Friedrich Frobel (1782-1852)

Professional Life
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel was born on April 21, 1782, in Thuringia. Fröbel was sent to live with his uncle after his mother’s death. In his youth, Fröbel enjoyed nature and studied botany and mathematics. His first professional position was that of a teacher at a school in Frankfurt. He taught in private duty and also at several schools throughout Germany. Fröbel enlisted in the military for a brief period and after his release returned to his love of education, founding the German General Education institute (Allgemeine Deutsche Erziehungsanstalt) which was eventually relocated to Keilhau. Fröbel began publishing his theories on education. His most acclaimed work, The Education of Man, was published in 1926.

Fröbel spent time in Switzerland and also founded an institution for education while there. Upon his return to Germany, Fröbel dedicated his work to the study of preschool education. He published several magazines and papers and founded another school for young children in Bad Blankenburg designed to integrate play and activity into the educational arena. Shortly after, the Play and Activity Institute became known as kindergarten. Fröbel developed all of the educational play tools in the kindergarten, including building blocks, pattern games, and other educational exercises. His innovations in the kindergarten environment are said to have influenced many fields, including architecture and art.

Contribution to Psychology
Fröbel was the pioneer for young children’s education, or kindergarten. He realized the power of games and creative play and introduced dancing, singing, and other physical activities into the educational model. One of Fröbel’s student’s, Margarethe Schurz, went on to found the first American kindergarten in Wisconsin. The school was successful and led the way for the first English-speaking kindergarten, which was opened in 1860 in Boston, MA. Soon after, the educational model of kindergarten spread throughout the United States. Over the next several years, many more kindergartens sprang up throughout Europe, based loosely on Fröbel’s theories with slight variations. However, kindergartens that are run according to Fröbel’s original model still number over 100 throughout Germany alone.

The New Thuringian Fröbel Association (NTFV) is an agency that strives to continue Fröbel’s dedication to education and is directly involved in the activities of Froebel institutions throughout the world. The NTFV continues to further the educational principles and techniques that Fröbel created by overseeing a museum, providing an authentic Froebel experience in Keilhau and distributing the Fröbel Diploma.

The Fröbel College was founded in 1892 in South West London, and along with the Fröbel Arichive for Childhood Studies,  maintains an extensive library of books, items, multi-media, photographs, and other relics that portray the details of the educational legacy created by Friedrich Fröbel.