Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-10

!
is the first step toward the true
knowledge Of his being. 1t also
reveals the elements of life and of
developing life and from these the
child learns to recognize the posSibili-
ties OF human evolution. By his care
and tenderness for the life in nature
he learns his power to improve life
and by sowing the seed of plants he
realizes that he may aid in the
increase OF life. These thoughts.
when their time of fruitiOn in
character arrive, enable him to realize
that II he will, he has power to keep
al life to a higher, purer, truer life.
Inc termination of seed, the growth
of plant, the structure OF leaf, the
unfolding OF a bud, the poisoning of
flower, the song of bird, the love
and mystery of birds nest, the
hOmemaklng OF an insect. the evolu-
tlon OF caterpillar into a butterfly,
the ripping of brook, the yaStneSS
OF the ocean, the majesty of a
mountain and the movement of trees
in the wind, all these FrOebel uses TO
quicken the intellectual and spiritual
| life OF the child. He believed that by
the recognition of life in nature and
by performing all its work in the
klndergarten IN logical, progressive,
evolving. sequence, the ideals of life
and law would definitely unfold in the
chlld.s consciousness and ultimately
reveal God, not only as the source of
llfe and law, but as life and law.
trOebeIS games abound in repre-
sensations of animal life; thus. the
child is sometimes a bird, a fish.
frog, he initiates the whiStling of the
WIND, the patter of the rain, the
falling OF the snow and the rushing
OF stream. In this way he is brought
directly in sympathy and acquaintance
with nature and what he initiates he
| is learning to understand and to love.
The games also abound in imitation
| OF the various industries -teaching
the child the true dignity of labor and
together with the morning talks,
songs and stories showing him our
! dependence upon the various indus
tries and that "All are needed by each
one: nothing is fair Or good alone"
The gifts and occupations are the
fruit of many years of close study on
FrOebel's part, he saw that thought
was SLOW growth, dependent upon
knowledge, gained by investigation of
things, he established the principle,
that the head and the hand. being
| joined together by nature, should not
be separated in the school, and then
turned to the material that could best
be used as a means for training the
mind, by illustrating the action of
natural law.
Examination of the Kindergarten
materials shows how careful and
scientific was that choice. 1t is not
allowed to give the child a stick, a
stone or plant just when it may
happen: the work is organized, and Fin
it's order, as it stands, it represents an
order of natural forms which are the
elements of the kindergarten. These
materials. which have the appearance
of playthingS, are divided into gifts
and occupations.
The gifts are the sphere, the cube
and the cylinder and some of the
| leading forms derived there from, they
| present the substance of creation in
it's mineral, vegetable and animal
divisions. The ball tipyfies the uni
verse, the stars, the moon, the earth,
the sun, even the tiny dew drop, yet
reduced to unity they are simply
| spheres, moving with circular motion;
from these Froebel took the ball as
one great typical form of nature, and
through it's use in the kindergarten
| the child learns something of its
character as solid body yielding
motion or the elements of motion.
The cube stands as the initial figure
of the mineral kingdom. The spher-
| ical face of the earth is broken up
| into valleys, mountains, ocean beds,
etc. Here we look for form and find
the crystals. They are forms with
straight lines and angles of all
varieties, from these Froebel chose
the cube as presenting, in the most
simple manner, stationary form, rest.
Returning again to nature the
cylinder appears as the typical form
of life. The surface of the earth is
not bare, out of it grow grass, shrubs,
| flowers, trees. While over and among
| these range the animals and here
dwells man. Reducing these to the
prevailing typical form Froebel found
the cylinder, and placing it where, by
the law of unity it belongs, between
the ball and the cube he held in one
hand the elements of his kindergarten
| work.
Overhead hangs the sphere of the
sun. Under foot lies the crystal
| kingdom, whose simplest form is the
cube, between the two, partaklng of
| the qualities of each, rise the forms of
| life, all showing the cylindrical figure,
| from the grass of the field to the
working fingers of man.
This being the meaning OF the gifts
| let US now consider the occupations.
| By looking at any landscape we see
that in their natural growth, unaided
| by man, these primary elements of
material form expand, combine and
grow into diversity of forms which
are related to each other and still are
| Strikingly unlike as are mountain
pines and meadow grass, mountain
cliffs and roadway dust, the ants and
the elephants. Thus the Creator
begins the unfolding of life from its
leading types of form. Then man
takes up the work and goes on with
such creations as he is equal to. He
SeiZeS upon these diverse forms and
uses them all, metal and stone, lumber
and grass, bones, SineWS and skins, IN
| his effort to express the thoughts that
| live and grow within him and the
results are as varied and diverse as
are-the forms he uses. In the kinder
garten this work appears and in order
| that the gifts may be used, their
| unity is divided into diversity OF
circles, lines and angles, which are
represented in materials, hard and
soft, flexible and stiff, aud are thus
ready for use in the small industries
which are to be the occupations of the
child.
Thus the kindergarten is allied with
the industries of the world and follows
industrial practice by method which
is natures own. In all the work that
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