as they will be later. But this power of retention must not be abused through storing memory with a quantity of useless material. That which is impressed upon the plastic, non-resisting cells of the child's brain ought to have some immediate meaning and value for the life at a time when the intellectual and spiritual needs are so many. (4) _Imagination._ This is the power of the mind to make living and real that which is not present to the senses. It is one of the most striking characteristics of the Primary period and one of the most important as well. The imagination works only with concrete things in childhood, making new objects out of the old, making the story and the mental picture as real as the tangible experience, making Jesus an actual present Helper and Friend. Later it will work with abstract ideas and ideals of life formed from the pictures it has cherished. #13. Opportunities of the Primary Age.# (1) _Character building through the mental picture._ Abstract ideas about which the mind reasons do not have power over the soul of the child. It is the vivid picture which imagination holds that arouses the feeling and impels the action. So great is the power of the picture that the teacher need not exhort and admonish concerning what ought to be done. She only need set forth the action in a story that appeals, and imagination will do the rest. While very many of these pictures come unconsciously to the child from his environment, it is the privilege of the teacher definitely and carefully to provide the highest type of mental picture through the well-selected story, in order to secure the finest action.