The leading English language online resource about Friedrich Froebel, creator of Kindergarten and designer of Froebel play gifts
Friedrich Froebel created Kindergarten
The name Kindergarten signifies both a garden for children, a location where they can observe and interact with nature, and also a garden of children, where they themselves can grow and develop in freedom from arbitrary imperatives.
In 1837, having developed and tested a radically new educational method and philosophy based on structured, activity based learning, Froebel moved to Bad Blankenburg and established his Play and Activity Institute which in 1840 he renamed Kindergarten.
Kindergarten Museum in Bad Blankenburg
" there is substantial value in the exercises of the Kindergarten, which pleasurably bring out the active powers of the children - their powers of observation, judgement, and invention - and make them at once apt in doing as well as learning " Professor Payne 1874
Kindergarten has three essential parts:
- creative play, which Froebel called gifts and occupations)
- singing and dancing for healthy activity
- observing and nurturing plants in a garden for stimulating awareness of the natural world
It was a search for metaphysical unity, in which the potential growth to wholeness of the individual child within the natural world would fulfil an harmonious ideal within the mind of God. Peter Weston in Froebel Educational Institute: The Origins and History of the College
Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.
" To Froebel belongs the credit for finding the true nature of play and regulating it to lead naturally into work. The same spontaneity and joy, the same freedom and serenity that characterise the plays of childhood are realised in all human activity. The gifts and occupations are the living connection which makes both play and work expressions of the same creative activity. " W N Hailmann
Observing Young Children
Full colour photographs, illustrations and useful charts and diagrams make this an accessible and engaging resource that will no doubt be invaluable to any early years practitioner.
International Froebel Society
The International Froebel Society seeks to bring together the widest number of people, who have an academic, professional or practitioner interest in the educational principles and practices of Friedrich Froebel. read more
Froebel Archives
On January 28th 2008 two major Froebel archives were for the first time brought together in the remodelled Archives and Special Collections floor of the Roehampton University Library in London. The The Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies and The National Froebel Foundation Archive together provide a unique and accessible resource for students and researchers into the history of the Froebel movement in the UK. read more
The Edible Schoolyard
Friedrich Froebel introduced the concept of gardens for children, where they could participate in all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious, seasonal produce. As educational tools, these gardens provide real world applications of core mathematical concepts. The Edible Schoolyard educates children about the connections between food, health, and the environment through activities which are fully integrated into the curriculum.
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Friedrich Froebel : His Life, Times and Significance
This book by Peter Weston for the general reader is an illustrated life that places him in the turbulent political and intellectual context of his times. It also identifies those aspects of his educational practice that are of enduring value in the contemporary world.
Download this book free as a pdf file of buy online
Inventing Kindergarten uses extraordinary visual materials to reconstruct this successful system, to teach young children about art, design, mathematics and nature.
Buy this book as hardcover or paperback from amazon.com
To Froebel, play provided the means for a child's intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. "Play is a mirror of life", he wrote, leading to self discipline and respect for law and order.
A Child's Work: Freedom and Guidance in Froebel's Educational Theory and Practice