The concept of “Kindergarten” was first developed by a German pedagogue called Friedrich Fröbel. He is also considered to have established a foundation for modern education wherein, every child was to be recognized depending on his/her unique capabilities and needs. He was a student of a Swiss pedagogue known as Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. He is also known for developing educational toys which were called “Frobel toys”.
The personal background of Fröbel:
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel was born on the 21st April 1782 in a town called Oberweißbach located in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia, Germany. His father who died in 1802 was a pastor of the orthodox Lutheran parish. As a result of which Lutheran Christian faith became the foundation of Fröbel’s early education. His mother died when he was nine months old. He eventually married on the 11th September 1818 to Wilhelmine Henriette Hoffmeister in Berlin. Unfortunately Wilhelmine died in 1939 as a result of which Fröbel married Louise Levin in 1851 for the second time. He never had any children.
Fröbel’s professional career in the field of education as a “Pedagogue”:
His career as an educator began in 1805 at the Musterschule, a secondary school in Frankfurt. It was at this school that he was introduced to the ideas of a Swiss pedagogue called “Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi”. He then worked along with Pestalozzi in Switzerland where is ideas further developed. He then worked as a live-in teacher for a noble family in Frankfurt. He eventually became a teacher at a boarding school for boys known as Plamannsche Schule in Berlin. This boarding school during that period was also known to be a major pedagogical and patriotic centre.
It was eventually in 1840 that he first coined the word “kindergarten” for the Play and Activity Institute that he had established in 1837 at Bad Blankenburg in Germany. He also designed educational toys and were named “Fröbel Gifts” which, essentially consisted of geometric building blocks and pattern activity blocks. Above all his great contribution to child development was to recognize the importance of activity in a child’s life. He introduced activities such as singing, dancing, gardening, and encouraging the use of Fröbel Gifts. He also tried to introduce the child to the adult world via a songbook that he published called “Mutter- und Koselieder“. It was his ideas on child developlment that were then slowly introduced in the academic and royal circles. It was eventually on June 21st 1852 that Fröbel died in a place called Marienthal.
The legacy of Friedrich Fröbel:
After the unfortunate passing away of Fröbel it was his student Magarethe Schurz that decided to keep his legacy alive by establishing the world’ first kindergarten i.e. German speaking in Watertown, Wisconsin in the United States of America in 1856. This resulted in an American educator Elizabeth Peabody getting inspired and establishing the first English speaking kindergarten in the United States. And as of today there are a number of kindergartens in Germany named after Fröbel that continue to keep his legacy alive.
As can be seen today the concept of kindergarten is popular in most parts of the world thus, proving the fact that the legacy that Fröbel has left us with is indeed alive. So here is hoping that this generation and generations to follow continue to keep alive the legacy of a brilliant pedagogue called “Friedrich Fröbel”.
