Kindergarten Comes to America

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Kindergarten Comes to America

In 1856, Margarethe Meyer Schurz, a German immigrant and wife of Carl Schurz, established the first kindergarten in America, in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was an informal school, and was conducted in German, according to the principles of Friedrich Froebel, the German educator who invented kindergartens.
Friedrich Froebel (Froebelweb)
The First Kindergarten in America (Watertown Historical Society)
In Boston in 1860, educator, Transcendentalist, and spiritualist Elizabeth Palmer Peabody opened the first formal kindergarten in America, which was conducted in English.
In West Newton, Massachusetts, in 1863, a kindergarten was opened at the Allen Classical School, under the direction of Mrs. Louise Pollack.
The Allen Family Papers (Newton Historical Society)
In 1864-65, Mrs. Pollack wrote a series of four articles for the spiritualist journal The Friend of Progress, published by Charles Plumb in New York, describing the kindergarten’s first season, including the adaptations she made of Froebel’s system in order to apply them to American students.
Thanks to Susan Abele of the Newton Historical Society, for identifying Louise Pollack—JB

[Mrs.] L[ouise] P[ollack], “The Kinder-Garten,” The Friend of Progress (New York), December, 1864: 54-56.

The translation of the German word, “Kinder-Garten,” if rendered strictly and literally, would read, “Children’s Garden;” or, “Garden of Children.” The term was first used by Frederick Froebel, a native of Germany, born in the latter part of the last century. He was in early life deprived of his mother. His father, who was a clergyman, had not time to give attention to the tastes displayed by the boy for architecture, mathematics, and the beauties of Nature and Art in general. Being often with his father, however, when quarrels among his neighbors were arbitrated, he early formed the habit of comparing the harmony that reigns in Nature with the inverted, antagonistic condition of the human spirit. The tendency of this was to make of him a reformer. His mind became interested in Pestalozzi and his system of education, and in the school of this renowned teacher he passed a season, in Switzerland. Later in life he filled an office in the Mineralogical Museum at Berlin.
He observed that many men and women are but half-developed physically, for the want of care and nourishment in childhood; and he concluded that “there would be fewer, sullen, quarrelsome, dull-witted men or women, if there were fewer children starved or fed improperly in heart and brain.” To improve society it is requisite to begin quite at the beginning, and to secure a wholesome education [55] during infancy and childhood. Strongly possessed with this idea, and feeling that the usual methods of education—by restraint and penalty—aim at the accomplishment of far too little, and, by checking natural development, even do positive mischief, Froebel determined upon the devotion of his entire energy, throughout his life, to a strong effort for the establishment of schools that should do justice and honor to the nature of a child. He resigned his appointment at Berlin, and threw himself, with only the resources of a fixed will, a full mind, and a right purpose, on the chances of the future.
At Keilhan, a village of Thuringin, he took a peasant’s cottage, in which to establish his first school—a village boy’s school. It was necessary to enlarge the cottage; and while that was being done, Froebel lived on potatoes, bread, and water. So scanty was his stock of capital, that, in order honestly to pay his workmen, he was forced to carry his principle of self-denial to the utmost. He bought each week two large rye loaves, and marked on them with chalk each day’s allowance.
After laboring for many years among the boys at Keilhan, Froebel—married to a wife who shared his zeal, and made it her labor to the utmost in carrying out the idea of her husband’s life—felt that there was more to be accomplished. His boys came to him with many a twist in mind or temper, caught by wriggling up through the bewilderments of a neglected infancy. The first sproutings of the human mind need thoughtful culture. There is no period of life, indeed, in which culture is so essential. And yet, in nine out of ten cases, it is precisely while the little blades of thoughts and buds of love are frail and tender, that no heed is taken to maintain the soil about them wholesome, and the air about them free from blight. There must be Infant Gardens, Froebel said; and straightway formed his plans, and set to work for their accomplishment.
He devoted his life to the discovery and development of a system of education which should serve especially for children under seven years of age. His central idea was, the conversion of a school into a garden, the teacher or leader of which should correspond to the florist gardener, while the children would correspond to the flowers which come under the care of the gardener, to be cultured, trained, and watched over.
As each different plant requires from the gardener a different kind of care, according to its size, form, and delicacy of nature, so does each child require a special guidance, according to his or her constitution, nature, tastes, and individuality.
It is true that in a seed is already indicated what will be the form, size, and nature of a plant; but it is also known to what extent the plant can be affected by judicious culture—the removal of weeds and insects, the judicious use of the trowel, hoe, and pruning-knife, and a free supply of air, sunlight, and water. So in childhood we know that the organization of the infant accords with the source whence it derived its parentage, and that it is the labor of an educator to perfect, as far as possible, the nature of the child, by a judicious mode of culture.
In a school, children are instructed, not educated; i.e., instruction is imparted by teaching positive knowledge.
In a Kinder-Garten it is sought to develop in a harmonious manner the nature of the child, and bring out the physical and mental powers, through the awakening of the moral and esthetic sentiments, and inspiring a desire for activity, observation, and knowledge.
The whole principle of Froebel’s teaching is based on a perfect love for children, and a full and genial recognition of their nature, a determination that their hearts shall not be starved for want of sympathy; that since they are, by Infinite Wisdom, so created as to find happiness in the active exercise and development of all their faculties, we, who have children about us, shall no longer repress their energies, tie up their bodies, shut their mouths, and declare that they worry us by the incessant putting of the questions which the Father of all has placed in their mouths, so that the teachable one forever cries to those who undertake to be its guides, “What shall I do?” To be ready at all times with a wise answer to that question, ought to be the ambition of every one upon whom a child’s nature depends for the means of a healthy growth. The frolic of childhood is not pure exuberance and waste. “There is often a high meaning in childish play,” said Froebel. Let us study it, and act upon hints—or more than hints—that Nature gives.
Of course it must be borne in mind, when considering Froebel’s scheme of infant training, that certain qualities of mind are necessary to the teacher. Let nobody suppose that any scheme of education can attain its [56] end, as a mere scheme, apart from the qualifications of those persons by whom it is to be carried out. Very young children can be trained successfully by no person who wants hearty liking for them, and who can take part only with a proud sense of restraint in their chatter and their play. It is, in truth, no condescension to become in spirit as a child with children, and nobody is fit to teach the young, who holds a different opinion.
The requisites for a school-teacher are, a good intellectual education and a high moral nature; but much more is required of one who would become an efficient and successful Kinder-Gartner.
The pure, unsullied nature of childhood, and the tendrils of power which spring therefrom, require our closest attention. The present existing system of society does not permit even the most careful of mothers to bestow upon her children the attention they require, nor can any domestic circle furnish facilities for a thoroughly harmonious balance of the faculties of children. It is the office of the Kinder-Gartner to completely fill this void, by considering man in his whole being—his entirety, so to speak. The function of this office is, to assist the parents a few hours daily in elevating and perfecting the nature of their children, and preparing them for the school education which is to follow. It is to care for them and nurture them according to their own natural organization, and in harmony with all Nature.
This care is placed in the hands of woman, because Nature has especially provided her with love, patience, and spiritual power of endurance, and thus designed that she should be the supervisor over the early years of life. She should be the pleasant playmate of innocent childhood, whilst at the same time she controls and guides them by means of her mental superiority, her insight into their nature, and the consciousness of the noble ends to be reached by means of education and development, attainable through the Kinder-Garten system. Like the radiant sun she is to enliven and animate the spirit of the children by her unvarying cheerfulness and love, and the refinement that naturally pertains to a pure and truthful woman. She is to become, in fact, a spiritual mother, “who has to take the pure and innocent being fresh from the hand of God, and to train it, that it may return through a world of conflict to his paternal arms.” Impressed with this thought, she may become worth of the high vocation which she has chosen as the path over which to fulfill her earthly destiny; and the attainment of success in the work will insure to her the quiet joy of a heavenly life.

“The Kinder-Garten. Number Two,” The Friend of Progress, January 1865: 87-90.

The first germ of the destiny of future generations, the substance of our hopes and labors, finds its early development in childhood. Infant life is comparable to a tender bud, which, every time it reappears, marks the commencement of a new existence.
Upon the parents depends the condition of a human being as a child. The family comprises parents and children: it is the principal foundation upon which humanity and human institutions are based.
Whoever desires to advance human happiness in a permanent manner must labor for and through the home circle and the family.
That education may be elevated to its proper standard, it is necessary to cultivate the industrial tendencies and instincts of the family, thereby bringing them into intimate connection with the unfolding powers of childhood, and satisfying the nature of the child. Education must radiate from a vital central truth. All active effort should emanate from a fundamental thought as a basis.
The tendency of our time is toward self-culture; independent thought and action; a consciousness of individuality; a knowledge of self; a comprehension of life in all its relations to God, Humanity, and Nature; and to a wise use of this knowledge. The human spirit strives to become One with the Divine Spirit.
To meet the demands of our age, we must promote the physical and spiritual well-being of our children, by means of the method of education which we adopt.
The careful observer of children will recognize how important it is to encourage their natural attraction to occupation.
The highest degree of childhood development is manifested in play; for therein is a child’s own interior nature brought into activity; and human life, as well as life in Nature, is reflected therefrom. The “plays” of our age are not mere sport: a deep meaning is to [88] be found in their basis. Oftentimes the most unlooked-for characteristics will therein be displayed, and the child’s interior nature called forth. If a child is insulted in play, the heart-string of his future life—his whole character—will thereafter bear the impress of it. The deep significance which lies in children’s plays is generally but little understood; they receive, therefore, but little attention. Adults find neither pleasure nor profit in playing with children: they regard the time as lost which is passed with them in play.
To meet the natural demands of childhood, and also with thoughtful consideration for parents and educators, Froebel arranged all the plays and occupations which had at any previous time found place in the nursery, in a complete whole, for educational purpose, which is as instructive as it is developing and elevating in its tendency, and which leads children gradually from the most simple to the more complex, as rapidly as their age and comprehension will admit. In other words, the total of these plays forms a connected whole, each explaining, completing, advancing the other.
These observations are compiled from the published works of Frederick Froebel. Many of them are embodied in a German work entitled, “The Paradise of Childhood,” which has been translated by the writer of these lines, for a Boston publishing house. They are presented here as introductory to a record of the daily occupations in a Kinder-Garten in West Newton, Mass. Accompanying the record will be found explanations and suggestions, which, it is hoped, may prove useful to mothers and teachers who desire to introduce the Kinder-Garten into their family or neighborhood.
“When one becomes thoroughly convinced of the importance and excellence of an idea—when we find how the practical application of this idea enriches our life with experience and wisdom, and it becomes to us a beaming truth that enlightens our path and assists us in the accomplishment of desired purposes, it is a natural consequence—and one too that will be easily understood and sympathized with—that we should experience a desire to have this idea, or truth, known, appreciated, and realized, by others; that it may become the common property of humanity, and assist others in their progressive march.”
This is my position with regard to Froebel’s system of education, and more especially with his plays and industrial occupations for children under seven years of age.
My whole life as a mother, my relation to my own children, to childhood, and toward human life in general, have become so essentially enlightened and awakened to self-activity, my spirit has been nourished with such strengthening, as well as refreshing food, that I am amble to bear joyful testimony “that if this system of training is carried out—with a clear comprehension of it—the effects upon child life will be most blissful and progressive, in the family as well as in the Kinder-Garten.” [“The Paradise of Childhood.”]
The Kinder-Garten already referred to, and of which I have charge, numbered twenty-five pupils, or “plants,” during the term which closed on the 21st of November. The average daily attendance was about twenty, two-third of whom were girls; the ages of the children range from four to eight years. They form a very interesting as well as an intelligent group, and are generally possessed of good natural organizations, and are well trained at their several homes.
The time which we enjoy together in rooms appropriated for the Kinder-Garten is from 9 A. M. to 1 P. M. daily, except on Saturdays and Sundays.
The rooms are spacious and airy, warmed by a furnace, pleasantly located, with garden and walks around the building. The smaller room of the two is used for conversational exercises and object lessons, and the larger one is appropriated for plays, music, marching, and industrial occupations. The grounds around the building are supplied with suitable apparatus for the children to amuse themselves with voluntarily, during recess, and before and after school-hours, if they desire.
The apparatus and utensils in use will be referred to under the respective heads to which they belong.
The system pursued by me is such as I consider best adapted to the children who have come under my care. It is the result of a careful study of several volumes which have been written by experienced and faithful teachers in Germany, added to the practical experience I have made in the family and Kinder-Garten.
The following are the occupations, and the accompanying division of time, under the system now adopted: [89]
From 9 to 9 30 A. M., daily, Conversations on the physical, moral, and spiritual nature of man, exemplified by stories and illustrated in various ways.
9 30 to 9 50, Singing lesson.
9 50 to 10, Marching with music; each child carrying national flag.
10 to 10 30, Object lesson, varied each day.
10 30 to 10 45, Recess.
10 45 to 11 30, Monday, Weaving with sticks. Tuesday, Cutting and folding paper. Wednesday, Peas work; for forms made with sticks and peas. Thursday, Pricking figures upon paper. Friday, Modeling.
11 30 to 11 45, daily, Movement games; or Kinder-garten plays.
11 45 to 12, Monday and Thursday, Lesson on form. Tuesday and Friday, Lesson on color. Wednesday, Study of verses.
12 to 12 45, Monday and Thursday, Drawing and painting. Tuesday, Building with blocks or pieces of colored pasteboard. Wednesday, Printing letters and words on the blackboard. Friday, Building with triangular tablets.
12 45 to 1, daily, Marching with flags, accompanied with music.
This system is not in exact accordance with that laid down by Froebel, who adapted a series of plays for the different stages of growth and development of the child, commencing with the first year of life. These plays are in the form of “gifts,” which are put up in boxes and numbered, “first gift,” “second gift,” etc.
In this country it has been found expedient to make some changes in this system, in order to adapt it to the conditions that exist. When we gather together twenty-five or more children, we find them of various ages, and they have not been accustomed to this method of educating. Parents also desire that their children should learn something of spelling and reading after the primer method. It has therefore been found practical to make the change from the primary school to the Kinder-Garten system transitional, rather than too suddenly. Reference will be made to this subject again, when we come to the suggestions which follow upon an explanation of the various plays and occupations.
It will be observed that the first half-hour in the Kinder-Garten, from 9 to 9 30 A. M., is devoted to conversations on the physical, moral, and spiritual nature of man.
The morning hour is best adapted for these conversations, because, after the plays and industrial occupations are entered upon, the children become active, their nervous energies are aroused, and their minds are in a less receptive condition.
For the purpose of rendering the conversations as attractive as possible, the children are gathered into a semi-circular group in the smaller of the Kinder-Garten rooms, or they are seated in rows on an elevated platform, one row a little higher up than the other. Every child is encouraged to speak out spontaneously, and without restraint, his or her thoughts or questions on the topic that is before them.
A few morning songs are taught to the children, one or more of which is sung daily, at the commencement of the conversational hour, without pianoforte accompaniment. To give an idea of the simplicity of their character, the first verse of one of the hymns is here introduced. It is translated from the German:
“Our eyes behold the day one more
     In Thankfulness, while we adore
Our God for blessings from on high,
     As up we look towards the sky.”
The subject of the conversation accords with whatever idea or truth it is intended to awaken during the talk, and it is preferred to make it known rather through a series of questions and responses than by explanations and positive teachings.
Stories are the principal means by which this half-hour is made interesting as well as valuable. A story enables one to enter sympathetically upon the condition of the child’s spirit. It furnishes an effectual method for making clear to the youthful comprehension the close relation that exists between cause and effect; it serves to illustrate any instruction that is desired to be given. If constructed in verse and rhyme, it may be made a valuable means of leading the children to the moral, religious, kind, and amiable; but to produce this effect the stories must be as childlike and simple as possible, and there must be freedom from sectarian ideas, dogmatism, and theology. Even Bible stories should be related—like any moral tale—free from theological coloring. All stories told to children need to be clear, simple, comprehensive, and pleasing; presented in natural colors, leading the child to an understanding of and love for the spiritual, the true, and the beautiful.
Illustrations from the human, animal, and vegetable kingdom; God’s various creations in Nature; the important occurrences of [90] every-day life; all furnish material and subjects which may be profitably connected with conversations and stories that are intended to answer to the child’s spiritual demands, until he shall be old enough to distinguish for himself the difference between religion and theology.
Unfortunately, it has been the custom to educate a child in sectarian views and church rituals before even one spark of true religion had been awakened in his soul; that which should spring from within, in order to take firm and lasting root, becomes a mere externality.
Love is the first legitimate food upon which religious thoughts should be fed; but before the child has commenced to have a belief, he is in many cases misled, either through superstition or prejudice, and thereby he is deprived of the most powerful lever for good, which is Love to Man. [“Paradise of Childhood.”]
The effect produced upon the minds of the children in the Kinder-Garten, by means of the morning conversations and song, is more important than results from any other lesson or occupation during the day. The advantages of the Sunday-School are here transferred to the day-school, and the children learn to consider and reflect upon and love moral subjects as well in the school and in daily life as in the church. Their attention during the half-hour is close and undivided; their desire to learn is manifested in a marked manner; and when a truth is brought forward, that, being truth to them, finds an echo from the chord strings of their affectional natures, there beams upon their countenances a light that can only come from the influence and action of the Spirit of Truth.
At the close of the half-hour devoted to conversation the children pass into the larger room—which is provided with a pianoforte—for the purpose of entering the music class. They stand upon the floor and devote twenty minutes to singing national airs, exercises, and any popular tunes which are pleasing, cheerful, and buoyant in their character.
So much has been said by able writers upon the value and importance of music as a part of the education of the young, that there is little need of enlarging upon the subject, in this connection.
Viewed from a spiritual stand-point, music is the archway that leads to the higher life, and is at the same time the key that opens its portals.
“A child, glad and happy in his affections, sings what he feels; words alone—spoken—do not satisfy him; but in ascending and descending tones he endeavors to reflect his interior emotions, and give them form.”
A taste for music cannot too early be awakened in the soul of a child: it is accomplishing much towards clothing him with a garment whose luster shall be immortal, as is the spirit itself.
Singing and marching with national flags—each child carrying a flag—is a fitting exercise with which to follow the singing lesson in the Kinder-Garten; and by the time the first hour of the morning school has closed, the children have added a period of happiness to their existence, which shall exert a perpetual influence upon their future, and which in memory shall ever be associated with thoughts and feelings of pleasure and harmony.
L. P.

“The Kinder-Garten. Number Three,” The Friend of Progress, March 1865: 158-160.

The system of primary education by object teaching, has become generally well understood within the past few years, and is now found in the primary schools of several cities and large towns, and in the State Normal Schools. It is similar to the Kinder-Garten system, but is not made applicable to children of a larger growth than those for whom the Kinder-Garten is intended.
The several volumes upon object lessons which have been published within the past few years, as guides for teachers and parents, contain valuable suggestions that are available and useful to the Kinder-Gartender.
In the children’s department of the Allen Classical School—which was referred to in a previous article on the subject as the Kinder-Garten over which the writer of these lines has charge—there have been some girls and boys above the age of seven years, with whom object-lessons have proved serviceable as a means of education and an occupation for the half hour between the morning singing exercises and the movement plays. Natural History has interested them more than any other subject. Their lessons are illustrated with charts containing colored plates of animals, birds, fishes, and reptiles. The characteristic and nature of these are explained by illustrative anecdotes.
Charts of trees and flowers are also used in connection with pieces of wood from forest, fruit, and ornamental trees. By these means the children early acquire a knowledge of the animal, vegetable, and floral kingdom.
A mineral cabinet forms a part of the apparatus belonging to the school; but the attention of the children has not yet been called to minerals.
These lessons have served to quicken the perceptive faculties and cultivate close observation, whilst they lead the mind of the children to a knowledge of the causes of what they see and observe around them.
The half-hour devoted to object teaching is followed daily by a recess of fifteen minutes, after which, at forty-five minutes past ten o’clock,

PLAY OCCUPATIONS

are introduced, to which three-quarters of an hour are appropriated daily.
Tables large enough to seat ten children around them, have been constructed expressly for the Kinder-Garten, after a model obtained from Germany for this purpose. The space allowed to each child is designated by painted lines, while the whole top of the table is square ruled, for purposes that will be explained in a succeeding paragraph. A drawer is provided for every child; and the number painted upon the drawer serves as a guide to the occupant. During the continuance of the play occupations, the children occupy small chairs, each child being seated next to the drawer and section of the table appropriated [159] to his or her special use, and designated by the number.
At the close of the hour devoted to these occupations or plays, the utensils and materials which have been in use are carefully put in their proper place in the drawer. In this manner each child has its orderly nature early brought into action, and every one learns to respect the individuality of the other.
The play occupations, the movement games, the marching, and the music, make up the active life of the Kinder-Garten. It is in these that the buoyancy and exuberance of spirits that pertain to childhood are brought into play.
During the continuance of the conversational exercises, the singing and object lessons, the children are quiet passive, and receptive; but now, when they are seated around their own table, and industry commences, we hear the happy hum and natural music that well up from youthful minds, when they are engaged in an attractive and satisfying occupation.
It is important and even necessary to change the programme from day to day in order to increase the attractiveness of the Kinder-Garten through the variety of occupations which it affords.

WEAVING WITH STICKS.

is much enjoyed by the children, on account of the beautiful results they are enabled to produce as a reward for perseverance and the exercise of ingenuity. It is executed with sticks made of maple, birch, or other elastic wood; they are ten and three-eighths inches in length, two-fifths of an inch wide, and one-seventeenth of an inch thick. Ten are given out at a time, this being as large a number as is required to be used in any one figure, and by the use of this number the decimal idea is introduced. These sticks are united in various ways, so as to form a variety of figures or forms, without the use of any other material.
Skill, dexterity, calculation, patience, and perseverance, are all brought into play by this exercise, and when effort is crowned with success, a beautiful geometrical figure is produced, which may be suspended upon the wall and retained as long as desired, as a proof of the constructive ability of the child.
With this, as with all other toys or material given to the children, a series of questions are propounded, having for an object to develop the reflective, as well as the perceptive and moral qualities of the child.
“Of what is this toy made?”
“What other things can you think of which are made of the same material?”
“How many ends are there to your stick?”
By a series of questions practically put, the children are taught that the stick is long, narrow, and thin; that, like rattan, and whalebone, and other substances, it will bend; that it resembles a ruler, a yard-stick, a pencil, etc.
They are taught to make a trellis, and without destroying it, they may change the position of the stick, and thus change the trellis into a window, a picture-frame, or a fence. Many other things may be reproduced which are of interest to the youthful mind.
Some beautiful charts have been published in Germany, containing a number of geometrical figures which are intended to be reproduced with the sticks; copies of them are placed before the children, to guide and assist them in this occupation; they are also encouraged to exercise their ingenuity, and produce forms not found upon the charts.
Weaving with sticks is the occupation for Monday morning. On Tuesday,

CUTTING AND FOLDING PAPER

places in possession of the children the enjoyment of the wealth of geometric and artistic forms.
Both the hand and eye acquire skill during this occupation, whilst new and varied forms and appearances dawn upon the developing mind.
Clean writing-paper is cut into square forms. A square is given to each child, who holds the paper before him, and in chorus counts aloud the number of corners. It is explained to him that two of its sides run in a perpendicular line, and two in a horizontal line. Many other matters in connection with it furnish topics for conversation and education.
The child—having been made familiar with the fundamental basis of paper-cutting—is required to double his square, by a diagonal line across the center, so as to form two triangles, the nature of which also are explained, and a triangle is compared to a square. The paper is folded again, so as to form other and smaller triangles. Cuttings are made with scissors in different places on the folded paper: these incisions are made according to a regular system, by which the most simple forms are developed first, and afterwards the more complex and beautiful.
When the paper is opened again, the wonder and admiration of the child are freely expressed, at seeing how beautiful a result ahs been produced.
In addition to geometrical figures, forms of use, such as a mirror, picture-frame, table, vessel, boat, bird, box, bag, sofa, chair, bedstead, and forms of beauty, such as a flower, star, rose-bud, leaf, etc., are produced by this process.
Economy and order are important traits of character developed in this play. Each child is taught to paste into a scrap-book the forms that have been produced, in symmetrical order with the cuttings that have fallen off, and thus every piece of the paper is appropriated to a use.
On Wednesday morning the occupation consists of

PEAS-WORK: OR FORMS MADE WITH STICKS AND PEAS.

Sticks are made from pine-wood, the size of ordinary matches, but a little longer; others are made six inches in length.
It is by the use of these and the weaving-sticks that children are first taught the science of forms. The horizontal line is distinguished [160] from the perpendicular, as illustrated by use of the sticks; and the minds of the children are also prepared for drawing lessons.
The children being seated at table, which is square-ruled, their minds have a guide in the lines, which indicate if they are laying the sticks straight or not.
Lessons in arithmetic, including addition and subtraction, are imparted during the occupation, also in forming letters, spelling words, and constructing sentences.
Children derive much pleasure from this play.
When the sticks are given out, the usual course of questioning is entered upon, and the interest is increased by inquiring of the children the uses of the articles to which the sticks bear resemblance, as needles, canes, fingers, straws, drum-sticks, etc.
Also, the abuse of these articles is presented to them through stories involving moral points.
Connected with this play with sticks, is a chart, showing the various forms, shapes, letters, and numerals, which can be produced by a combination of sticks of two different lengths, and which include curves, circles, and wheels.
These sticks are sometimes combined into forms by the use of soaked peas. The ends of the sticks are placed in the peas, and combined in such manner as to produce the form desired; as a bird-cage, a rat-trap, a house, a chair, a reel, and the letters of the alphabet.
This is one of the most interesting of all the plays that has yet been introduced into the Kinder-Garten.
The occupation for Thursday morning, is

PRICKING FIGURES UPON PAPER,

which ranks next to peas-work, in the interest manifested for it by the children.
Over a soft cushion of paper or other material is laid a sheet of clean letter-paper. On this is placed the pattern desired to be used. This pattern is then reproduced on the paper sheet, by pricking it out in dots with a pin.
When completed, a needle with colored thread is given to the pupil, and the thread is passed through every other dot, so as to present an appearance of embroidery.
The hand and finger-joints enjoy a beneficial exercise, on account of the pressure made by the hand, and the position in which the fingers are held.
Attention, concentration, and will are brought into action by the habit acquired of fixing the eye upon a certain point.
It also develops in the child a habit of observing and studying details, whilst it is well known that, ordinarily, children observe general points only, each dot requires attention, as it must be made exactly upon the line.
Children under five years of age are not able to advance very far with this play, as it requires agility and skill.
On cloudy days some other pursuit is substituted in place of this, as it requires a strong light to enable the children to follow it without injury to the eyes.

MODELING

in clay is the occupation for Friday; but the preparation for this not being so complete as for some of the other plays, another is often substituted for it. Wax prepared in oil is a better, though more expensive substance than clay. With this material children can be advantageously occupied while developing their artistic nature.
It is worthy of note, the simplicity and cheapness of the materials used in these play occupations, consisting as they do of such substances as paper, wood, peas, sticks, and clay.
The only utensils required are scissors, pencil, and needle.
The tables and the little chairs already referred to, comprise the furniture requisite for the play occupations.
The delight which the children manifest at finding themselves possessed of their place at the table, with their drawers and utensils, and materials for daily use, cannot be described; one must witness in order to appreciate it.
These occupations furnish a valuable comment upon the success of industrial play as a means of keeping the lower passions subdued whilst the ideality of childhood is being ministered to and developed.
They are presented here as occupying only three-fourths of an hour during each daily session; but where the children in a Kinder-Garten are all under six years of age, it would no doubt be well to increase the time devoted to play occupations, by substituting some of these in the place of object lessons.
Industrial plays, or play occupations, rank among the most important features of the Kinder-Garten.
L. P.

“The Kinder-Garten. Number Four,” The Friend of Progress, May 1865: 222-224.

Movement plays, including musical gymnastic exercises, are an important feature of Froebel’s system of education. Their proper place in the programme of daily occupations at the Kinder-Garten, is immediately after the industrial plays; because the mental powers of the children have been called into full action during the time appropriated for the play occupations; and during three quarters of an hour the little ones have occupied a sitting posture, after which they require active bodily exercise.
In the selection and use of gymnastic exercises for children—especially the very young—it is necessary to use much care and judgment. A child is naturally active, and in its voluntary play finds perpetual exercise for the muscles. It is desirable, therefore, to introduce into the Kinder-Garten, plays and musical exercises which shall simply regular the natural activities of childhood. It is well known that music serves to unite spiritual, mental, and physical exercise; therefore this becomes a necessary part of the Kinder-Garten movement plays.
It is our custom to appropriate fifteen minutes, between 11.30 and 11.45 A. M. daily, to in-door exercises during the winter season, in the larger of the two rooms appropriated to the Kinder-Garten in West-Newton; the room is large and airy, is well warmed and ventilated; all of which are important requisites; the time chosen is midway between the morning and noon meal; fifteen minutes is a sufficient length of time to devote in such manner, as it is not well to produce weariness.
The free exercises are selected from among Dr. Dio Lewis’s Light Gymnastics; they are accompanied by suitable music. We call them into service only occasionally, as we consider them valuable rather for children who have advanced above the age of seven years. We usually occupy the time with Movement Plays, or “plays of union and order.” A great variety of these, with musical accompaniment, have been written and published in Germany. [A book containing one hundred of such plays is in preparation for the use of Kinder-Garten and Nursery, by the writer of these articles.] We append here a description of one of them, together with the lines to which the accompanying music is set; this is done as an illustrative—and consequently the most simple and effective—method of explaining what a Movement Play is:
First Form—The children form a ring. A child in the center holds a ball by the string, and imitates the motion of a pendulum, singing:
“Like the pendulum of a clock
I can make it rock tick tock.”
All of the children now imitate the movement, bee it with the right or left arm or leg.
Second Form—This is indicated in the lines which are sung:
“As by the wind the branches bend,
Thus we love our time to spend:
Swing, swing! Swinging so, to and fro.
Swing, swing!”
Third Form is played during an alternation of solo and chorus:
Solo:    “First my ball swings here and there;
            Then it swings round everywhere.”
Chorus: “We, too, know how to swing,
             And turn around and sing.”
Or the children may sing, if they swing only their arms around—
“My arm knows how to swing;
It turns and makes a ring.”
The circling movement of the ball may serve to illustrate occupations of life, as with the play of the Windmill:
“See the windmill how she goes,
While the wind so briskly blows—
Always turning round and round,
Never idle is she found.” [223]
While circling around the child in the center, they may sing:
“Thanks to the miller, brave and good,
The flour he makes serves us for food.”
Another child may step forward and sing:
“Please let me be the mill,
To gain your kind good will.”
She stands in the center, while the others dance and sing:
“See the windmill how she goes,
While the wind so briskly blows—
Always turning round and round and round,
Never idle is she found.”
After each child has had its turn at being the “Miller,” the ring is enlarged by having the children stand at greater distance from each other; then, in concert, they swing their arms and sing:
“On the hill the windmills go
Swiftly when the wind does blow.
The miller in his mill will grind
Corn and grain of every kind.”
Among the occupations which serve to strengthen the body, develop the mind and senses, give agility and grace to movement and carriage, the play with the ball ranks high. It exercises the sight, and at the same time concentrates attention upon one point. Time and order are developed during the singing of the songs that accompany the game with balls. Again, the children learn, that, through combined efforts, a much greater result can be obtained than from mere isolated labor. In this play the child also learns to distinguish the six different colors which the balls exhibit upon their surface. With the ball it obtains an idea of the most perfect of forms, and that which is most pleasing to the eye—a sphere. From this it is introduced to the cylinder, and thence to the cube, from which are derived the first ideas of form, and the relations of particles to a whole. When afterwards the cube is received, cut up into smaller cubes, and making a box of building-blocks, the children learn to develop one form from another. Such methodical play gives them a systematic habit in all their thoughts and actions, and brings more and more consciousness into their free play, and offers full opportunity for the development of inherent talent.
Valuable comments upon the value of children’s Play Exercises or Movement Plays, we find in an article on the Kinder-Garten, by Miss [Elizabeth Palmer] Peabody, published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862, and now again in her “Kinder-Garten Guide.” The following extract admirably expresses our own thought upon this subject:
E. P. Peabody, “Kindergarten—What is it?” The Atlantic Monthly, November 1862: 586-593
“Order is the child of reason, and in turn cultivates the intellectual principle. To bring out order on the physical plane, the Kinder-Garten makes it a serious purpose to organize romping, and set it to music, which cultivates the physical nature also. Romping is the ecstacy of the body, and we shall find, that, in proportion as children tend to be violent, they are vigorous in body. There is always morbid weakness of some kind where there is no instinct for hard play; and it begins to be the common sense that energetical physical activity must not be repressed, but favored. Some plan of play prevents the little creatures from hurting each other, and fancy naturally furnishes the plan—the mind unfolding itself in fancies, which are easily quickened and led in harmless directions by an adult of any resource. Those who have not imagination themselves, must seek the aid of the Kinder-Garten guides, where will be found, arranged to music, the labors of the peasant, cooper, and sawyer; the windmill, the water-mill, the weather-vane, the clock, the pigeon-house, the hares, the bees, and the cuckoo. Children delight to personate animals, and a fine genius could not better employ itself than in inventing a great many more plays, setting them to rhythmical words, describing what is to be done. Every variety of bodily exercise might be made and kept within the bounds of order and beauty by plays involving the motions of different animals and machines of industry. Kinder-Garten plays are easy, intellectual exercises; for to do anything whatever with a thought beforehand, develops the mind or quickens the intelligence; and thought of this kind does not tax intellect or check physical development; which last must never be sacrificed in the process of education.”
The Movement Games are followed by lessons on Form, which occupy fifteen minutes, each Monday and Thursday.
Color furnishes the subject for the lessons on Tuesday and Friday.
All of these are illustrated, and they become in reality Object-Lessons—which have already formed the subject of a part of the article as the third of this series, in the February number.
The study of verses occupies the time on Wednesday: the children are taught the hymns which form part of the nine o’clock conversational exercise, and the words which accompany the Movement Plays.
The appropriation of fifteen minutes each day to short object-lessons, or the study of verses, serves as transitional from the active exercise of the body to a return to the occupation table, around which the children are seated again, at twelve o’clock, to be engaged during the succeeding forty-five minutes, either with drawing, painting, block or tablet building. On Monday and Thursday the time is appropriated to [224]

DRAWING AND PAINTING,

which method—added to the others already presented—of enabling the children to represent objects, is one in which the powers of childhood find full freedom and independence of expression.
Drawing requires close observation and attention: comprehension, perception, concentration, memory, and invention; all of these are brought into active exercise. It brings into action the senses of seeing and feeling, and, above all, develops artistic nature.
It is necessary that the child enter upon it with pleasure. The paper used for this purpose is square-ruled. The object in having it thus ruled, is to place before the child, as it were, an objective retina, upon which can be measured and compared the relative sizes and positions of objects. It is made up in the form of an ordinary writing-book.
By a system of drawing lines of different lengths, and arranging them together so as to produce a variety of figures, a very interesting occupation is developed. At first only vertical lines are made, after which horizontal and diagonal ones are added.
Painting is associated with Drawing by giving to the children colored lead-pencils, which they are encouraged to use by filling up the squares produced by the geometrical figures, which they formed in the drawing lesson. These squares are filled with different colors, so as to produce harmonious effects; only blue, red, yellow, and black pencils, have yet been given to the children; watercolors and brushes may be given them at a future period.
During the first half of the time allowed for this exercise, the children are furnished with copies, which they are encouraged to reproduce; but during the latter portion of the time, they exercise their own ingenuity in designing figures and arranging colors.
Forming letters and words with colored pieces of paste-board, or building with blocks and tablets, are the occupations selected for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. By means of the blocks, simple lessons in arithmetic are given, whilst with block-building a large area is open for imparting pleasing and useful instruction.
The care of plants and animals is an occupation which will be introduced during the spring and summer months. It is anticipated that a harvest of results will follow upon such occupations, and that the minds of the children will discern, by practical experience and observation, that a power is at work whose effects only are seen, the cause being invisible and spiritual. By entering upon direct intercourse with Nature, the child beings to be interested in the study of itself as a part of Nature. This applies especially to children who live in cities, and have but little opportunity for observing the process of natural development.
The garden which thus forms a part of the Kinder-Garten, should be laid out with a large rectangular or circular plot in the center, surrounded by a gravel walk, and cultivated in common by the children, for general purposes of use and ornamentation. Outside the gravel walk should be a small garden for each child, with a trellis around it to serve as a dividing line. Each one learns through this plan that he is a part of a whole, and also that he has a distinct individuality.
It will dawn upon him, through experience, that the most beautiful gardens are the product of industry, whilst neglect and carelessness re sure to be followed by a harvest of thistles and weeds.
“Anything that a child’s senses perceives, for which he can see no purpose, will fly from his memory like chaff before the wind. Our truest and best men are produced by having been nourished intellectually with much Nature and few books, and more experience than study. A child should first know the ground upon which he grows, and should learn something about plants, animals, and human beings, before he can well understand anything abstract.”—Rousseau.
Singing and marching with flags occupies the last quarter of an hour before one o’clock daily. These are the words of the parting hymn:
“Our play once more is ended,
     And all our work is done;
With love and gladness blended,
     The children homeward run.
     The children, etc.
“Our mother stands to see us;
     With joy it fills her heart;
From all her holy counsels
     May we no more depart,
     May we no more, etc.
“But still my school I prize,
     And when I’ve seen her face
I turn my longing eyes
     Back to this pleasant place.
     Back to this, etc.
“We love to come each day
     And be with all the rest,
And sing so merrily
     The songs that we love best.
     Good-by, good-by, good-by.”
L. P.
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