The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-09-10

tr1eurlcn trOeDei, tHe louHucI Vi VIC
Kinder.Garten, was the most profound
student OF the science Of childhood which
this century, or perhaps any century, has
seen. His methods OF teaching now per-
wade Germany, France, and the United
States, and they have taken deep root in
England and Italy.
Evrey art OF the institution which
Froebel founded and called the Child
Garden" was based upon principles de-
Quoted from the careful study OF child
hood. Froebel wished to begin with the
child in its mothers arms. lie wrote
rhymes for children, to be sung and
accompanied with action, based upon
such little child's plays as our familiar
'Pat cake, pat cake, bakor's man,
Bake me cake as fast as you can" The
theory is, that even the smallest baby
learns. 1t commences learning as soon as
1t is born. He learns to use his legs by
kicking, his hands by grasping, his vocal
organs by crying or growing. When he is
older he learns to walk, to observe, TO
name things. Froebel swept away the
use OF books in teaching child. under
seven years OF age, The Kinder arten
knowsno alphabet but that OF things. A
little child, said Froebel, loves activity.
From It's earliest moments motion is
pleasant to it. So FroOhel never exacted
quiet, but demanded OF the child what 1t
Is his joy to give-action. Frobel gave
not object lessons, but action LESSONS, in
which tho child not only said, but produc-
cd. The first "gift" which Froebel puts
in the hand OF child is ball, or rather
six soft, colored balls. A sphere is OF uni
form surface, without angles or anything
else that can exact OF the child the exer-
else OF the faculty OF distinguishing one
from the other as applied to form. This
simplicity Is the true Specification OF the
spherc in the child's education. In play
ing with his ball, the child readily con.
siders It as a whole; It's qualities Of size,
weight, color and form, are taken In their
simplicity. Besides il Is n plaything--he
rolls. losses, swings it; his imagination
transforms It into living things, and the
delightful mental activity produced by 1t Is
ali but endless. And with the SIX colored
balls, he learns to distinguish tho primary
and secondary colors.
7 After the ball, which Is the A, B, c, book
OF tho Kinder-Garten, the child receives
sphere, a cylinder, and cube made OF
wood. This is the second gift. Hc must
now distinguish forms. ITO complete the
cbild's knowledge OF the ball." says Miss
Blow, In language rs clear rs 1t Is concise,
"he must compare II with something else,
and MS his powers are too weak to discern
slight divergence, he needs an object
which presents to it the completest possible
contrast, Instead OF the unity Of the ball,
we have in the cube VARIETY instead OF
the simplicity OF the ball, we have In the
cube completely; inSteadpf tho unvarying
uniformity OF the ball, We have in the
cube an object which changes with every
modification OF position, and every &c.
ceIcration OF movement; instead OF the
ready moyablenss Of the ball, we have in
the cube an object which, rs 1t were, ON
bodies the tendency to repose; Inc
cylinder, again. is the connecting INK DC,
tween the sphere and the cube. WIN II
tho pupil Is exercised in making yet nicer
distinctions, In seeing likenesses TO both
the companion objects, and In pointing
out differences.
The third gift is cube, divided into
eight smaller cubes, pleasing tho childs
fancy, for taking to pieces and reconstruct.
ing IN new forms, and restoring the first
form. Here the analytic faculty Is exercis-
cd in the simplest way and upon concrete
object. The child plays aud learns and Is
developed at the same moment. The law
Of his nature is respected, and the child
reaps the benefit, Step,by step, the little
feet climb up; each gift leads naturally on
10 liz successor. The fourth, fifth, and
sixth gifts are the cubes divided into
blocks Of other different forms, increasing
the child opportunity to distinguish and
hisresources for creating now combinations
Of triangular and oblong blocks with tubes:
Tho massage from the solid to tho surface
il approached in the oblong blocks into
which the cube IL divided. In theseventh
gift The transition Is made, and we have
Inc embodied surface in series OF tablets.
But the link OF logical progress Is never
broken. The square tablet is the side OF
tho cube with which the child Is already
iamiliar; q diagonal line through the
square gives Us our frat form Of thetriangle,
and every other step Is alike carefully CON
nected and m easy and natural passage Is
made for tho child's mind. The interla-
cling Stats Of the eighth gift ARE the step
ping.stone from surface. to line, and thon
sticks and wires arc used until, In the "oc.
cupation" Of pricking paper with q pin,
the child reaches the point, From the sol;
id which e The concrete, he has travelled
10 the point, which Is the abstract, ltis
the road to all philosophy; He has broken
the frat little ioot-path OF human thought.
II will ono day become . highway, Y
The brief hints In this article on tho
Child. Garden System are collected from q