The cube was added to the sphere in the second play gift described by Friedrich Froebel in Sonntagsblatt (1838-1840).
Froebel selected the cylinder as an intermediary form between the sphere and the cube.
“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.”
Fundamental law of the connection of contrasts formulated in the Education of Man (1826).
This modern second play gift includes two of each shape.
The Froebel Gallery supplies both these versions of the second play gift, email gallery@froebel.org for more information.
Paradise of Childhood
This practical guide to playing with the second gift and other play gifts designed by Friedrich Froebel has many illustrations can be read online
A free digitised version of Paradise of Childhood by Edward Wiebe, Edited by Milton Bradley London: George Phillip & Son Ltd., 1896 is available as a single PDF (74MB) at the Froebel Digital Collection.