Friedrich Froebel

Emily Cole

First Kindergarten Building

Froebel's Gifts

Froebel's Theory

Importance to Educators

Froebel believed that everyone had unique capabilities and are productive and creative. He strongly believed that early childhood development was vital in creating successful adults in society. He felt that there was not a place that children could interact with others of the same age and no place with proper education for them so he created his own. He established the first Kindergarten which had children from the age of three to six. His love of nature influenced his teaching methods because he believed that like plants, there needs to be proper care and nurturing to help them grow and flourish. This is why he named it Kindergarten, which translates to "garden of children." He created these toys that were designed to help the child learn and create and they were called Froebel Gifts. These toys would let the child tap into their creativeness while teaching them motor skills and relationships between different things. He believed that play was an essential part of development. Even though he created a school, he believed that a lot of the child's development cam from a healthy home environment and it was up to the family to shape the child. Perhaps it's because of his bad childhood that he placed a lot of emphasis on early childhood development.

Froebel Gifts

The reason why it's so important to future educators is because they are the ones that lay the foundation for these children. They need to know how important it is to teach children at a young age and how things can affect them as they get older. The things you teach children will stick with them throughout their life. Teachers are going to be one of the first role model a child has and it's up to them to set a good example and to help them. They need to know how delicate a child's mind is and how easily influenced they are. With a good foundation they will grow into successful adults. It's easier to teach a child what is good and right than to try to reverse the mindset of an adult. It is up to them to help the student become successful. Froebel realized how important children are and how much care they need and knew that by educating them while they were still young would help them later in life.

• Gift 1: Soft ball or ball of yarn intended to teach the child spatial skills, gravity, movement, color, speed, weight, and time while playing with it.
• Gift 2: A sphere and a cube so that the child can explore the difference of shapes.
• Gift 3: The cube is divided into 8 identical cubes so the child can use them to build things.
• Gift 4: Basically the same as the previous gift but the cubes can be broken up into rectangular shapes
• Gift 5: More cubes that can be divided into halves or quarters.

The Education of Man

Most Important

History and Background

• He explained his theories, principles, and methods which he later used in his kindergarten system.
• "The purpose of education is to encourage and guide man as a conscious, thinking and perceiving being in such a way that he becomes a pure and perfect representation of that divine inner law through his own personal choice; education must show him the ways and meanings of attaining that goal" (Froebel 2).
• "Mankind is meant to enjoy a degree of knowledge and insight, of energy and efficiency of which at present we have no conception; for who has fathomed the destiny of heaven born mankind? But these things are to be developed in each individual, growing forth in each one in the vigor and might of youth, as newly created self productions" (Froebel 233).

• He was the first person to create a place for young children to learn.
• His theories of child development are still true to this day and his methods are still practiced.
• Showed people that teaching young children is vital to them becoming successful.
• Taught people that a healthy home life is crucial.
• It lead to others to open kindergartens in different countries and provide more learning materials for young children.
• He taught children and adults that the thoughts and abilities of children were important.
• He realized the potential of young children and if we don't care for them and feed them with knowledge they won't grow and flourish.
• Advocated that play letting the child be creative was an essential part of their development.

Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel was born on April 21st, 1782 in Germany. He was only nine months old when his mother died and abandoned by his father until his uncle took care him in and put him in school. He studied mathematics, different languages, and plants. He took some informal university courses but then spent time in jail for unpaid debt. He then became an assistant to Anton Gruner at a progressive school in Frankfurt that advocated ideas from Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi which was education for the poor and teaching methods to enhance a student's capabilities. After two years, he went to Yverdon, Switzlerland where he learned more from Pestalozzi and realized the flaws in Pestalozzi's methods. Soon after he served in the military because of the Napoleonic Wars where he met and became close friends with H. Langenthal and W. Middendorff. They joined him when he opened up his own school in Griesheim, Thuringia which got moved to Keilhau, Thuringia just two years later. Him, his friends, and their wives put his educational theories into practice and published Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man), which was about the methods used at his school. A few years later he left the school because the Swiss government asked him to train elementary school teachers. He worked as the head of an orphan asylum in Burgdorf, Swizterland where he realized the importance of early child development. He then opened another school for infants which he called The Child Nurture and Activity Institution but renamed it to Kindergarten in 1837. Kindergarten attracted widespread interest but due to confusions with Froebel's nephew, it was banned from 1851 to 1860 but Froebel died in 1852.

Kindergarten

• He created kindergarten so that child could freely express themselves, develop motor skils, social participation, and be creative.
• He intended for it to be a place where children could learn, play, interact with others, and stimulate their minds.
• He encouraged a child's natural curiousity and creativity through play time.

Contributions

• Established the first kindergarten in 1837
• He wrote "The Education of Man" in which he talks about the fundamental principles of education and used those principles in his kindergarten system.
• Froebel Gifts which are toys designed to help the child learn basic skills and to expand their creative minds. They were given to the child in this order based on his theories of child development.

"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."

Friedrich Froebel

"To learn a thing in life and through doing is much more developing, cultivating, and strengthening than to learn it merely through the verbal communication of ideas."

"Children are like tiny flowers: They are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers."

References

Famous Quotes

• Curtis, Stanley James. "Friedrich Froebel." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Froebel>.
• Froebel, Friedrich, and W. N. Hailmann. The Education of Man. New York: D. Appleton, 1887. Print.
• "Friedrich Fröbel." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Fr%C3%B6bel>.
• "TOP 8 QUOTES BY FRIEDRICH FROBEL | A-Z Quotes." A-Z Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. <http://www.azquotes.com/author/54686-Friedrich_Frobel>.
• Watson, Bruce. "Friedrich Froebel Created Kindergarten and Designed the Froebel Gifts and Blocks." Friedrich Froebel Created Kindergarten and Designed the Froebel Gifts and Blocks. Froebel Web, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. <http://www.froebelweb.org/index.html>.

(1782-1852)