Gifts from the Father
of the Kindergarten
Carol Woodard
State UniversityCollege at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
The ElementarySchoolJournal
Volume 79, Number 3
? 1979 by The University of Chicago.
001 3-5984/79/7903-0011$00.75
Except for an occasional textbook reference as "the father of the kindergarten"
Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) remains a
shadowy figure to many early childhood
educators. His status is especially puzzling
when one considers that he was once the
acknowledged leader in the field. More
than 125 years ago he pioneered many of
the basic tenets of early childhood
education-the value of play, self-activity,
and social interaction. He had a firm grasp
of many current concepts. He advocated
the use of concrete materials for exploration, a variety of activities geared to the
child's interest, the sequencing of materials, and he stressed the importance of
language in the learning process. Add to
these ideas his avant-garde nurturing of
mother-infant interactions and homeschool relations, and his present obscure
position appears all the more perplexing.
Perhaps part of Froebel's present
obscurity is due to his own writings, which
are laced with vague, symbolic terms that
discourage readers. A major part of his
obscurity, however, can be attributed to a
"bad press," which resulted from the rigid
use of his methods, often by dedicated followers caught up in the rapid expansion of
the American kindergarten movement at
the close of the nineteenth century.
Knowledgeable Froebelians were involved
in teacher training, but many trainees
learned Froebelian methods from inexperienced interpreters, and much was
lost in the translation. Froebel left no clear
methodology in his own writings, concentrating instead on his scholarly interest
in mysticism. Consequently, misguided followers often relied on the structured use of
FROEBEL
materials that Froebel had designed to be
used in more exploratory ways. Despite
such problems, early childhood education
in the USA is built on a Froebelian foundation, and his ideas, still flourishing in the
classroom, sound amazingly modern to today's teacher.
Froebel was brought up in a secluded
village parsonage in central Germany by a
formidable father and a rejecting stepmother, never experiencing the warm,
family-centered atmosphere he sought for
the kindergarten. As an adolescent, he was
apprenticed to a forester and developed an
intense love of nature, which later pervaded his writing and teaching. During the
ensuing years, Froebel tried a variety of
occupations and intermittently attended
several universities, where he studied the
natural sciences and the German philosophers. Gradually, Froebel adopted a philosophical view of the universe in which man
and nature were components, developing
according to the law of unity. This emphasis on the unity of all living things-a oneness linking nature, man, and Godextended to Froebel's educational theory.
The child, like a plant, developed or unfolded according to laws inherent in his nature. The teacher, like a gardener, created
an environment (a kindergarten, or "children's garden") that would nurture this
unfolding process and help the child relate
and unify his experiences.
Although Froebel lacked formal training, he was a natural teacher and found his
way to the classroom, only to feel repressed
routine. Seeking
by its constraining
alternatives, he studied with the noted
educator, Johann Pestalozzi, and, though
impressed, still struggled with questions of
methodology. A brief period in the army
proved a socializing influence for the solitary Froebel, and in 1816 he opened his
own school at Keilhau. His five nephews
formed the initial student body, and the
curriculum concentrated heavily on arithmetic, geometry, and German, supplemented by nourishing food, simple cloth-
137
ing, and vigorous outdoor experiences.
Although the school was educationally successful, it was plagued by financial difficulties, and Froebel, never renowned as
an administrator, was eased from its management.
After teaching in Switzerland and observing day nurseries in Berlin, he became
completely involved with a new concept:
education designed for the very young
child. In 1837, now in his midfifties,
Froebel established the first kindergarten
in an old powder mill near Blankenburg,
accepting children from one to seven years
of age. He devoted the ensuing years of his
life to the school, to traveling about Germany and founding other kindergartens
and training teachers to staff them. Originally, Froebel had intended to train men
for the kindergartens; but, finding limited
interest, he trained young, unmarried
women instead and opened new doors for
them in education.
During this period, Froebel developed
for young children a series of teaching materials and activities that were commonly
used in American kindergartens in the
early 1900's and are still used in Europe.
Built on Froebel's belief in the educative
value of play, these materials and activities
were to encourage learning by doing while
familiarizing the children with various laws
of life. With this lofty goal in mind, Froebel
designed three types of materials/activities:
"gifts," "occupations," and "mother plays."
"Gifts" were concrete materials to be manipulated by the children and included
block sets, tablets, wooden splints, rings,
and natural objects such as beans, pebbles,
and shells. "Occupations" were manipulative activities to be performed by the
children. These activities included embroidery, drawing, paper folding, cutting,
and interlacing, and working with clay.
"Mother plays" consisted of a series of
stories, songs, and games originally compiled for mothers to use with their small
children in the home but also used in the
kindergarten.
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL
138
The materials called "the gifts" were
sequential in nature, moving from simple
to complex. Each child had his own set of
gifts, which were kept individually in
wooden boxes with sliding lids. When the
child was given a gift to play with, he was
allowed to explore it as long as he liked,
usually on a table marked with a grid of
one-inch squares. If interest lagged, the
teacher would ask leading questions, for
Froebel encouraged children to observe
the gifts carefully, to recognize similarities
and differences, and to classify the properties.
Although various versions of the gifts
have evolved through the years, the earlier
ones illustrate their potential. The first
gift, originally intended for infants and
toddlers, consisted of six woolen balls with
strings attached, ranging in color from
blue to violet. This gift could be used to
investigate color, material, texture, motion, or direction, while the spheres were
to symbolize the unity of the universe.
The second gift consisted of three
wooden geometric solids: a sphere, a cube,
and a cylinder or roller.
O
Gift No. 2
Froebel used this gift to illustrate his
philosophical concept that opposites (the
sphere, which moved, and the cube, which
was stable) could be united by intermediaries (the cylinder, which combined
both movement and stability). In probing
the possible uses of the gift, the child might
observe changes in form. The cube, for
example, appeared to be a cylinder when
rotated from a string attached to a staple in
the center of its face.
The third gift was a two-inch wooden
cube that could be subdivided into eight
smaller cubes.
Gift No. 3
The fourth gift was a two-inch cube
composed of eight rectangles, while the
fifth consisted of twenty-seven one-inch
cubes (three bisected and three quadrisected), which together formed a threeinch cube.
Gift No. 4
Gift No. 5
The third, fourth, and fifth gifts were
each presented as a whole cube, separated
into parts during play and always returned
to their whole form, reflecting Froebel's
theme of unity.
The fact that these gifts provided opportunities to experience mathematics was
intentional because Froebel considered
mathematics a starting point in education,
an observable expression of the conformity
to law. Later gifts included colored square
and triangular tablets (introducing the
plane), wooden splints (the line), metal
rings (the curve), and natural objects such
as beans, pebbles, and seeds (the point).
Beginning with the third gift, the children could use the gifts in three ways to
create what Froebel termed "forms of life,"
"forms of beauty," and "forms of knowledge." "Forms of life" were constructions
of various everyday objects. "Forms of
beauty" were artistic symmetrical designs
created by the child. "Forms of knowledge" were activities performed to demonstrate mathematical properties.
JANUARY 1979
139
FROEBEL
the gift. In some arrangements, outer parts
were moved around a center core; in other
arrangements certain parts were turned
over.
gift had its own series of
life,
suggested forms or patterns-of
beauty, and knowledge-which were to be
followed and which increased in complexity. A child using a gift as a form of life
might start by building familiar objects of
his own choice. Froebel encouraged this
type of inventive play. At times the older
children interacted with the younger to
share ideas and arrangements. Eventually,
however, the child would progress to
duplicating some of the objects from the
patterns provided for the particular gift
he was manipulating.
Each
L;4
When knowledge forms were used, the
child arranged and grouped a gift to
analyze its mathematical properties. At
first, exploration might focus on division
(fractions) rather than addition and subtraction. With the teacher's guidance, the
child could divide the fourth gift into two
equal parts and then into quarters and
eighths. Actions were always accompanied
by appropriate words ("one whole equals
two halves"; "two halves equal one whole")
because Froebel recognized
the rebetween
and
lationship
language
learning.
Addition could also be taught by letting the
child count:
Castle
-7Locomo
Locomotive
__/
::71
Gift No. 3
Forms of Life
J
Triumphal Arch
L I
I
Merry-go-round
Gift No. 4
Forms of Life
In building life forms, it was considered essential that all the pieces in the gift
be used so that the parts contributed to the
unified structure.
When a gift was used as a beauty form,
the child's interest focused on design,
symmetry, and balance. To duplicate the
sequential design patterns accurately, it
was necessary to closely observe the relationships between the various parts of
Gift No. 4
Forms of Beauty
Gift No. 3
Forms of Beauty
I
Z1
I
One and one are two.
I
I Ii
Two and one are three.
Three and one are four.
In subtraction the order was reversed.
Used in still another manner, the fourth
gift might be manipulated to answer the
question, "How many squares can you
make with the eight rectangles?"
m
m
One Large
Square
or
m
m
Four Small
Squares
Generally, the younger children concentrated on the less complex forms of life,
beauty, and knowledge.
140
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL
In addition to the gifts, Froebel incorporated activities known as "occupations" in his kindergarten curriculum. The
activities included perforating (making designs by poking holes in paper), sewing
outlines on cards, drawing, cutting, folding, and weaving paper, and working with
clay. These crafts and table games were an
extension of the gifts, helping the children
express ideas they had explored by using
the gifts.
Froebel's final group of materials/
activities were the "mother plays," simple,
spontaneous songs, poems, and games that
he had observed mothers using with their
small children, such as the universal favorite, Pat-a-cake. These were published in
the illustrated book, Mutter-und-KoseLieder. Froebel viewed the kindergarten as
a continuation of the gentle, natural instruction of the mother, and the mother
plays were intended to support this type of
interaction related to home activities. Unfortunately, followers of Froebel used the
mother plays with much older children.
Even when the mother plays were age appropriate, the provincial themes and the
intricate illustrations were not adapted for
the American setting.
It is the misuse of Froebel's materials
that makes it difficult to evaluate them objectively. Certainly, our current knowledge
of child development indicates that the
gifts do not symbolize universal truths to
the young child. The toddler may appreciate the color of the yarn ball or its
softness, but hardly relates it to the unity of
the universe. Critics contend that although
Froebel advocated play, he actually enclosed the child within the structured use
of gifts. It is impossible to know exactly
how Froebel used the gifts, but evidence
seems to indicate that Froebel was more
moved by a spirit of experimentation than
his followers were. Froebel underscored
system and method, but mechanical drill
was never intended to replace exploration.
The gifts and the occupations must be
viewed in the context of their time; in their
day, they were considered emancipating.
Imitation, valued as part of creativity, was
used by Froebel to provide basic principles
to stimulate the child's own original work.
Frank Lloyd Wright used the Froebelian
gifts as a child, and his imagination was
sparked in just such a way (1).
Yet, Froebel's followers worked with
the gifts almost religiously, and the Froebelian kindergarten in America became
synonymous with regimentation. John
Dewey did not even use the term "kindergarten" to identify the preprimary groups
at the University of Chicago Laboratory
School in the late 1890's. Soon after, a bitter struggle emerged between the "traditional" Froebelians and the more liberal
educators who were influenced by the new
scientific study of children. Science
triumphed, and gradually the Froebelian
gifts faded from the American kindergarten.
Other contributions by Froebel have
remained, helping to shape the direction
of our classrooms, for Froebel was an innovator. Not only did he recognize the importance of development in the earliest
years, but he created a special environment
to nurture growth. Applying the educational theory that each stage of growth
evolves from the previous one, Froebel designed a sequential curriculum to foster
this unfolding process. At a time when play
was little understood and even considered
an inducement to idleness, Froebel was
committed to play as a way of instruction.
Speaking of the kindergarten, Froebel
said, "It will be an institution where children instruct and educate themselves and
where they develop and integrate all their
abilities through play, which is creative
self-inself-activity and spontaneous
struction" (2).
At a time when other classrooms were
dominated by memorization and recitation, Froebel emphasized learning by
doing and substituted gentleness for
sternness. He had a deep respect for the
individuality of each child. Education was
JANUARY 1979
FROEBEL
involvement based on the child's needs,
interests and abilities. Through involvement the child could discover the nature of
things and construct an understanding of
his environment.
Froebel provided a variety of materials
that were to be handled, examined, and
explored until all the inherent meanings
were investigated and conclusions drawn.
The manipulation of concrete objects was
always to supplant or supplement the use
of words and books.
Questions, conversations, discussions,
as well as songs and chants, were used with
the gifts to further observational skills and
language development. Words were linked
to the child's endeavors while the teacher's
role was to guide self-activity rather than to
instruct directly. Learning was to be integrated, interwoven among subjects. Singing, circle games, gardening, cooking,
dramatics, nature study, and storytelling
were part of the curriculum. The total development of the child-social, emotional,
physical, and intellectual-was valued. Because social development was dependent
on the child's relations with others,
interaction and cooperation among children were stressed. The child was always
considered a part of the whole-the group.
141
Froebel
further anticipated
current
in
education
and
even inparent
thought
fant education by encouraging the parent
to be the child's teacher and by providing
supportive materials.
It seems unfortunate that the negative
reactions against Froebel's materials and
followers have overshadowed his influence
on today's early childhood programs. His
gifts to these programs did not come in
polished wooden boxes. Froebel's lasting
value of play,
gifts were his ideas-the
and
social
interaction-ideas
self-activity,
that forged a unique atmosphere for the
preprimary classroom and made it a place
refreshingly oriented to activity and discovery, a very special place for children-a
child's own garden.
References
1. D. Donevi. "The Education of a Genius:
Analyzing Major Influences on the Life of
America's Greatest Architect,"YoungChildren,23 (March, 1968), 223-40.
2. I. Lilley (editor).FriedrichFroebel.A Selection
of Writings, p. 128. London: Cambridge
UniversityPress, 1967.