Friedrich FroebelBy: Kirsten Wilson AKA Saskia

Early Life Born April 21st, 1792 Froebel was the youngest of five sons Father : Johann Jacob Froebel who was a

Lutheran pastor at Oberweissbach in Germany.

Froebel’s mother died when he was 9 months old and his father remarried when Froebel was 4 yrs old.

Early Life (cont’d) Froebels father made him attend an all girls

school in Oberweissbach From 1793-1798, Froebel lived with his maternal

uncle Herr Hoffman who allowed him to attend the local town school

 At the age of 15 Fröbel, who loved nature, became the apprentice to a forester.

In 1799, he decided to leave his apprenticeship and study mathematics and botany in Jena

From 1802 to 1805, he worked as a land surveyor

In 1805 Anton Gruener, headmaster of the Pestalozzian Frankfurt Model School, hired Froebel as a teacher.

At only 24 years old, Gruener prepared Froebel to teach by having him take a class with Johann Henrich Pestalozzi at Yverdon

Beginning of Teaching Career In 1816 Froebel established the Universal

German Educational Institute at Griesheim. He moved the institute to Keilhau in 1817

where it functioned until 1829. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Wilhelmine

Hoffmeister who assisted him until her death In 1831 Froebel established an institute at

Wartensee on Lake Sempach in Switzerland and then relocated the school to Willisau.

Froebel next operated an orphanage and boarding school at Burgdorf.

Kindergarten! In 1837 Froebel returned to Germany and

established a new learning system for 3 and 4 yr old. “Child garden”

Used play, songs and activities as a basis for a child’s development.

Believed children would follow the divinely established laws of human growth through their own activity.

Froebel's reputation as an early childhood educator increased and kindergartens were established throughout the German states.

Legacy In 1851 Karl von Raumer, the Prussian

minister of education, accused Froebel of undermining traditional values by spreading atheism and socialism.

Despite Froebel's denial of these accusations, von Raumer banned kindergartens in Prussia.

In 1852, in the midst of the controversy, Froebel died.

Legacy (Cont’d) Although kindergartens existed in the other

German states, they were not reestablished in Prussia until 1860. By the end of the nineteenth century, kindergartens had been established throughout Europe and North America.

Influences Pestalozzi’s respect for the dignity of children and

creation of a learning environment of emotional security were elements that Froebel wanted to incorporate in his own teaching.

Was intrigued by Pestalozzi's form, number, and name lessons, which would form a basis for his later design of the kindergarten gifts

Kindergarten Philosophy

“all existence originates in and with God” “humans possess an inherent spiritual essence that is the

vitalizing life force that causes development” “all beings and ideas are interconnected parts of a grand,

ordered and systematic universe” Each child has an internal spiritual essence that develops

through self activity Primary focus is play

Curriculum Froebel developed a series of gifts and occupations for use in kindergartens. Representing what Froebel identified as fundamental forms, the gifts had both their actual physical appearance and also a hidden symbolic meaning.

Diffusion of Kindergarten

In the United States, German immigrants introduced the kindergarten.

Henry Barnard, the first U.S. Commissioner of Education, popularized Froebel's philosophy in his Common School Journal. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody established a kindergarten in Boston, translated several of Froebel's books into English, established an institute to train kindergarten teachers.

Backe, backe Kuchen,Der Bäcker hat gerufen!Wer will gute Kuchen backen,Der muss haben sieben Sachen:Eier und Schmalz,Butter und Salz,Milch und Mehl,Safran macht den Kuchen gel'! (gelb)Schieb in den Ofen 'rein.(Morgen muss er fertig sein.)

Backe, backe Kuchen,der Bäcker hat gerufen,hat gerufen die ganze Nacht,(Name des Kindes) hat keinen   Teig gebracht,kriegt er auch kein' Kuchen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-VOf_ysne0

Sources http://education.stateuniversity.com/

pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852.html

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-froeb.htm

http://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/learning-library/articles/friedrich-froebel