Have the child look at a house and give you all the detail that he can see. Call the child's attention to the things missed so that he sees the reason for making an additional effort. The same exercise can be followed with any object, a tree, an automobile, or an animal. When in the house use a picture on the wall, a table, a book case or a coin. You will find that the longer the child looks at the object the more detail he will see. The aim is to get him to notice and mention the details as quickly as possible. After some practice he will be able to mention them as rapidly as he can speak. This can be made into a competitive game when there are several children. Keep score of the number of the details each can write on a slip of paper in a given length of time. Training the Eye to Measure The ability to accurately measure with the eye is a thing that a great many people find very difficult, if not almost impossible. You are continuously finding opportunity to use such an ability. A little conscious effort will work wonders in this regard and children should not be allowed to grow up without being trained to intelligently estimate measurements. In this training begin with larger measurements and from that work to the finer ones as rapidly as the child can progress. First Exercise Have the child determine which of two trees in the distance is the closest or use any other objects in the landscape. Walk towards the trees to prove the matter. Point out things of interest to encourage the child's observation of nature. Second Exercise Give the child a foot rule and let him become acquainted with its length. Then with his fingers on the table have him indicate the distance which he believes to equal that of the length of the rule. Lay it between the child's fingers. Practice until he knows accurately how long a foot is. At the same time and for variety he can practice with a half foot and an inch. Have him compare objects with a foot rule and determine whether they are longer or shorter. Then let him measure the objects. Allow the child to check the measurements himself, this will increase his definite conception of the length of a foot. The Game of Measuring Let the child with his eye, and without a rule, measure the length of the table, of the book case, the side of the room, or the height of a door. Have him do this by eye measurement and not by guess work. Teach him to start at one end and select a point which he judges to be one foot from the end and then to advance the eye to a point one foot from that and so on, counting as he goes, "one, two, three and a half"--whatever he believes is right. Then have him take the foot rule and check his measurements accurately.