Friedrich Frbel

Friedrich Wilhelm August Frbel or Froebel ( listen ) (German:

Friedrich Frbel
[fid vlhlm ast fbl]; 21 April 1782 21 June 1852) was a
German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who laid the foundation for
modern education based on the recognition that children have unique
needs and capabilities. He created the concept of the "kindergarten"
and also coined the word now used in German and English. He also
developed the educational toys known as Froebel Gifts.

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Career

2 Legacy
Friedrich Wilhelm August Frbel
3 Works
Born Friedrich Wilhelm August
4 References
Frbel
5 Further reading
21 April 1782
6 External links
Oberweibach,
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt,
Holy Roman Empire
Biography Died 21 June 1852 (aged 70)
Friedrich Frbel was born at Schweina, German
Oberweibach in the Principality of Confederation
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in Era 19th-century philosophy
Thuringia. A cousin of his was the
Region Western philosophy
mother of Henriette Schrader-
Breymann, and Henriette became a student of his.[1] Frbel's father, who died
House in Oberweibach
where Friedrich Frbel was in 1802, was the pastor of the orthodox Lutheran (alt-lutherisch) parish there.
born The church and Lutheran Christian faith were pillars in Frbel's own early
education. Oberweibach was a wealthy village in the Thuringian Forest and
had been known centuries long for its natural herb remedies, tinctures, bitters,
soaps and salves. Families had their own inherited areas of the forest where herbs and roots were grown and
harvested. Each family prepared, bottled, and produced their individual products which were taken throughout
Europe on trade routes passed from father to son, who were affectionately called "Buckelapotheker" or Rucksack
Pharmacists. They adorned the church with art acquired from their travels, many pieces of which can still be seen
in the renovated structure. The pulpit from which Frbel heard his father preach is the largest in all Europe and
can fit a pastor and 12 people, a direct reference to Christ's apostles.

Shortly after Frbel's birth, his mother's health began to fail. She died when he was nine months old, profoundly
influencing his life. In 1792, Frbel went to live in the small town of Stadt-Ilm with his uncle, a gentle and
affectionate man. At the age of 15 Frbel, who loved nature, became the apprentice to a forester. In 1799, he
decided to leave his apprenticeship and study mathematics and botany in Jena. From 1802 to 1805, he worked as a
land surveyor.

On 11 September 1818, Frbel wed Wilhelmine Henriette Hoffmeister (b. 1780) in Berlin. The union was childless.
Wilhelmine died in 1839, and Frbel married again in 1851. His second wife was Louise Levin.

Career
He began as an educator in 1805 at the Musterschule (a secondary school) in Frankfurt, where he learned about
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzis ideas. He later worked with Pestalozzi in Switzerland where his ideas further
developed. From 1806 Frbel was the live-in teacher for a Frankfurt noble familys three sons. He lived with the
three children from 1808 to 1810 at Pestalozzis institute in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland.

In 1811, Frbel once again went back to school in Gttingen and Berlin, eventually leaving without earning a
certificate. He became a teacher at the Plamannsche Schule in Berlin, a boarding school for boys, and at that time
also a pedagogical and patriotic centre.

During his service in the Ltzow Free Corps in 1813 and 1814 when he was
involved in two campaigns against Napoleon Frbel befriended Wilhelm
Middendorf, a theologian and fellow pedagogue, and Heinrich Langethal, also
a pedagogue. After Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna, Frbel found himself
a civilian once again and became an assistant at the Museum of Mineralogy
under Christian Samuel Weiss. This did not, however, last very long, and by
1816 he had quit and founded the Allgemeine Deutsche Erziehungsanstalt
Allgemeine Deutsche
(German General Education Institute) in Griesheim near Arnstadt in Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau,
Thuringia. A year later he moved this to Keilhau near (now in) Rudolstadt. In nowadays the Keilhau Free
1831, work was continued there by the other cofounders Wilhelm Middendorf Frbel School
and Heinrich Langethal.

In 1820, Frbel published the first of his five Keilhau pamphlets, An unser deutsches Volk (To Our German
People). The other four were published between then and 1823.

In 1826 he published his main literary work, Die Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man) and founded the
weekly publication Die erziehenden Familien (The Educating Families). In 1828 and 1829 he pursued plans for a
peoples education institute (Volkserziehungsanstalt) in Helba (nowadays a constituent community of Meiningen),
but they were never realized.

From 1831 to 1836, Frbel once again lived in Switzerland. In 1831 he founded an educational institute in
Wartensee (Lucerne). In 1833 he moved this to Willisau, and from 1835 to 1836, he headed the orphanage in
Burgdorf (Berne), where he also published the magazine Grundzge der Menschenerziehung (Features of Human
Education). In 1836 appeared his work Erneuerung des Lebens erfordert das neue Jahr 1836 (The New Year 1836
Calls For the Renewal of Life).

He returned to Germany, dedicated himself almost exclusively to preschool child education and began
manufacturing playing materials in Bad Blankenburg. In 1837 he founded a care, playing and activity institute for
small children in Bad Blankenburg. From 1838 to 1840 he also published the magazine Ein Sonntagsblatt fr
Gleichgesinnte (A Sunday Paper for the Like-Minded).

In 1840 he coined the word kindergarten for the Play and Activity Institute he had founded in 1837 at Bad
Blankenburg for young children, together with Wilhelm Middendorf and Heinrich Langethal. These two men were
Frbels most faithful colleagues when his ideas were also transplanted to Keilhau near Rudolstadt.
He designed the educational play materials known as Froebel Gifts, or Frbelgaben, which included geometric
building blocks and pattern activity blocks. A book entitled Inventing Kindergarten, by Norman Brosterman,
examines the influence of Friedrich Frbel on Frank Lloyd Wright and modern art.

Friedrich Frbel's great insight was to recognise the importance of the activity of the child in learning. He
introduced the concept of "free work" (Freiarbeit) into pedagogy and established the "game" as the typical form
that life took in childhood, and also the games educational worth. Activities in the first kindergarten included
singing, dancing, gardening and self-directed play with the Froebel Gifts. Frbel intended, with his Mutter- und
Koselieder a songbook that he published to introduce the young child into the adult world.

These ideas about childhood development and education were introduced to academic and royal circles through
the tireless efforts of his greatest proponent, the Baroness (Freiherrin) Bertha Marie von Marenholtz-Blow.
Through her Frbel made the acquaintance of the Royal House of the Netherlands, various Thuringian dukes and
duchesses, including the Romanov wife of the Grand Duke von Sachsen-Weimar. Baroness von Marenholtz-Blow,
Duke von Meiningen and Frbel gathered donations to support art education for children in honor of the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Goethe. The Duke of Meiningen granted the use of his hunting lodge, called Marienthal
(the Vale of Mary) in the resort town of Bad Liebenstein for Frbel to train the first women as Kindergarten
teachers (called Kindergrtnerinnen).

Frbel died on 21 June 1852 in Marienthal, now a constituent community of Schweina.[2] His grave can still be
found in the cemetery at Schweina, where his widow, who died in Hamburg, was also buried on 10 January 1900.

Legacy
Frbels idea of the kindergarten found appeal,
but its spread in Germany was thwarted by the
Prussian government, whose education ministry
banned it on 7 August 1851 as "atheistic and
demagogic" for its alleged "destructive
tendencies in the areas of religion and politics".
Other states followed suit. The reason for the
ban, however, seems to have been a confusion of
names. Frbels nephew Karl Frbel had written
and published Weibliche Hochschulen und
Kindergrten (Female Colleges and
The Frbel Memorial
Kindergartens), which apparently met with some
at the Frbel
disapproval. To quote Karl August Varnhagen
Frbelturm near Kindergarten in
von Ense, "The stupid minister (Karl Otto) von Mhlhausen, Thuringia
Oberweibach
Raumer has decreed a ban on kindergartens, shows the pedagogical
basing himself on a book by Karl Frbel. He is basic forms.
confusing Friedrich and Karl Frbel."

Frbels student Margarethe Schurz founded the first kindergarten in the United States at Watertown, Wisconsin
in 1856, and she also inspired Elizabeth Peabody, who went on to found the first English-speaking kindergarten in
the United States the language at Schurzs kindergarten had been German, to serve an immigrant community
in Boston in 1860. This paved the way for the concepts spread in the USA. The German migr Adolph Douai had
also founded a kindergarten in Boston in 1859, but was obliged to close it after only a year. By 1866, however, he
was founding others in New York City.

The pedagogue August Khler was the initiator and cofounder in 1863 of the Deutscher Frbelverein (German
Frbel Association), first for Thuringia, out of which grew the Allgemeiner Frbelverein (General Frbel
Association) in 1872, and a year later the Deutscher Frbelverband (German Frbel Federation). August Khler
critically analyzed and evaluated Frbel theory, adopted fundamental notions into his own kindergarten pedagogy
and expanded on these, developing an independent "Khler Kindergarten Pedagogy". He first trained kindergarten
teachers in Gotha in 1857. In the beginning, Khler had thought to engage male educators exclusively, but far too
few applied.

Thekla Naveau founded in October 1853 the first kindergarten in Sondershausen and on 1 April 1867 the first
kindergarten after the Prussian ban was lifted in Nordhausen.

Angelika Hartmann founded in 1864 the first kindergarten after Frbels model in Kthen, Anhalt.

In 1908 and 1911, kindergarten teacher training was recognized in Germany through state regulatory laws.

In the meantime, there are many kindergartens in Germany named after Frbel that continue his pedagogy. Many
of them have sprung from parental or other private initiatives. The biggest Frbel association, Frbel e.V., today
runs more than 100 kindergartens and other early childhood institutions throughout the country through the
Frbel-Gruppe.

Committed to Frbels legacy is also the Neuer Thringer Frbelverein

(NTFV; New Thuringian Frbel Association), and in particular to protecting
the legacys business receipts. As well, the Association runs a school museum
and the Frbel Archive in Keilhau. Furthermore, it engages itself in Frbel
institutions worldwide (United States, United Kingdom, Japan). Through this
network, the NTFV further continues one of the most prominent lines of
modern pedagogy from the authentic "Frbel town" of Keilhau. The Frbel
Diploma, now conferred by the Frbel Academy in Nordhausen, can also be In the Netherlands, frbelen
traced back to the NTFV. All this ensures that Frbels ideas will live on into means to be busy with arts
the future. and crafts. Here a shop in
Terborg.
Frbels building forms and movement games are also forerunners of abstract
art as well as a source of inspiration to the Bauhaus movement.[3] In Frbels
honour, Walter Gropius designed the Friedrich Frbel Haus.

In 1892 followers of Frbel established a college of teacher education in South West London to continue his
traditions. Froebel College is now a constituent college of Roehampton University and is home to the university's
department of education. The University of Roehampton Library is also home to the Froebel Archive for Childhood
Studies,[4] a collection of books, archives, photographs, objects and multi-media materials, centring on Friedrich
Frbels educational legacy, early years and elementary education. The Demonstration School, originally located at
Colet Court, Kensington, has evolved into Ibstock Place School, Roehampton.

Today the Pestalozzi-Frbel-Haus in Berlin continues to train nursery school teachers.[5]

Works
(a selection of Frbel`s works from his time at Keilhau)

An unser deutsches Volk. Erfurt 1820.

Durchgreifende, dem deutschen Charakter erschpfend gengende Erziehung ist das Grund- und
Quellbedrfnis des deutschen Volkes. Erfurt 1821.
Die Grundstze, der Zweck und das innere Leben der allgemeinen deutschen Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau bei
Rudolstadt. Rudolstadt 1821.
 Die allgemeine deutsche Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau betreffend. Rudolstadt 1822.
ber deutsche Erziehung berhaupt und ber das allgemeine Deutsche der Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau
insbesondere. Rudolstadt 1822.
Fortgesetzte Nachricht von der allgemeinen deutschen Erziehungsanstalt in Keilhau. Rudolstadt 1823.
Die Menschenerziehung, die Erziehungs-, Unterrichts- und Lehrkunst, angestrebt in der allgemeinen
deutschen Erziehungsanstalt zu Keilhau. Erster Band. Keilhau-Leipzig 1826.
Die erziehenden Familien. Wochenblatt fr Selbstbildung und die Bildung Anderer. Keilhau-Leipzig 1826.

References
1. "Henriette Schrader-Breymann" (http://www.froebelweb.org/images/niece.html).
2. Frbels biography (http://www.froebelweb.de/index.php/biogr.html)
3. Frederick M. Logan, Kindergarten and Bauhaus, College Art Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Autumn, 1950), pp. 3643
4. "Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies" (http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library
/specialcollectionsandarchives/froebelarchiveforchildhoodstudies/). Studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk. Retrieved
2011-11-12.
5. Pestalozzi Froebel Haus (http://www.pfh-berlin.de/english), retrieved 2 August 2015

Further reading
Berger, Manfred: 150 Jahre Kindergarten. Ein Brief an Friedrich Frbel. Frankfurt 1990
Berger, Manfred: Frauen in der Geschichte des Kindergartens. Ein Handbuch. Frankfurt 1995
Frbel, Friedrich (1900) The Student's Froebel: adapted from "Die Erziehung der Menschheit" of F. Froebel, by
William H. Herford. 2 vols. London: Isbister, 190001. pt. 1. Theory of education pt. 2. Practice of education
(Substantially a translation of Froebel's work, with editorial comments and annotations)
Hebenstreit, Sigurd: Friedrich Frbel Menschenbild, Kindergartenpdagogik, Spielfrderung. Jena 2003.
ISBN 978-3-934601-58-1
Heiland, Helmut: Die Konzeption des Sachunterrichts bei Frbel (17821852). In: Kaiser, A./Pech, D. (Hrsg.):
Geschichte und historische Konzeptionen des Sachunterrichts. Baltmannsweiler 2004, pp. 6972
Heiland, Helmut: Friedrich Frbel in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten. Reinbek 1982
Heiland, Helmut: Die Schulpdagogik Friedrich Frbel. 1993
Wollons, Roberta. L., (Ed). Kindergartens and cultures : the global diffusion of an idea. New Haven, CT, Yale
University Press, 2000

External links
Works by Friedrich Frbel (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Frbel,+Friedrich) at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Friedrich Frbel (//archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Frbel
%2C%20Friedrich%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Friedrich%20Frbel%22%20OR%20creator
%3A%22Frbel%2C%20Friedrich%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Friedrich%20Frbel
%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Frbel%2C%20F%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Friedrich%20Frbel
%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Frbel%2C%20Friedrich%22%20OR%20description
%3A%22Friedrich%20Frbel%22%20OR%20%28Friedrich+Fr%2Abel%29%29%20OR%20
%28%221782-1852%22%20AND%20%28%22Frbel%22%20OR%20Frobel%29%29%29%20AND%20%28-
mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
Friedrich Frbel (https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&cqlMode=true&
query=idn%3D11853629X) in the German National Library catalogue
Heinrich Heppe (1878), "Frbel, Friedrich", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 8, Leipzig:
Duncker & Humblot, pp. 123124
"Friedrich Frbel". Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (http://www.bbkl.de
/f/froebel_f.shtml) (in German).
Froebel Education Centre Demonstration School for The Froebel Institute (http://www.froebel.com)
 Information about Friedrich Frbel (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-froeb.htm)
Friedrich Frbel website (http://www.friedrichfroebel.com/)
Friedrich Frbel: His life and influence on education (http://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/resources/articles
/friedrich-froebel.html)
Friedrich Frbels letters (http://bbf.dipf.de/digitale-bbf/editionen/froebel)
How to make a Frbel star (http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/froebelstern.htm)
"Frbel, Friedrich Wilhelm August". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

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