Inventing Kindergarten

by Norman Brosterman

This is the first comprehensive book about the original kindergarten, a revolutionary educational program for children that was invented in the 1830s by the charismatic German educator Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) and grew to become a familiar institution throughout the world by the end of the nineteenth century. Using extraordinary visual material, it reconstructs the most successful system for teaching young children about art, design, mathematics, and natural history ever devised.
Kindergarten - a coinage of Froebel's combining the German words for children and garden - involved not only nature study, singing, dancing, and storytelling, but also play with the so-called Froebel gifts - a series of twenty educational toys, including building blocks, parquetry tiles, origami papers, modeling clay, sewing kits, and other design projects, that became wildly popular in the nineteenth century.
Architect and artist Norman Brosterman tells the story of Froebel's life, explains his goals and educational philosophy, and - most remarkably - describes each of the gifts, illustrating them all, as well as many examples of art by nineteenth-century kindergarten teachers and children, and diagrams from long-forgotten kindergarten textbooks.
In a section of the book devoted to the origin of abstract art and modern architecture, Brosterman shows how this vast educational program may have influenced the course of art history. Using examples from the work of important artists who attended kindergarten - including Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier, among others - he demonstrates that the design ideas of kindergarten prefigured modern conceptions of the aesthetic power of geometric abstraction.

Genres: Education, History, Design, Nonfiction, Teaching, Parenting, Art

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Anthony Faber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author starts out with a brief biography of Friedrich Froebel and his development of Kintergarten and a history of its spread, then looks at each of the "gifts" developed by Froebel. He then looks at modern art and claims that these gifts were a significant influence on several modern artists and schools of art. I think there's a good case to be made, but not quite as good as he thinks it is. Just saying that it's likely that various people came in contact with kintergarten doesn't make it so. I also don't know much art history and I probably would have gotten more out of the book if I knew more.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Who would have thought such a simple program (kindergarten) would have impacted modern design, art and architecture so much!
I recommended it to my friends who I know have an interest in art, architecture and design (because they took classes in it or majored in it), but it would also be interesting to others who are interested in child development and the history of one of the most universal children programs - the Garden of Children!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woooooow! I'm not even exactly sure how to classify the interesting of this book. First it's interesting to learn the history of kindergarten and its founder, Froebel. I mean, did you know that Kindergarten was a specific philosophy, like Waldorf or Montessori would be later? It had a specific sequence of activities with "gifts"--toys like blocks (novel at the time!) and weaving paper-- that would develop abstract thinking and manipulation of the environment.

Then, just when you get this book, it swerves into placing Bauhuas and other modernist artists' work in comparison with anonymous or non-artist children's work. It is striking to see the whole "a kindergartner could do that" complaint turned on its head--"An artist could do that!"

[هاجر · Rating 4 out of 5]

the quality of architecture, and early education has sadly declined heavily over the years. froebel’s educational approach stresses the importance of play, creativity, and curiosity in children’s education and how architecture can positively contribute to that. this is one of those books that i think about often and value deeply.

[Gala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing study of a way of teaching geometric, experiential thinking. I admit that I didn't READ this book, as much as studying the illustrations and their captions, and skimming/snacking on the text. But the chapter on modern artists who were affected by kindergarten training is awesome, as are the photographs of the now-antique "gifts"-- little wooden boxes of interchangeable parts that were an integral part of the first kindergarten.

[Rebecca Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating read tying together three of my favorite subjects: history, child development and art. The book is equally enjoyable in graphics and text. Perhaps the author went a bit too far in the end suggesting that the original froebel kinder garten created modern art but its an interesting idea.

[Erika Mulvenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The theories behind the guy who invented kindergarten and influenced Frank Lloyd Wright.

[Anne White]

Wonderful introduction to the influence of Froebel.