Froebel Gaben & Playing Items

The creator of the concept of the kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel, was a German pedagogue who started his career in education at a secondary school in Frankfurt in the early 1800s. While working there he learned about the revolutionary modern principles of education from Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. From 1808 to 1810 Froebel attended the training institute run by Johann Pestalozzi at Yverdon in Switzerland and further developed his own ideas on reforming education.

From 1836 onwards Froebel dedicated himself to preschool child education in Germany and started manufacturing educational materials. Meant to reveal the creative instinct of the child, this series of fabric and wooden toys for young children were coined “gifts” (Gaben) by Froebel. It amongst others included geometric building blocks and pattern activity blocks. Thanks to Froebel’s work, the original sphere, cylinder and cube have inspired designers, manufacturers, architects from around the world and is said to have influenced modern art.

He also developed a series of occupations or playing items to further extend the child’s experiences through play. SINA Spielzeug is licensed to produce the Froebel Gaben and occupations according to the original blueprints from the 1800s.

Friedrich Froebel is widely credited for laying the foundation for modern education, which is based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. He understood the importance of learning through self-directed play and the concept of free “work” by the young child. His philosophy of education rests on the basic ideas of free self expression, creativity, social participation, and motor expression which lay the foundation of early learning. The SINA Spielzeug series of Froebel Gaben as well as the playing items are still to this day perfectly adapted to those basic ideas.