Froebel gifts facts for kids
The Froebel gifts (called Fröbelgaben in German) are special educational toys for young children. They were created by Friedrich Fröbel for the very first kindergarten in Germany. Playing with these gifts, along with singing, dancing, and growing plants, was a key part of Fröbel's teaching method. This method focused on letting children learn through play. Over time, the original six sets of gifts grew to at least ten.
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What Are Froebel Gifts?
Fröbel explained the meaning and use of his first six "play gifts" in a newspaper called Sonntagsblatt. He believed that a child's natural desire to create shows their active and living spirit. He felt that all education should carefully help this creative instinct grow.
The first Froebel gifts were made between 1837 and 1850 in Bad Blankenburg, Germany. A master carpenter named Löhn, with help from other craftspeople, made them. Later, in 1850, the production moved to a factory built just for making these gifts.
Fröbel also created other activities, called "Occupations." These included sewing, weaving, and modeling with clay. These activities helped children learn even more through play. Someone named Ottilie de Liagre wrote to Fröbel in 1844. She noted that playing with the gifts made children lively and free. However, she also warned that the play could become just a boring routine if not done right.
Fröbel gave a number to each of the first five gifts in his Sonntagsblatt. This number showed the order in which children should receive each gift.
Gift 1: Exploring Soft Shapes
The first gift is a soft ball, often made of yarn. It's the perfect size for a small child's hand. If you attach a string, a parent can move the ball in different ways while singing to the child.
While Fröbel first sold single balls, they now usually come in sets of six. These sets include the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and the secondary colors (purple, green, orange). These soft balls can be squeezed and then return to their original shape.
Fröbel meant for this gift to be given to very young children. By holding, dropping, rolling, swinging, hiding, and showing the balls, children learn about objects. They also learn about space, movement, speed, time, colors, and how things like weight and gravity work.
Gift 2: Discovering Different Shapes
The second gift started with two wooden objects: a sphere (like a ball) and a cube (like a block). Fröbel called this gift "the child's delight." He saw how happy children were when they found the differences between the sphere and the cube.
Children already know the shape of the wooden sphere. It looks the same as the ball from the first gift. A wooden sphere always looks the same no matter which way you look at it. Like a child, the wooden sphere is always ready to move. When you roll it on a hard surface, it makes sounds.
The wooden cube, however, is the surprise of the second gift. It stays where you put it. From each side, it looks different. This gift helps children explore and enjoy the differences between shapes.
You can attach a string or put a rod through a hole in these wooden shapes. Then, a child can spin them. The sphere always looks the same, even when spinning. But the spinning cube shows many different shapes when spun in various ways. Because of this, Fröbel later added a wooden cylinder to the second gift. It can also be spun in many interesting ways.
Gift 3: Building with Small Cubes
This gift uses the familiar shape of the cube. But now, it's divided into eight small, identical beechwood cubes. Each cube is about one inch (2.5 cm) long on each side. This is a good size for a small child's hand. Children love to pull this gift apart, arrange the eight cubes in many ways, and then put them back together to form a big cube. This is the first building gift.
Gift 4: Creating with Rectangles
This second building gift looks like Gift 3 at first. But a surprise waits when the pieces are pulled apart! Each of these eight identical beechwood blocks is a rectangular plank. They are twice as long and half the width of the cubes from the previous gift. These different shapes open up many new ways to play and build.
Gift 5: More Complex Building Blocks
This building gift has more cubes. Some of these cubes are divided into halves or quarters. This allows for even more detailed building and design.
Gift 6: Advanced Building Shapes
This set includes more complex wooden blocks. It has cubes, planks, and triangular prisms. These shapes offer even more challenges and creative possibilities for older children.
How Froebel Gifts Influenced Learning
The Froebel gifts inspired many educators. Caroline Pratt used them for a school she started in New York City in 1913. Her school also focused on child-centered learning. Children worked together to learn by playing and rebuilding their experiences. The ideas of Friedrich Fröbel helped shape her school's lessons. Children learned by observing their neighborhood and making sense of their world.
Joachim Liebschner wrote in his book, A Child's Work: Freedom and Guidance in Froebel's Educational Theory and Practice: "It is important to think about what Fröbel wanted the Gifts to do. He imagined that the Gifts would teach the child to use their surroundings to learn. Second, they would show the child the link between human life and nature. Finally, they would create a bond between the adult and the child who play with them."
Fröbel's building forms and movement games were early examples of abstract art. They also inspired the Bauhaus movement, which was a famous art and design school. Many modern architects learned about Fröbel's ideas on geometry when they were children. These architects included Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Buckminster Fuller.
The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright received a set of Froebel blocks when he was about nine years old. In his autobiography, he said that he learned the geometry of architecture through kindergarten play. He wrote that he played with smooth maple-wood blocks like squares (cubes), circles (spheres), and triangles. He said, "All are in my fingers to this day." Wright also wrote that this play helped awaken his mind to "rhythmic structures in Nature." He quickly became sensitive to "constructive pattern evolving in everything I saw."
Where to Find Froebel Gifts Today
Froebel gifts are still used in early childhood education in countries like Korea and Japan. There, they are often made from local wood. You can also order reproduction sets of these gifts online.
Images for kids
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Fröbel's Gift 4, on a special gridded tabletop he also specified
