Friedrich Fröbel – Founder of the Kindergarten
Behind the term Fröbel kindergarten stands the namesake Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel (1782–1852), who is regarded as the founder of the kindergarten. As an educator and pupil of Pestalozzi, he recognized the importance of early childhood for a child's development. In 1840 the first 'General German Kindergarten' was founded. With the establishment of the kindergarten, a care institution for children was created for the first time that followed a pedagogical mission with education and upbringing and did not serve merely as a custodial institution.
Fröbel Kindergartens – Concept and Practice
In Germany, but also worldwide, there are many kindergartens named after the educator Fröbel that continue his pedagogy. The largest provider is FRÖBEL e.V., a non-profit association based in Berlin. FRÖBEL operates around 150 kindergartens, after-school care centers and crèches throughout the country. In addition, there are other initiatives and associations that run kindergartens according to Fröbel pedagogy.
The goal: Fröbel recognized that children should be especially supported in early childhood, as this stage of life makes a significant contribution to development. The aim of his pedagogy and work was to educate children to become free, thinking and self-active individuals. Fröbel kindergartens adopt this goal and accompany and support children on this path. Overall, they pursue a holistic educational approach aimed at expressing the inner — thoughts and feelings — and internalizing the outer — experiences and perceptions.
Pedagogical mission: The central role of the Fröbel kindergarten is self-experience. In groups and alone, children learn best by trying things out, observing and experimenting. Fröbel pedagogy assumes that education is only possible from within itself. Education therefore cannot be imposed from the outside, but must be intrinsically motivated. What has been learned is consolidated through repetition.
Participation: Fröbel kindergartens work according to the principle of activity pedagogy, i.e. children are not lectured but encouraged to shape things themselves out of their own free will and to discover new things through trying them out. In this way, children learn not only to become aware of themselves but also to respect and consider other people and their will.
Children's rights: Fröbel himself as well as Fröbel kindergartens regard children as full members of society who, regardless of gender, origin, culture or mental or physical constitution, have the right to education.
Holistic education: Damit Kinder sich frei entfalten können, verfolgt die Fröbelpädagogik eine ganzheitliche Erziehung unter Berücksichtigung aller Bildungsbereiche. Dazu gehört, dass Kinder die Möglichkeit haben, sich z. B. mit folgenden Bereichen zu beschäftigen: Music, Nature, Culture & Society, Building & Construction, Painting & Drawing, Imaginative and role play.
Play: Playing, according to Fröbel, is one of the most important elements of development. Here children can express themselves, experiment and acquire knowledge about their world. For this reason Fröbel developed play materials that are still used today. The play materials consist of an interlocking system of play gifts, today also known as Fröbel gifts, and activity materials. These activity materials give children the opportunity to develop senses and skills.
Language support: Language and language development play a central role in Fröbel kindergartens. Language support is provided alongside activities: while playing, observing and discovering, educators comment on what is happening. This exposes even very young children to a broad vocabulary and allows them to practice in small dialogues. Language development is additionally supported by reading aloud stories, picture books or fairy tales.
Parental involvement: The concept of a Fröbel kindergarten only works with the consent and cooperation of parents or other important caregivers. Parents and educators exchange information about the child's development at regular intervals. If the child is present, one should not speak about the child, but with the child.
Play and learning materials by Friedrich Fröbel
The play gifts developed by Fröbel are still popular with children and parents today and are available in various forms. Essentially, the play gifts consist of basic geometric shapes such as spheres, rollers and cylinders. The principle behind them is that the play gifts are provided progressively as the child grows older. Each play gift contains building blocks that the child already knows, as well as new shapes that arise from dividing the familiar figures. The ever-smaller building blocks allow for increasingly differentiated play. This is intended to enable the child to discover the world and its regularities.
