It was Froebel, a German educationalist, who laid the foundations for modern education systems based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities.
via Friedrich Froebel 1782 – 1852 The birth of the kindergarten.
Frobel’s philosophy of education was based on four major principles: free self expression, creativity, social participation and motor expression. He began to focus on the needs of children just prior to entering school. Froebel envisioned a place where 4 to 6 year old children would be nurtured and protected from outside influences.
Before implementing these in the kindergarten, he originally devised these concepts for the child in the family. However, these became linked with a demand for the provision of care and development of children outside of the home.
In 1840 Frobel created the word kindergarten (infant garden) for the Play and Activity Institute he had founded in 1837 with its emphasis on play as well as featuring games, songs, stories, and arts and crafts to stimulate the child’s imagination and develop physical and motor skills.
He considered the purpose of education to be to encourage and guide man as a conscious, thinking and perceiving being in a way that becomes a pure and perfect representation of the divine inner law through his own personal choice. Education must show him the meanings of attaining that goal.
Frobel believed that humans are productive and creative and fulfillment comes through developing harmony with God and the world. The emphasis of the early years setting was on practical work and the direct use of materials. Through exploring the environment, the child’s understanding of the world unfolds. Frobel believed in the importance of play in a child’s learning as a creative activity.
To Froebel, play provided the means for a child’s intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. Froebel believed that the education of a child began at birth, and that parents and teachers played a crucial role in helping children in this activity. “Play is a mirror of life”, he wrote, leading to self discipline and respect for law and order.
He developed a series of materials known as ‘gifts’ and a series of recommended activities ‘occupations’ and movement activities. Gifts were objects that were fixed in form such as blocks. The purpose was that in playing with the object the child would learn the underlying concept represented by the object. Occupations allowed more freedom and consisted of things that children could shape and manipulate such as clay, sand, beads, and string There was an underlying symbolic meaning in all that was done. Clean up time was seen as a reminder of God’s plan for moral and social order.