Before Kindergarten

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Before Froebel's era children worked in coal mines and factories and by the age of seven children were considered adults. This changed with the creation of kindergarten by Froebel, who himself received little love or attention as a child.

Today, children are no longer working in mines and factories, but there are now new challenges that effect childhood. The pressure of television, advertising and the subsequent loss of outdoor play. Interestingly this makes Froebel and his teachings even more relevant today.

"Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul." Friedrich Froebel

Froebel's closeness to creation, along with a firm Christian faith, were key to Froebel's educationist ideas, which were centred in the unity and inner connectedness of all life.