Kindergarten facts for kids
A kindergarten is a special place for young children to learn and grow. The word "kindergarten" literally means "garden for the children." It's like a garden where kids are carefully looked after and helped to blossom.
This type of school helps children get ready for primary school. They learn through playing, singing, drawing, and doing fun activities. They also learn how to interact with other kids and adults.
Kindergartens first started in the late 1700s in places like Bavaria (Germany) and Strasbourg (France). They were created for children whose parents worked outside the home. A German educator named Friedrich Fröbel came up with the idea and the name "kindergarten." His ideas changed how young children were taught all over the world.
Today, the word "kindergarten" can mean different things in different countries. In North America and parts of Australia, kindergarten is often the very first year of school. Children usually attend between the ages of three and seven. For example, in Malaysia, children go to kindergarten at age six before starting primary school at seven.
Contents
History of Kindergartens
Who Started Kindergartens?
Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) was a very important person in the history of kindergartens. In 1837, he opened a special "play and activity" center in a village called Bad Blankenburg in Germany. He wanted to create a new way for children to learn before they went to school.
On June 28, 1840, Fröbel renamed his center "Kindergarten." He believed that children, like plants in a garden, need to be cared for and helped to grow.
Kindergartens Spread Around the World
Women who were trained by Fröbel helped open kindergartens across Europe and in other parts of the world. The very first kindergarten in the United States opened in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1856. It was taught in German by Margaretha Meyer-Schurz.
Later, in 1860, Elizabeth Peabody started the first English-language kindergarten in the US. The first free kindergarten in the US was founded in 1870 by Conrad Poppenhusen. He was a German businessman and a kind person who also started the Poppenhusen Institute.
The first kindergarten paid for by the public (meaning by the government) in the US was set up in St. Louis in 1873. This was thanks to Susan Blow.
Images for kids
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A kindergarten in Japan on Japanese Parents' Day
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Friedrich Fröbel was one of the most influential founders of kindergartens
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Kindergarten in Amsterdam 1880, by Max Liebermann
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Kindergarten, by Johann Sperl, circa 1885
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A kindergarten classroom in Afghanistan
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Student teachers training in a kindergarten class in 1898 in Toronto, Canada
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Chinese kindergarten, primary, and secondary schools are sometimes affiliated with tertiary institutions, e.g. Experimental Kindergarten of Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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The wording salle d'asile was the former name of current école maternelle
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Allgemeine Deutsche Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau (Germany), nowadays the Keilhau Free Fröbel School
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(East) German Kindergarten, 1956
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A Hungarian preschool class having outdoor activities, March 2007
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Typical classroom layout in an Italian nursery school [it]. From left to right: restroom, bathroom, playroom, and outdoor playground.
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A girl at a Japanese kindergarten entrance ceremony
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Kindergarten children in 1942 in Slobozia, Romania
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Children of a kindergarten on a walk, Leningrad, Russia, 1930s
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On the territory of the kindergarten. Kaliningrad region, Russia
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1921 kindergarten class at the East Texas State Normal College Training School
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See also
In Spanish: Educación preescolar para niños
