Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-12-16
0Wortester Daily Spp.
From the New York Evening Post.
THE SEVEN GIFTS OF FROEBEL.


mination Of impulse. In America a mother
seldom PHILOSOPHERS as to the most expedient
plan for amusing her little two-year old child,
much less does she think of combining the
useful with the sweet, and directing her child's
trollcs into a given path, intended to unite
mental training with infantile gambols, and to
elevate simultaneously the head and the
heels.
But in Germany the philosophical teachers
of the young devote their energies towards
this happy combination, and with con siderable
success, as is shown by the prevalence of
"Kinder Garten"-chiIdren' gardens. These
establishments are principally founded upon
the theories and practices of Frederick Froebel,
a man whose life was devoted to the education
of the young He was born in 1882 at Ober-
weissbach, in the princpality Of Schwarzburg-
Rudolstadt, and passed his youth with his
father, an humble curate. He then spent
some time with Pestaozzi in Switzerland, took
part in the war for German independence, aud
at its close was offered a high position in the
Neurological Museum at Berlin This office,
however, he soon abandoned to devote him
self entirely to educational schemes, and
founded his first establishment at Keihan,
small village of Thuringia, where this school,
supported by the people of the neighboring
villages, is still in existence.
The leading idea of Froebe is "that educa-
ton should develop the individuals according
to the peculiar tendencies of his nature, and
not according to an arbitrary standard" To
discover these peculiar tendencies" the vari-
Gus predictions of the child must be observed
These the maternal instinct readily ascertains
and appreciates, and it is to the instinct, en-
Gghtened by knowledge and aided by SYSTEM
attic discipline, that Foroebel trusts the destiny
of the future man.
Fro .bePs idea of fKinder Garten" was an
establishment supplied with spacious school
rooms, with large gardens attached, including
a general playground and special plot for
each pupil. The children living at the Kinder
Garten would comprise both sexes and all
ages, from two months to fourteen years. The
teachers he considered more efficient were
young women of talent and ability.
Of course babies of tender years could not
be prematurely given over to geography and
mathematics, or even to primers or horticul-
ture. So, for the infants of two months old
and the other younger denizens of the Kinder
Garten, Froebel designed games and plays
adapted to their age. And it is here the Ger
man philosophical tendency seems to us so
singularly disproportionate to the object to be
gained. Froebel in his arrangement of play
things for children was quite as solemn and
philosophic as any of the German transcen-
dental theorists
He therefore devised a series of paythings
known i'll Germany by the name OF the "Six
gifts of Froebel." The first of these, intended
for the early period of infancy, is composed of
six balls, which present the coors of the prism
red, blue, green, violet, yellow and orange
By judcious use of this, the child, it is
maintained, gains its first ideas of form, and
color, and size, and number. The teacher is
to throw this ball to the child, at the same time
singing appropriate nursery songs. The Sc
cond gift is tearfully suggestive of geometry,
and consists eff solids-the cube, the cylinder
and the wooden ball, and also stick and
string. The third gift is merely an application
or improvement upon the second, and consists
OF cube cut once i'll every given direction, or
into eight similar cubes. The fourth gift is
still more thoroughly geometrical consisting of
a ''cube divided into eight eqnal planes. The
fifth gift is an extension of the third. The
cube is divided into twenty -seven equal cubes
three Of these are again divided oblibuely into
halves, and three into quarters. Ii is argued
that this gift enables the child to obtain aecu-
rate notions OF the elements of geometry and
perspective. The sixth gift bears the same
relation to the fonrth as the fifth to the third.
The cube is divided into twenty seven planes,
of which six are again divided, three in
height, three in breadth giving thus col
umns and squares. OF course, full and
riety of combinations that may be produced by
judicious use of the scientific playthings are
fully shown-in theory at least. These in
structions are enhanced by appalling prece
dents and references. Thus, a child in use of
the sixth gift has been known to build mnia-
ture houses, churches, and bridges evincing
the most surprising architectural skill. The
seventh gift contains all the variety of forms of
the previous gifts. 1t is maintained that by
the time the child has mastered all the gifts,
his mind will be stored with important facts,
his body duly exercised, as well as his men
tai and moral faculties, and himself quite pre-,
pared to enter more advanced school. Fol
lowing the mysterious games with cubes, some
horticultural pursuits, mechanical construc-
tons, gymnastc exercises, music and various
other learned notifications of play.
Many people, on learning FroebePs theory
and the results of its practice, would feel
strongly disposed to accord to German chill
drcn preternatural powers. Modelling in
clay" among American Juveniles, might be
interpreted as "making mud pies" but in
Germany it's different. We are told of lit
tie boy, seven years old, who modelled in clay
q gorgeous temple, surrounded by elegant col
umns, with a horse at full gallop before it.
This lad was once the terror OF the house from
his destructive qualities but he was sent to
the Kinder Garten, went through a course of
cubes and became a constructive, instead of
destructive genius.
In comparison with the German games we
feel inclined to blush at the puerity of the
"Hunt the Slipper" Button, Button" "Quu-
kerr" Goat, Peas, Beans" and other amuse-
ments in which our children, who have never
enjoyed the instructive influences of the Seven
Cubic Gifts, indulge. Froebels plays are
plays of union and order Every motion is
according to rhythm, and there is not a mus
Gle in the body, nor an organ of the mind re-
curing exercise, that does not receive its ne
cessary stimulus through them. The charms
OF music enhance these games, and the scien'
tfc gambos are always accompanied by song.
There is play representing the solar aystem.
The talest child stands i'll the centre of the
room, holding in his hand as many rib
bons as there are planets. The smallest child
represents Mercury, and taking hold Of the
shortest ribbon, moves around the "sun," to
represent his annual notion and turning round
upon his heels during this circuit extending
the hand that holds its ribbon over its head, to
initiate the diurnal motion. In the meantime,
all the children sing an ode to Mercury. and
then the other planets take their turn This
play might be introduced in this country, if
Professor Mitchell and a deputation from the
Dudley Observatory would engage to preside
over the astronomic gambols of our rising gen.
Grafton. There are other abstruse games that
would demand the services of Professor Ora
per in chemistry, Professor Silman in miner
alogy, and other scientific men in their various
departments.
The comparison between the playthings re-
ceived by the children of the German Kinder
garten, and those showered upon the children
Of New York, is decidedly striking. The
German child has his seven gifts of Froebel, but
l.. al le hoe