Product Description

"This is a revelatory book. . . . The juxtaposition here of 19th-century kindergarten work with the work of Braque, Klee, Mondrian, and Frank Lloyd Wright will make you gasp." —The New Yorker

Now in paperback, this is the first comprehensive book about the original kindergarten, a revolutionary educational program invented in the 1830s by German educator Friedrich Froebel. Using extraordinary visual material, it reconstructs the most successful system ever devised for teaching young children about art, design, math, and natural history. The book also includes a searching exploration of the origins of modern art in the early childhood experiences of some of its greatest creators.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #210082 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-23
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Amazon.com
Adults over a certain age probably have similar memories of their first taste of school--the half-day kindergarten that featured singing, finger-painting, stories, and naptime. Whatever lessons we absorbed during those halcyon hours were not obvious ones, but we developed confidence, exercised our imaginations, and learned the basic schoolroom drill concerning school buses, milk money, and raising our hands before asking or answering a question. These days, kindergarten is a far departure from its earlier incarnation; instead of a loosely structured time to play and discover, modern kindergartens are more like First Grade 101, in which children are taught their numbers and letters and even assigned homework. Norman Brosterman, author of Inventing Kindergarten, doesn't approve.

Inventing Kindergarten is partly Brosterman's views about the importance of the traditional kindergarten in shaping the hearts and minds of children, partly a biography of an almost-forgotten educator, Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten. In tracing Froebel's life and beliefs about education, Brosterman makes a strong case for returning to Froebel's original model in order to encourage the development of "a sensitive, inquisitive child with an uninhibited curiosity and a genuine respect for nature, family and society." Even if you don't agree with Brosterman's belief that kindergarten is responsible for many of modern art's geniuses, it's hard to argue with a philosophy that makes room for the importance of play in early education.

The New Yorker
... the juxtaposition here of nineteenth-century kindergarten work with the work of Braque, Klee, Mondrian, and Frank Lloyd Wright will make you gasp. This is a revelatory book, and one that gives new meaning to the derisive snort "My kid could do that."

The New York Times Book Review, David Elkind
Norman Brosterman's book challenges this change. He makes a strong argument, supported by lush illustrations, that the inspiration for much of modern art and architecture can be linked to the invention of the kindergarten--its playful rather than its academic incarnation--in the mid-19th century.

Customer Reviews

a work of love
A beautiful book, and one I often give to new parents. Brosterman writes well and lovingly, and the book is equally good to look at.

Unique Insight Into Froebel's Surreal Kindergarten
Not only did Froebel's ideas somewhat baffled early/mid 19th Century Germany, but they feared his somewhat oddball approach to children by allowing them to "work" with peculiar, open-ended objects. Some in Switzerland even labeled him a heretic to the church. Enlightening ideas like these turn Brosterman's (not even an early childhood professional)book into a wealth of information.

One of the amazing ideas that I uncovered came in the form of how many different Gifts existed. I thought Froebel only made ten, but TWENTY existed.

Please read this book over at least so that you can take a gander at the wonderfully valuable pictures of the original classroom and the original Milton Bradley-made gifts.

fresh perspective on the Froebelian "gifts"
A thorough tracing of the ideas and uses of materials (gifts/occupations) in the early kindergarten movement. The juxtaposition of pictures of the kindergarten exercises and manipulatives with the adult abstract art of 20th century Cubism, Constructivism, and architectural planning is stimulating and thought provoking. This book is both delightful reading and browsing, and intellectually fresh in probing connections between childhood experience and adult art expression. The respect paid to Froebel is also gratifying. Many books in education leave the impression that he was an irresponsible dreamer and was a victim of lifelong misunderstanding and harrassment. This book acknowledges the personal and political problems he experienced without making them a focus of the text. Professionals in child development will find this a rewarding reading experience.