The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-17
Gdnrafinnal.
ABOUT THE KINDERGARTEN,

"
training children between the ages of
four and seven years. 1t is one of the
important periods of life when the child
is brought in contact with the circum-
stances, extraneous from home influences
which give inclination to growing char
acter. Parents have long experienced
the want of system of training or edu-
cation, by means of which these years
of the child's life might be made profita.
bic as well as pleasant, and turned to
advantage in forwarding proper mental
and physical development. In this coun-
try very little has been accomplished to-
ward supplying this want, and conse-
quently children of this age become a
most perplexing care to their parents, or
are temporarily abandoned by them to
their own devices.
In Germany this subject has received
great deal of attention, and the Kin
dergarten syst invented by Froebel,
has been generally introduced The pub
sons who have witnessed the practical
operations of the system, show that the
most gratifying results have been attain
ed. Some experiments upon modified
plan have been tried i'm London and else
where, with GOOD results.
Briefly stated, the kindergarten sys-
fatn ctc in, Ii al,
the instrument of its largest culture
While it has always been a matter of
common observation that the earliest
years of human life are devoted to play,
educators have entirely ignored this cir
cuInstance while seeking proper system
for the development of the child's pow
ers Fondness for play has been regard
ed as an obstructing element in the way
of all efficient instruction, an inclination
to be held in rigid check. Froebel taught
that the true system of culture was in
following nature-thst "what nature is
striving to do in the plays of childhood
it is the teachers business to take up
and foster" The idea is to have the
| play reduced to some sort of an intelli
gent system arranged with reference to
certain inherent capabilities of human
nature, which are manifesting themselves
constantly in the varied amusements of
children. Thus it is observed that the
| instinct for cultivating the soil is common
to nearly all children; everybody is
natural born gardener. This instinct is
turned to account in the kindergarten,
where each child learns to take care of
its own little garden patch, to dig, to
rake, and to water, and to watch and
study the processes of nature in the
| opening of the buds and blooming of
flowers. The same plan is pursued for
developing the plastic and tistic in
stincts of the children. Great stress is
laid upon the education of the hands in
early years, when the fexibility and
softness of the limbs fit them to be easi-
| ly trained to facile movements-a matter
of equal Importance whether the hand
| III lEdliIuS Il III lilt luluTc W Sllut over
the keys of piano or WELD a pen or
plane.
The kindergarten is on all sides de-
signed to meet the formative in stincts of
the child. Building aud shaping are 60
ing on in all sorts of material. Minia-
ture houses and utensils are formed of
wooden blocks and sticks, while working
upaper-foiding, cutting, c..-furnish-
eS an opportunity to practice endless ar
tiices of the hand In this way the hand
and senses are t-lined to deXterity and
technical skill, which are useful in all
departments of life. Children receive
only the material, not ready-made OBJ
iects, which they are allowed to fashion
according to their own personal choice,
under the guidance of the teacher. 1t is
intended that the production, however
small and Insignificant, shall be original
and not merely initiative The greatest
care is taken to preserve the individual
ity of the children, so that the work OF
each one shall bear the impress of an
individual peculiarity in process of train
ing.