Inventing Kindergarten

Even though I worked for years as a kindergarden aide and later taught art (following California standards) in the first and second grades, I had very little knowledge of Friedrich Froebel's legacy as the inventor of kindergarten and none whatsoever of his influence on modern art. In this little review I cannot begin to explain the complexity of Froebel's philosophy and how it tied into his instructional system. If you are an artist, an educator, a parent, or someone who cares deeply about learning you must read this book. Norman Brosterman,the author,is to be praised for his understanding and appreciation of Froebel's genius. His book enables the reader to go back in time and see how kindergarten developed and it's developmental effect on the child. I'm sorry to say that today, in many schools, kindergarten is simply a place where children are prepared to move on to first grade with a knowledge of the alphabet, the ability to print letters, introduction to math, etc. Something got lost.

For anyone interested in Bauhaus, this is a fascinating book that traces the Bauhaus design vocabulary and sensibility to the German Kindergarten.The book is out of print, and new copies are very expensive, so I ordered a used book. It was accurately described as being in good condition.

This book tells us a bit about the thinking behind kindergarten---how it was designed and why. We've lost that in our modern educational institutions. It is time to go "back to basics," in the sense that it is time to return to the ideas of the great educational thinkers such as Friedrich Froebel. Our schools are in trouble. They push children to memorize and regurgitate information---facts---but they no longer teach children HOW to be learners. Critical thinking and problem-solving are being lost, along with joy and curiosity and initiative. its time to review our schools and this book is a good start to the conversation.

Not only did Froebel's ideas somewhat baffled early/mid 19th Century Germany, but they feared his somewhat oddball approach to children by allowing them to "work" with peculiar, open-ended objects. Some in Switzerland even labeled him a heretic to the church. Enlightening ideas like these turn Brosterman's (not even an early childhood professional)book into a wealth of information.One of the amazing ideas that I uncovered came in the form of how many different Gifts existed. I thought Froebel only made ten, but TWENTY existed.Please read this book over at least so that you can take a gander at the wonderfully valuable pictures of the original classroom and the original Milton Bradley-made gifts.

facinating book

The book is awesome it came on time!

All good!!!

A thorough tracing of the ideas and uses of materials (gifts/occupations) in the early kindergarten movement. The juxtaposition of pictures of the kindergarten exercises and manipulatives with the adult abstract art of 20th century Cubism, Constructivism, and architectural planning is stimulating and thought provoking. This book is both delightful reading and browsing, and intellectually fresh in probing connections between childhood experience and adult art expression. The respect paid to Froebel is also gratifying. Many books in education leave the impression that he was an irresponsible dreamer and was a victim of lifelong misunderstanding and harrassment. This book acknowledges the personal and political problems he experienced without making them a focus of the text. Professionals in child development will find this a rewarding reading experience.