Kindergarten Playgrounds

06
SIK-Holz® › The Kindergarten
Because only an adequate development
of the person at each previous stage will ensure
the full developmentat each subsequent stage.
f. w. a. fröbel
The Kindergarten
Fröbels idea has proved it’s worth
The provision of kindergartens for children was and
always will be a political issue. A line can be drawn in the
debate directly from 1840 until the present day. It has
been over 160 years since Friedrich Wilhelm August
Froebel first developed the concept of a kindergarten.
Froebel popularised the notion of a kindergarten that
was supposed to be family-supporting and complementary.
The neologism of the word ‹kindergarten› (in German
literally child’s garden) was intended in a very visual sense.
It goes back to Froebel’s affinity with nature and the
romantic spirit of his time. It is certainly not meant as an
implication that children can be compared to plants with
its associated notions of cultivating an investment.
Froebel’s concept of «education through personal
development» has a dual nature at its core: «giving
and receiving, unifying and analysing, regulating and
yielding, intervening and tolerating, determining and
allowing freedom, permanent and flexible...» Children
are nurtured towards autonomy and self-determination
through this duality. Froebel’s regard was continued by
his students and today enjoys world-wide esteem. His
basic instructional shapes – sphere, cube and cylinder –
remain popular to this day, and can be found in many
children’s toys from the most diverse materials.
Kindergarten-age is a decisive stage in life and will
impact on the future communicative capabilities of
the child. The personality and habits of a lifetime are
moulded at this early stage, and interest is awakened in
discovering the world. A child’s activities are conscious
processes that reflect his/her emotional environment.
Parents and educators regard the first priority of the
kindergarten to be to promote the child’s creativity,
fantasy, and self-esteem. For this they need the support
of society at large.
Yet even 160 years after the development of the kindergarten
it has not achieved universal recognition as an
essential component of the social infrastructure of an
industrialised country. There are insufficient kindergarten
places, and also large discrepancies in the quality of
service provided. These range from predominantly functional
child care facilities to educational establishments.
The political context comes into play where uniform
standards are stipulated, as for example group sizes,
professional qualifications, pedagogical principles, etc.
Kindergartens should have the same priority in society
as schools.