
Discover geometric shapes with Fröbel
“200 years ago, a term was coined in Thuringia that stands for one of Germany's most important export goods: “kindergarten”. This word was adopted unchanged in eight languages and translated into their respective languages in over 40 other countries,” writes Dr. Gerhard Friedrich in the ‘spielen und lernen’ blog.
Read a summary of his article here:
More important than the term itself is the educational concept behind it, which was developed by Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852). Fröbel recognized early childhood as an independent phase of life with specific developmental needs. He emphasized the importance of this phase for overall human development.
Fröbel's pioneering ideas not only resulted in theoretical considerations, but also in the practical establishment of the world's first kindergarten in Bad Blankenburg in 1840. His play pedagogy, in particular the introduction of play theory for children, was revolutionary and still has a modern impact today. Fröbel recognized that children understand the world through active play. This insight still lays the foundation for modern elementary education today.
The gifts 1-6: Understanding contexts
Froebel, the kindergarten and the gifts are closely linked and probably form an inseparable conceptual chain of associations for many educators. The materials in these gifts are designed to encourage children's creativity and understanding of shapes, patterns and relationships. The gifts include objects such as spheres, cubes, cuboids and cylinders that help children to understand basic geometric and physical concepts.
One of Fröbel's aims with his gifts was to use these building blocks to help children understand key areas of life in greater depth. To this end, he formulated the concepts of forms of life, beauty and knowledge.
Playing with laying materials - discovering colors and shapes
Laying materials consist of sticks of different lengths and colors and geometric shapes such as triangles, squares and circles that help children to lay and understand patterns and structures.
It is above all mathematics that brings order to the confusion and again it was Friedrich Fröbel who first succeeded in designing a system of laying materials, such as sticks and regular bases, which on the one hand meets strict mathematical didactic requirements and on the other hand is incredibly fun for children to play with.



Interaction as a didactic principle
You will be surprised how much fun children have when you actively participate in the game or take the first step yourself by creating a pattern or a lifelike picture with the laying materials. Your initiative will almost inevitably encourage the children to join in with your game.
Even small, carefully formulated impulses are often enough to integrate them into the joint game:
- “What would you do now if you were me?”
- “Would you like to try it out for yourself?”
- Do something on purpose that doesn't quite fit and express your dissatisfaction: “I don't like it somehow. Do you or do you have any ideas on how I could do it better?”
It is important to stay in conversation with the child or children during the game. The focus should not be on instruction, but on a co-constructive dialog in which ideas are developed together. Joint interaction is the didactic principle that needs to be implemented.
Authors:
Dr. paed. habil. Gerhard Friedrich: holds a degree in education and has taught mathematics, technology, education and psychology. He is a private lecturer in general didactics at the University of Bielefeld and an author of books and games.
Renate Schoof is a German author. She studied education and German language and literature in Lüneburg and Berlin. She writes poetry, novels, short stories, non-fiction, young adult and children's novels and picture book stories.
Photos: Beleduc Lernspielwaren GmbH and Gerhard Friedrich