Rediscovering Kindergarten:The German term Kindergarten is widely recognized and understood, but the name of the man who coined the term, ultimately redefining early education, has largely been forgotten. In fact, today, the name Friedrich Froebel is hardly known even in educational circles. However, the foundations laid by this 19th century German educator still firmly underlie early childhood education.What we have come to know as the hallmarks of childhood were established by Froebel over 175 years ago. At that time, play was viewed as idle, and children were considered miniature adults. Froebel radically asserted that children learn best through play, that academics should be left for after the age of seven, and that children need to be in an environment suited to learning through their hands. He believed that a child naturally loves movement, music, and exploration in nature. Stories and rhymes should be the basis for later letter and number skills.
Froebel did not so much invent these key factors of childhood, rather, he brought them to the surface and into everyone’s attention. Froebel made children important. His ideas became embodied in his original “Kindergarten” or a “Children’s Garden” based on the philosophy that children, like plants, grow at their own pace but must be nurtured by the family and society.
Froebel did not so much invent these key factors of childhood, rather, he brought them to the surface and into everyone’s attention. Froebel made children important. His ideas became embodied in his original “Kindergarten” or a “Children’s Garden” based on the philosophy that children, like plants, grow at their own pace but must be nurtured by the family and society.