Pioneer of Kindergarton

1. Friedrich Froebel
Amanda Hamann
Early Childhood Education
September 16, 2012

2. Background Information
• Born on April 21, 1782 in Weinmar, Germany.
• Studied Mathematics and Languages.
• Taught at progressive model school in Frankfurt
that was advocated by the Swiss Educator Johann
Heinrich Pestalozzi.
• Attended University of Gӧttingen
• Opened his own school at Griesheim in Thuringia
in 1816.
• He died June 21, 1852.

3. Contributions and Ideas
• Developed the Kindergarten System that focused
on play with use of play materials and activities.
• He believed highly in ‘unity.’
• Published a collection of Mother-Play and
Nursery School songs.
• The Education of Man (1826)- “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.”

4. Effects on Education
• Kindergarten movement occurred after he
died spreading across Britain.
• Theory that self-activity and play are essential
factors in child education.
• Gifts-toys
• Occupations-games and activities.
• John Dewey adopted Froebel’s ideas into his
experimental school at the University of
Chicago.

5. Kindergarten
• First Kindergarten opened on June 28, 1840.
• The Kindergarten name, indicates a garden for
children and a garden of children.
• Three parts of Kindergarten
-Toys for play
-Games and dancing for healthy activity
-Growing and observing plants in a garden to
stimulate awareness of natural world.
• System of categories and series of gifts.

6. Quotes
• “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.”
• “Play is the highest level of child development . . .
It gives . . . joy, freedom, contentment, inner and
outer rest, peace with the world . . . The plays of
childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life.”
• “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.”

9. Video Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNBzmCKLNdU

10. Bibliography
• Friedrich Froebel. (2012). In Encyclopædia
Britannica. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/220
593/Friedrich-Froebel
• Smith, M. K. (2011, September 22). fredrich
froebel (fröbel). Retrieved from
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-froeb.htm
• Froebel web. (2002). Retrieved from
http://www.froebelweb.org/images/froebel.html