PLAYTHINGS POEM

Note: The transactional processes suggested in CISCE curriculum are highlighted in grey.

Learning Outcomes
Ɣ To understand the moral behind the poem and inculcate the practice of obtaining joy from
simple things
Ɣ Help students identify traits which always demands for more, and waste time and strength
on unattainable things
Ɣ To appreciate others and their traits
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Pre-reading
Pair work: Let students sit in pairs and initiate Go around the class during the discussions,
a discussion on pick out a few students, and ask them to
1. What was your favourite toy as a child? explain the game to the class and few to
describe their favourite toys.
2. What game did you play with your friends
when you were small? Share a few stories with the class.
3. What are some emotions children display?
4. What emotions do adults display?

READING

Students predict, comprehend and compare poem opens with the observation about how
Ask students: a child is happy even with the broken toy and
has been playing since morning.)
1. What is the first thing you do when you
wake up? What does this stanza tell us about: the Child
/ the Adult?
2. What do you think the story is about?
Stanza 2
Play the audio on the Smart Book once, and
let the class listen to the poem. Instruct them What does ‘art of being absorbed in sticks
to pay attention to the pronunciation, stress and mud-pies’ mean? What are the poet’s
and rhythm. Pause after each stanza to check playthings? What is the difference in the child’s
understanding of the text. and the adult’s game? What does the poet
compare his game to? Why?
Stanza 1
What does this stanza tell us about: the Child
What is the poet talking about? Why is the child / the Adult?
happy? What does he mean by “perhaps you
glance at me and think, What a stupid game to Group Work
spoil your morning with!”? (The poet describes Write down the characteristics, behaviour,
the game of a child and regrets his condition feelings, actions and attitudes of the child
that he forgets the real charm of life. The and adult. Add similarities and differences

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 Adult Child Post-reading
Playthings Accounts, work, Twigs, mud Group work
gold, silver pies A. What is the moral behind the poem?
Nature of Costly Broken, (That one can learn from children and be
playthings free, happy with the simple joys in life.)
anything B. What are some simple, good lessons we
Feeling Sad, always Happy, can learn from people around us:
wanting more, content e.g.: children, adults, other living beings.
not satisfied
Discuss with your group and create
a chart presentation/ collage about
“Lessons we learn from others”. Share
experiences / stories.

STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

Playthings
Comprehension
A. 1. b 2. a 3. b 4. b 5. a 6. a
B. 1. The words ‘a broken twig’ have been repeated in these lines. Suggested answer
(accept any logical answer): These words have been repeated to stress on the
simplicity of the child’s plaything—a bit of a broken twig. The speaker wants to
remind us how easily the child can remain busy and happy—he does not need
anything special to occupy himself.
2. Suggested answers (accept any logical answer):
a. By ‘costly playthings’, the speaker could mean things like furniture, jewellery or
even cars and houses—things that cost a lot of money and things that grown-
ups value as highly as children value their toys.
b. No, he would not really gather gold and silver in lumps, but he mentions ‘lumps’
because the things made of gold and silver that he acquires feel as unattractive
as lumps to him, when he looks at his child’s play and compares himself with his
child.
3. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): These lines make the child sound wiser
than the speaker. This is because the child seems to have found an easy way to be
happy—he can play with a piece of broken twig all morning and not feel restless
or dissatisfied. On the other hand, the speaker spends his time and energy trying
to get certain things that he knows he cannot get, and yet he chases them. The
contrast is thus between the child who is easily satisfied and the grown-up who
is not.
4. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): The speaker may be referring to
his work and everything he does in order to get the things he wants, as a game.
Perhaps he calls it a game because just as a child has to take certain steps in

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 order to achieve a goal in a game, the speaker too, has to follow certain steps in
order to achieve his goals. And he could also call it a game because he finds it as
meaningless as a child’s game.
C. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): The speaker wishes to remind the readers
to stay in touch with the child in themselves and not to lose sight of the simplicity of
childhood. He tells us that as we grow up and become busy and occupied and anxious
to achieve certain things, we may actually find it more difficult to be happy. We should
learn—or remember—how to be happy easily, with simple things and not make our
happiness dependent on big and expensive things.
Appreciating the Poem
1. a and c
2. a. No, it only describes a child’s simple play and the father’s thoughts while watching
that play.
b. Yes, it describes the speaker’s thoughts and feelings while watching his child play.
c. Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): Yes, this poem could be a diary entry
of the speaker, where he thinks about his child’s play and writes down his thoughts.
It could also be a letter, but not a regular letter. The speaker may not write and post
such a letter to his child, but he could write it for the child to read when he grew up
and could understand what his father was trying to say—what comparison he was
trying to make.
Vocabulary
ACTIVITY, ENTERTAINMENT, DIVERSION, AMUSEMENT, PASTIME and RECREATION
Going Further
Free response

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 QUESTION BANK
Playthings Poem
A. Answer in brief.
Why does the speaker admire the child?
Ans: The speaker is very happy to see the child playing naturally, sitting in the dust and
not worried much about soiling his clothes. The child can endlessly go on playing in
the mud with broken twigs. The child’s carefree play attracts the speaker and gives him
great pleasure.
B. Answer in detail.
How does the speaker compare himself to the child?
Ans: The speaker is very pleased to see the child happily playing in the mud with
twigs. While looking at the child, he is thinking of his own life and work where he has
no choice but to juggle with numbers and money. He feels one has to be lucky to have
the freedom to play in the mud with twigs. The speaker has forgotten the art of playing
with sticks and mud pies in his pursuit of materialistic things – things which lead from
one insatiable desire on to another.
C. Choose the correct answer.
‘Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies’. Why has the
speaker forgotten the art of playing with sticks and mud-pies?
He has forgotten the art of playing with sticks and mud-pies because
a. he feels it is childish to play with these things.
b. he is busy accumulating wealth.
c. he prefers to play with numbers.
Ans: b
D. Read the lines and answer the questions.
In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a
game.
a. What does the speaker refer to as frail canoe?
b. Why is it a struggle for him?
c. According to the speaker, what game is he playing?
Ans: a. The speaker refers to his life as a fragile boat in which he has to travel and face
the challenges of life.
b. It is a struggle for the speaker not to succumb to the temptations life offers.
c. He is playing a game accumulating wealth. The game is not a carefree game like the
child’s game, but is one in which he works around numbers and money.
E. Answer in detail. (Think and answer)
Is the speaker happy playing the game he claims to be playing? Why? Why not?
Ans: When the speaker sees the child playing, he realises how much he is missing in
life. He agrees that he has no time to play a normal game where there is happiness and
relaxation. The game he is playing is with accounts and money. The sole purpose of his
game is to acquire gold and silver. He is caught up in the web of desire for wealth and
in the process has forgotten how to enjoy the finer things in life. The speaker, obviously
is not very happy with this kind of game because he is spending a lot of time and
strength in acquiring something which is farfetched.