Friedrich Froebel's Approach To Early Childhood Education

The approach I have chosen in order to further detail its core concepts is the Friedrich Froebel approach. I have chosen this approach because I have the most interest in his curriculum, learning environment, materials used, and activities. I generally love his core concepts and I believe the approach to be successful and beneficial to early childhood education after studying it. The core concepts of Friedrich Froebel’s approach to the early childhood educational include:

1. Stages of development

2. Environment

3. Curriculum

4. Categories of play

5. The role of the teacher

1) Froebel’s stages of development

Froebel had four certain stages that relate to children’s educational development:

• Infancy- This is the time of most dependence on

Children should be shown objects while the adults name these objects clearly for them at this stage. There is also play encouraged at this stage “but only if it is purposeful activity with appropriate materials” (Flood, 2013, page 29). The role of the adults is also to guide and help the children to play.

• Boyhood- The environment really determines the children 's education at this stage and the process of education has been changed to child centred to curriculum centred. The main activity has changed from play in the previous stage to now work, so the children 's environment is widened to provide them with more selections of activities. Froebel believed that children aged 6-12 need manual work regularly. Froebel’s core subjects for the boyhood stage are religion, maths, nature and language. There are also subjects that are used to help children express themselves such as drawing, gardening and

“He proposed a holistic approach to learning, that recognises all children as active human beings who see patterns and make connections in their own lives” (Flood, 2013, page 30). Frobel saw the kindergarten class room “as an extension of the home”, where the materials encourage the children 's interest and curiosity. The environment is bright containing loads of natural light. Every Kindergarten has a natural physical environment (an outside garden area) where children can learn to grow flowers and plants and interact with nature. The Kindergarten environment also encourages some characteristics in children such as individuality, independence, and responsibility, which are cared through the use of play, experiences and through a load of materials. Froebel also believed that parents are the primary educators of children and provide the most influential educational experiences for them too. Froebel’s approach also requires teachers working closely with parents, both educators and parents would work in partnership together. The Kindergarten also practises “diversity and allows all children of different nationalities or ethnic groups to be treated equally and were children work together in harmony” (Flood, 2013, page