The first exposition of the ball and cube was printed by Froebel in the Sonntagsblatt of 1838, Nos. 8 — 12.
The meaning and use of play gifts were explained by Froebel in the Sonntagsblatt (1838-1840).
His fundamental law of the connection of contrasts was formulated in the Education of Man in 1826.
“It is well to call the attention of each child to one great law, which dominates in nature and thought. Between two things or two ideas relatively different there always exists a third which unites the two others in itself, and is found between them with a certain equilibrium.”
Already in 1838, Froebel already gives himself to the search for an intermediary form between the ball and the cube, the cylinder.
source: Papers on Froebel’s kindergarten
The emotional framework of the family already serves as a way of penetrating and understanding the structure of reality. The family supplies this transparency indirectly and in a situational manner.
School education as ‘conscious’ education goes beyond education provided within the family because the functionality of family life is taken further and deepened, rationally and continuously, by teaching and analysis of the structure of things. Thus Fröbel is able to define his educational practice as a ‘conscious’ family life.
When each person understands their living potential through thought, they practise self reflection and make this potential conceptually accessible within themselves, through the process of thought.
Acting according to this insight gives expression to this relationship that is understood within, and so brings together the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ factors of the life of each person.
Each person not merely reflects and acts according to the insight acquired, but also grasps external reality, by understanding the fundamental laws and structure of the ‘external’.
‘Internalizing the external and externalizing the internal means seeking the unity of both in the general external form through which the purpose of of each person is manifested’