FRIEDRICH

WILHELM AUGUST
FROEBEL

CRIS A. DAHUNAN
Reporter
 FRIEDRICH FROEBEL
- German educator
- Idealist
- Philosopher of early childhood education
- established the KINDERGARTEN, a
school for four-and five-year-old children
that is found worldwide.
Born: April 21, 1782, Oberweissbach, Germany
Died: June 21, 1852, Mariental Germany
 FROEBEL’S LIFE
 He is the youngest of the five sons of Johann
Jacob Froebel
 His mother died when he was 9 months old
 When he was 4 years old, his father remarried
 He was neglected by his stepmother
 He attended girl’s primary school
 He lived with his maternal uncle
 He was an apprentice to a forester and
surveyor in Neuhaus
 He studied Mathematics and Botany at the
University of Jena
 He briefly studied architecture
 He was hired as a teacher at Pestalozzian
Frankfurt Model School
 Johann Henrich Pestalozzi was became his
teacher
 He studied languages and science at the
University of Göttingen
 He studied mineralogy at the University of Berlin.
 FROEBEL’S LIFE
 Froebel established the Universal German
Educational Institute at Griesheim
 Froebel married Henrietta Wilhelmine
Hoffmeister
 Froebel established an institute at Wartensee
on Lake Sempach in Switzerland
 Froebel next operated an orphanage and
boarding school at Burgdorf
 FROEBEL’S LIFE
 He established a new type of early childhood
school, a child's garden, or kindergarten, for
three-and four-year-old children.
 In 1851 Karl von Raumer, the Prussian minister
of education, accused Froebel of undermining
traditional values by spreading atheism and
socialism. Despite Froebel's denial of these
accusations, von Raumer banned kindergartens
in Prussia.
 FROEBEL’S LIFE
 In 1852, in the midst of the controversy, Froebel
died. Although kindergartens existed in the
other German states, they were not re-
established in Prussia until 1860. By the end of
the nineteenth century, kindergartens had been
established throughout Europe and North
America.
FROEBEL'S KINDERGARTEN PHILOSOPHY

Froebel articulated the following idealist themes:

(1) all existence originates in and with God;
(2) humans possess an inherent spiritual essence
that is the vitalizing life force that causes
development;
(3) all beings and ideas are interconnected parts
of a grand, ordered, and systematic universe.
 FROEBEL'S GIFTS

Froebel's gifts were the following items.

 Six soft, colored balls
 A wooden sphere, cube, and cylinder
 A large cube divided into eight smaller cubes
 A large cube divided into eight oblong blocks
 A large cube divided into twenty-one whole, six
half, and twelve quarter cubes
 A large cube divided into eighteen whole oblongs:
three divided lengthwise; three divided
breadthwise
 Quadrangular and triangular tablets used for
arranging figures
 Sticks for outlining figures· Whole and half wire
rings for outlining figures
 Various materials for drawing, perforating,
embroidering, paper cutting, weaving or braiding,
paper folding, modeling, and interlacing
Froebel’s most important contribution to
educational theory was his belief in “self-activity”
and play as essential factors in child education.
The teacher’s role was not to drill or indoctrinate
the children but rather to encourage their self-
expression through play, both individually and in
group activities. 
He believed that “play is the highest expression
of human development in childhood for it alone is
the free expression of what is in the child’s soul.”
According to Froebel, in play children construct
their understanding of the world through direct
experience with it.
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.
According to Froebel, education is a
development from within. Education is a
development from which man’s life broadens until
it has related itself to nature, until it enters
sympathetically into all activities of the society,
until it participates in the achievement of the race
and aspirations of humanity.
Froebel considered the whole child's, health,
physical development, the environment,
emotional well-being, mental ability, social
relationships and spiritual aspects of
development as important.
Froebel's notion of the adult making rich
provision, guiding children in their play and
interactions, opening up possibilities rather than
constraining them, helping children develop
autonomy and self-discipline within a framework
of respect for others remains a powerful
approach today.
“Children are like tiny flowers; they are varied
and need care, but each is beautiful alone and
glorious when seen in the community of
peers.”
Thank you.