KINDERGARTEN, the name given by Friedrich Froebel (q.v.) to an institution founded by him in Blankenburg, Ger many, in 1837, to meet the educational needs of children between the ages of four and six years, through the agency of play. Froebel was at this time a teacher of varied experience whose training had included study at the University of Jena and Pesta lozzi's school at Yverdun. From these he had gained a knowledge of the principle of evolution, and from it had drawn the conclusion that education is, in essence, the guidance of children's develop ment from stage to stage, and that the chief agency in that devel opment is their spontaneous play activity. He therefore concluded that the early years are of strategic importance, and that the work of these should receive careful attention. He had tried to improve the work of his boys at Keilhau but felt that they lacked the foundation which they might have had if the earlier years had been utilized.
Froebel had long wished to organize a programme of activities for a group of children of preschool age, when the opportunity to do so came to him through his appointment to the directorship of an orphanage in Burgdorf, Switzerland, in 1835. Here he experimented with a group of young children, working out with them games, songs, marches, handwork and other play forms. He also devised a progressive series of play materials from which the children might gain certain definite ideas, and by means of which they might give expression to others. For the first he selected a set of six soft balls, one of each of the six colours; for the second, a wooden sphere, cube and cylinder; for the third, a two-inch cube divided into eight smaller cubes; and for the fourth, a two-inch cube divided into eight oblong blocks, two inches long, one inch wide and half an inch thick. The fifth and sixth were three-inch cubes with more complex sub-divisions for building purposes. All of these were contained in boxes appro priate to their sizes and shapes. The remaining playthings in the series consisted of wooden tablets of different sizes and shapes; sticks of different lengths; and rings of different diam eters. To distinguish these from other play material Froebel named
those in this series "gifts" and the flexible material that accom panied them, "occupations." The success of this experiment assured Froebel that he was working along right lines and he therefore left Burgdorf in 1837, and settled in Blankenburg. Here a little later he announced the opening of "a school for the psychological training of little chil dren by means of play and occupations." To this the name "Kindergarten," meaning "a garden of children," was given in 1840. The new institution attracted many visitors, and through these and Froebel's demonstrations and lectures, soon became well known. It continued in operation until 1844, when it was merged with the school at Keilhau, and Froebel's training classes moved to Liebenstein, and later to Marienthal. Here his work was continued until his death in 1852. The number of Kindergartens that had been established at this time was quite small—probably less than 20. His work was carried on. however.—at first through his ablest co-workers—Madame Froebel, his widow, the Baroness von Marenholtz-Billow, his most brilliant pupil, and Fraulein Henrietta Breyman, his grand-niece. Madame Froebel built up a strong training centre in Hamburg. The baroness lectured in practically all the countries of Europe, and established a training school in Berlin. Fraulein Breyman supervised Kindergartens in Belgium and Switzerland, and (as Frau Schröder) later estab lished the Pestalozzi-Froebel Haus in Berlin. In Italy the Kinder garten was introduced by Madame Salis-Schwabe. The move ment gained favour everywhere, and during the 25 years after Froebel's death, Kindergartens had been established in the lead ing cities of Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, Switzer land, Austria, Hungary, Canada, Japan and the United States.