FROEBEL'S GIFTS 
 
 BY KTSTe DOUGLAS WIGGIN 
 7SND NOR?!: ARCHIBALD SMITH 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
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 BOSTON AND NEW YORK. 
 
THE 
 
 REPUBLIC OF CHILDHOOD 
 
 BY 
 
 KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN 
 
 , AND 
 
 NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH 
 
 I 
 FROEBELS GIFTS 
 
f)e ftepulrtic of 
 
 The Kindergarten is the free republic of childhood. FROEBEL 
 
 FROEBEL'S GIFTS 
 
 BY 
 KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN 
 
 AND 
 
 NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH 
 
 The true teacher is a student of human 
 nature, and the student of human nature is 
 the pupil of God. HORATIO STEBBINS 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 1895 
 
Copyright, 1895, 
 
 BY KATE DOUGLAS RIGGS 
 
 AND 
 NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton and Company. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE three little volumes on that Republic of 
 Childhood, the kindergarten, of which this hand- 
 book, dealing with the gifts, forms the initial 
 number, might well be called Chips from a Kin- 
 dergarten Workshop. They are the outcome of 
 talks and conferences on Froebel's educational 
 principles with successive groups of earnest young 
 women here, there, and everywhere, for fifteen 
 years, and represent as much practical work at 
 the bench as a carpenter could show in a similar 
 length of time. They are the result of mutual 
 give and take, of question and answer, of effort 
 and experience, of the friction of minds against 
 one another, of ideas struck out in the heat of 
 argument, and of varied experience with many 
 hundred little children of all nationalities and 
 conditions. They are not theories, written in the 
 seclusion of the study; and if perchance they 
 have the defects, so should they have the virtues, 
 
Vl PREFACE 
 
 too, of work corrected and revised at every step 
 by the "child in the midst." If it is objected 
 that many things in them have been heard before, 
 we can but say with Montaigne : " Truth and 
 reason are common to every one, and are no more 
 his who spake them first than his who spake them 
 after." 
 
 The various talks have been cut down here, 
 enlarged there, condensed in one place, amplified 
 in another, from year to year, as knowledge and 
 experience have grown ; many of the ideas which 
 they advocated in the beginning have been elimi- 
 nated, as being completely reversed by the passage 
 of time, and much new matter has been added as 
 the kindergarten principle has developed. They 
 are as much a growth as a coral reef, though the 
 authors have little hope that they will be as 
 enduring. 
 
 The kindergarten of 1895 is not the kinder- 
 garten of 1880, for the science of education has 
 made great strides in these past fifteen years. 
 Many things which were held to be vital prin- 
 ciples when we began our talks with kindergarten 
 students, we now find were but lifeless methods 
 after all. It is not that time has reversed the 
 fundamental principles on which the kindergarten 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 rests, these are as true as truth and as change- 
 less ; but the interpretation of them has greatly 
 changed and broadened with the passage of years, 
 and many of the instrumentalities of education 
 which Froebel devised are destined to further 
 transformation in the future. For this reason, 
 the last book on the kindergarten is sometimes 
 the best book, since it naturally embodies the 
 latest thought and discovery on the subject. 
 
 These talks on the kindergarten have purposely 
 been divested of a certain amount of technicality 
 and detail, in the hope that they will thus reach 
 not only kindergarten students, but the many 
 mothers and teachers who really long to know 
 what Froebel's system of education is and what it 
 aims to do. They will never of themselves make 
 a kindergartner, and are not intended to do so ; 
 but they certainly should shed some light on 
 Froebel's theories, and establish a basis on which 
 they can be worked out in the home and in the 
 school. 
 
 "We shall attempt no defense of the kindergar- 
 ten here. It has passed the experimental stage ; 
 it is no longer on trial for its life ; and no longer 
 humbly begging, hat in hand, for a place to lay 
 its head. As an educational idea, it is a recog- 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 nized part of the great system of child-training ; 
 and to say, in this year of our Lord, one thousand 
 eight hundred and ninety-five, that one does not 
 believe in the kindergarten is as if one said, I do 
 not believe in electricity, or, I never saw much 
 force in the law of gravitation. 
 
 True, Froebel's ideas are often misinterpreted 
 and misapplied ; often espoused by ignorant and 
 sentimental persons ; often degraded in their prac- 
 tical application; true, the ideal kindergarten 
 and the ideal kindergartner are seldom seen 
 (though they are worth traveling a thousand miles 
 to see) all this is true, and no one knows it 
 better than we ; but that a divine idea is wrongly 
 used does not invalidate its divinity. 
 
 That kindergarten principles are gaining ground 
 everywhere ; that every year more free and pri- 
 vate kindergartens are established, more training 
 schools opened, more students applying for in- 
 struction, more books written on the subject, 
 more educational periodicals seeking for kinder- 
 garten articles, more cities adding it to their 
 school systems, more normal schools giving courses 
 in kindergarten training, more mothers and teach- 
 ers seeking for light on Froebel's principles, all 
 these are matters of statistics which any one may 
 
PEEFACE ix 
 
 verify by consulting the Reports of the Commis- 
 sioner of Education and the various educational 
 magazines. 
 
 Our modest volumes, of which the second will 
 deal with the occupations, the third with the 
 educational theories of Froebel, do not claim to 
 be deeply philosophic, nor even to be exhaustive. 
 They are, in a sense, what is called a " popular " 
 treatise on a scientific subject ; and though some 
 scientists decry such treatises, yet there are many 
 persons to whom a simple message carries more 
 conviction than a purely philosophic one. 
 
 It is hoped that the psychologic principles on 
 which the talks rest are at least measurably cor- 
 rect, though when doctors disagree on vital points, 
 how shall the layman know the extent of his own 
 ignorance ? 
 
 The authors have always been of a humble and 
 docile spirit, and in the earlier years of their 
 work with children, looking upon all treatises on 
 education as inspired, tried faithfully to make the 
 child's mind work according to the laws therein 
 laid down. But sometimes the child's mind obsti- 
 nately declined to follow the prescribed route ; it 
 refused to begin at the proper beginning of a 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE GIFTS OF FROEBEL . 
 
 FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 FROEBEL'S SECOND GIFT "1 
 
 THE BUILDING GIFTS 
 
 FROEBEL'S THIRD GIFT ^ 
 
 FROEBEL'S FOURTH GIFT 
 
 FROEBEL'S FIFTH GIFT 89 
 
 FROEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT . 
 
 FROEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 12 ^ 
 
 FROEBEL'S EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 FROEBEL'S NINTH GIFT 15 
 
 FROEBEL'S TENTH GIFT 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS . .189 
 
FROEBEL'S GIFTS 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE GIFTS OF FROEBEL 
 
 "A CORRECT comprehension of external, material 
 things is a preliminary to a just comprehension 
 of intellectual relations." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " The A, B, C of things must precede the A, 
 B, C of words, and give to the words (abstrac- 
 tions) their true foundations. It is because these 
 foundations fail so often in the present time that 
 there are so few men who think independently 
 and express skillfully their inborn divine ideas." 
 
 FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Perception is the beginning and the prelimi- 
 nary condition for thinking. One's own percep- 
 tions awaken one's own conceptions, and these 
 awaken one's own thinking in later stages of de- 
 velopment. Let us have no precocity, but natural, 
 that is consecutive, development." 
 
 FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Every child brings with him into the world 
 the natural disposition to see correctly what is 
 before him, or, in other words, the truth. If 
 
things are shown to him in their connection, his 
 soul perceives them thus as a conception. But 
 if, as often happens, things are brought before 
 his mind singly, or piecemeal, and in fragments, 
 then the natural disposition to see correctly is 
 perverted to the opposite, and the healthy mind 
 is perplexed." FBIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 "The linking together which is everywhere 
 seen, and which holds the Universe in its whole- 
 ness and unity, the eye receives, and thereby 
 receives the representation, but without under- 
 standing it except as an impression and an image. 
 But these first impressions are the root-fibres for 
 the understanding that is developed later." 
 
 FRIEDBICH FBOEBEL. 
 
 "The correct perception is a preparation for 
 correct knowing and thinking." 
 
 FKIEDBICH FROEBEL. 
 
 "No new subject of instruction should come to 
 the scholar, of which he does not at least conjec- 
 ture that it is grounded in the former subject, 
 and how it is so grounded as its application 
 shows, and concerning which he does not, how- 
 ever dimly, feel it to be a need of the human 
 spirit." FBIEDBICH FROEBEL. 
 
 "The sequences which the child builds, as well 
 as the sequence of the kindergarten gifts, point 
 on the one hand to physical evolution, wherein 
 each form ' remembers the next inferior and pre- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE GIFTS OF FROEBEL 3 
 
 diets the next higher,' and on the other to the 
 process of historic development, which magnifies 
 the present by linking with it the past and the 
 future." SUSAN E. BLOW. 
 
 "Let us educate the senses, train the faculty 
 of speech, the art of receiving, storing, and ex- 
 pressing impressions, which is the natural gift of 
 infants, and we shall not need books to fill up the 
 emptiness of our teaching until the child is at 
 least seven years old." E. SEGUIN. 
 
 "As soon as we, young or old, have taken to 
 the habit of asking the book for what it is in our 
 power to learn from personal observation, we 
 dismiss our organs of perception and comprehen- 
 sion from their righteous charge, and cover the 
 emptiness of our own minds with the patchwork 
 of others." E. SEGUIN. 
 
 "Natural geometry (taking the word in its 
 limited sense of study of form in space) is the 
 object of a desire which generally precedes the 
 artificial curiosity for the meaning of letters." 
 
 E. SEGUIN. 
 
 "Without an accurate acquaintance with the 
 visible and tangible properties of things, our 
 conceptions must be erroneous, our inferences 
 fallacious, and our operations unsuccessful." 
 
 HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 "The truths of number, of form, of relation- 
 ship in position, were all originally drawn from 
 
4 THOUGHTS ON THE GIFTS OF FROEBEL 
 
 objects; and to present these truths to the child 
 in the concrete is to let him learn them as the 
 race learned them." HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 "If we consider it, we shall find that exhaust- 
 ive observation is an element of all great suc- 
 cess." HERBERT SPENCER. 
 
 "Learn to comprehend each thing in its entire 
 history. This is the maxim of science guided by 
 the reason." WM. T. HARRIS. 
 
 " Geometrical facts and conceptions are easier 
 to a child than those of arithmetic." 
 
 THOMAS HILL. 
 
 "Instruction must begin with actual inspec- 
 tion, not with verbal descriptions of things. 
 From such inspection it is that certain knowledge 
 comes. What is actually seen remains faster in 
 the memory than description or enumeration a 
 hundred times as often repeated." COMENIUS. 
 
 " Observation is the absolute basis of all know- 
 ledge. The first object, then, in education, must 
 be to lead the child to observe with accuracy; 
 the second, to express with correctness the re- 
 sults of his observation." PESTALOZZI. 
 
 "If in the external universe any one construc- 
 tive principle can be detected, it is the geometri- 
 cal. ' ' BULWER-LYTTON. 
 
 "The education of the senses neglected, all 
 after-education partakes of a drowsiness, a hazi- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE GIFTS OF FEOEBEL 5 
 
 ness, an insufficiency, which it is impossible to 
 cure." LORD BACON. 
 
 "Of this thing be certain: Wouldst thou plant 
 for eternity? Then plant into the deep infinite 
 faculties of man, his fantasy and heart. Wouldst 
 thou plant for year and day? Then plant into 
 his shallow, superficial faculties, his self-love, 
 and arithmetical understanding, what will grow 
 there." THOS. CARLYLE. 
 
FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 "I wish to find the right forms for awakening 1 the higher 
 senses of the child : what symbol does my ball offer to him ? 
 That of unity." 
 
 " The ball connects the child with nature as much as the uni- 
 verse connects man with God." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Line in nature is not found, Unit and Universe are round." 
 "Nature centres into balls." R. W. EMERSON. 
 
 " From thy hand 
 
 The worlds were cast ; yet every leaflet claims 
 From that same hand its little shining sphere 
 Of starlit dew." O. W. HOLMES. 
 
 " The Small, a sphere as perfect as the Great 
 To the soul's absoluteness." 
 
 ROBERT BROWNING. 
 
 1. THE first gift consists of six soft woolen 
 balls colored in the six standard colors derived 
 from the spectrum, namely, red, orange, yellow, 
 green, blue, and violet. 
 
 The balls should be provided with strings for 
 use in the various motions. 1 
 
 2. Froebel chose the ball as the first gift be- 
 cause it is the simplest shape, and the one from 
 which all others may subsequently be derived ; 
 
 1 " The string unites the ball, symbol of the outer world, with 
 the child, and is the means by which it can act upon his inner 
 nature." (E. G. Seymour.) 
 
FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT ( 
 
 the shape most easily grasped by the hand as well 
 as by the mind. It is an object which attracts 
 by its pleasing color, and one which, viewed from 
 all directions, ever makes the same impression. 1 
 
 3. The most important characteristics of the 
 gift are Unity, Activity, Color. 
 
 The various colors serve to distinguish these 
 several playmates of the child by special charac- 
 teristics, and enable him to make his first clear 
 analyses or abstractions, since the color is the 
 only point wherein the objects differ. This con- 
 trast in color results in the abstraction of color 
 from form. 
 
 4. Since the ball is the most mobile of inani- 
 mate shapes, it may be considered as the "oppo- 
 site equal " of the living organism. The quick- 
 ness and ease of its motion as well as its elasticity 
 cause the child to regard it as instinct with life, 
 while its softness renders him able to grasp and 
 handle it readily. 
 
 Its material is also of great advantage in that 
 it lessens the possibility of startling noises which 
 would distract the child from the contemplation 
 of its qualities. By its use, he is first led to 
 observation, and then to self-expression. As the 
 
 1 " The Egyptians and the Greeks hung geometrical forms 
 over their cradles, so as to strike the eyes of the child with law- 
 ful relations. Froebel introduces colored balls for the same 
 purpose, which, considering the psychological and emotional con- 
 dition of the child, leads to the joyful conception of motion, 
 color, and life." (Emma Marwedel.) 
 
8 FROEBEVS FIRST GIFT 
 
 simplest type-form as well as the most universal, 
 it offers a satisfactory basis for the classification 
 of objects in general ; while its indefiniteness and 
 adaptability make it a useful medium for the 
 expression of the child's vague ideas. With the 
 ball we give first impressions of Unity, Form, 
 Color, Material , Mobility, Motion, Direction, 
 and Position. The ball songs and plays are 
 used as the first exercises in language,* singing, 
 and rhythm. 
 
 5. As the kindergarten gifts are designed to 
 serve as an alphabet of form, by whose use the 
 child may learn to read all material objects, it 
 follows that they must form an organically con- 
 nected sequence, moving in logical order from an 
 object which contains all qualities, but directly 
 emphasizes none, to objects more specialized in 
 nature, and therefore more definitely suggestive 
 as to use. 
 
 "Each successive gift in the series must not 
 only be implicit in, but demanded by, its prede- 
 cessor;" so Froebel selects the ball, with its sim- 
 plicity but great adaptability, for the starting- 
 point of his series. 
 
 6. Connected contrasts of Motion, Direction, 
 and Position are shown in the first gift. By 
 the use of pigments, the so-called secondary col- 
 ors, purple, orange, and green, may be produced 
 from the opposite hues, red and blue, red and 
 yellow, and blue and yellow. 
 
FROEBEVS FIRST GIFT 9 
 
 "The mind is aroused to attention and led to 
 comparison by contrasts; on the groundwork of 
 comparison, it is enabled to do the work of clas- 
 sification, of clear abstraction, of the formation 
 of definite ideas by the connection of these con- 
 trasts." 1 
 
 "The presentiment of truth always goes before 
 the recognition of it," says Froebel; 
 
 * 
 
 -11 < Universal 
 
 and it would seem, indeed, as if, in se- Plaything. 
 lecting the first gift, he looked far back into the 
 past of humanity, and there sought the thread 
 which from the beginning connects all times and 
 leads to the farthest future. 
 
 "The ball is the last plaything of men, as 
 well as the first with children." In Kreutzer's 
 "Symbolik" we read that the educators of the 
 young god Bacchus gave him golden balls to play 
 
 1 " Suppose, e. g., that the child, by dint of repeated and va- 
 ried playing 1 with the blue ball of the first gift, has succeeded 
 in getting- a tolerably clear notion of the blue ball. If then 
 you bring the yellow ball to his notice, his mind will be led to 
 examine more closely and to compare the two playthings, re- 
 sembling 1 each other so fully in every respect, yet differing 1 so 
 widely in color. The other balls of the gift are introduced in 
 judicious succession, offering new yet milder contrasts : these 
 reconcile, combine, the contrasts first offered ; they are aided 
 in this by the colors of surrounding- objects. The child beg-ins 
 to feel that these color impressions, however widely they differ, 
 have a similar source ; he is connecting the contrasts, and as 
 he succeeds in this, he succeeds, too, in separating, abstracting, 
 the ball from its color." (W. N. Hailmann.) 
 
10 FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 with, and also that the youthful princes of Persia 
 played with them, and alone had this privilege. 
 
 It is a significant fact that we find balls even 
 among the remains of the Lake Dwellers of 
 Northern Italy and Switzerland, while small, 
 round balls, resembling marbles, have been found 
 in the early Egyptian tombs. The Teutons made 
 ball-plays national, and built houses in which to 
 indulge in these exercises in all sections of Ger- 
 many, as late as the close of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. The ancient Aztecs used the game of ball 
 as a training in warfare for the young men of 
 the nation; and that it was considered of great 
 importance is evident from the fact that the trib- 
 ute exacted by a certain Aztec monarch from some 
 of the cities conquered by him consisted of balls, 
 and amounted to sixteen thousand annually. 
 
 The ball entered into many of the favorite 
 games alike of the Greeks and the Romans, the 
 former having a special place in their gymna- 
 siums and a special master for it. It may 
 be noted also that nearly all our modern sports 
 are based upon the effort to get possession of a 
 ball. 
 
 Froebel considered the ball as an external 
 Froebei's counterpart of the child in the first 
 
 Ideas of . 
 
 First Gift, stages ot his development, its undivided 
 unity corresponding to his mental condition, 
 and its movableness to his instinctive activity. 
 Through its recognition he is led to separate 
 
FEOEBEUS FIEST GIFT 11 
 
 himself from the external world, and the exter- 
 nal world from himself. 1 
 
 Froebel's intention was that the first gift 
 should be used in the nursery, 2 but as this is for 
 the most part neglected, or imperfectly and un- 
 wisely done, we begin the series of kindergarten 
 play-lessons with it, illustrating its qualities and 
 asking questions concerning them, always diver- 
 sifying the exercises with rhymes, games, and 
 songs. We must remember that to the young 
 child, as to primitive man, the activity of an 
 object is more pleasing than its qualities, and we 
 should therefore devise a series of games with the 
 fascinating plaything which will lead the child 
 to learn these qualities by practical experience. 
 
 Before beginning any exercise we should fully 
 decide in our own minds the main point Manner of 
 or points to be brought out, Color, tion. 
 Form, or Direction, for example ; then, and only 
 then, will the child gain a clear, definite impres- 
 
 1 " But as he grows he gathers much, 
 
 And learns the use of ' I ' and ' me,' 
 And finds ' I am not that I see, 
 And other than the things I touch.' 
 
 " So rounds he to a separate mind 
 
 From whence clear memory may beg-in, 
 v As through the frame that binds him in 
 
 His isolation grows defined." 
 
 Tennyson's In Memoriam. 
 
 2 Many suggestions for the use of the ball in the nursery may 
 be found in Froebel's Pedagogics of the Kindergarten, translated 
 by Josephine Jarvis. 
 
12 FEOEBEVS FIRST GIFT 
 
 sion, and have a distinct remembrance of what 
 we have been trying to teach. By way of di- 
 version, every song or rhyme in which the ball 
 can play a symbolic part in action, and illus- 
 trate the point we wish to make, is of use in 
 the lessons. 1 
 
 With this dainty colored plaything we begin 
 our first bit of education, not instruction, mere 
 pouring in, but true education, drawing out, 
 developing. The balls should be kept in a pretty 
 basket, as the beautiful should be cultivated in 
 every way in the true kindergarten; and when 
 they are given to the class, it should be with 
 some little song sung by the kindergartner or 
 one of the older children. At the close of the 
 lesson, as the basket is passed, each child may 
 gently drop his ball into it, saying simply, 
 "Thank you for my ball," or naming its color. 
 At other times they may be called by the names 
 of fruits or flowers, the child saying, "I will 
 give you a cherry," or, "I will give you a 
 violet." 
 
 The qualities of the ball must of course be 
 Method of brought before the child's observation 
 
 Introduc- . . 
 
 tion. m some more or less definite order, and 
 
 it will be profitable to consider the relative claims 
 of Form and Color to the first place. 
 
 We might say, correctly, that to illustrate the 
 
 1 See Kindergarten Chimes (Kate D. Wiggin), pages 22-32, 
 Oliver Ditson Publishing Co. 
 
FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 13 
 
 ball, we should begin with its essential qualities. 1 
 The essential quality is Unity. Unity depends 
 on Form, and the ball's form never changes; 
 therefore we might conclude that this should be 
 the first subject under consideration, since we 
 always treat of the universal properties of objects 
 before special ones, proceeding from homogene- 
 ous to heterogeneous. This view of the subject 
 is supported by Katich's important maxim, "First 
 the thing, and then its properties." 
 
 On the other hand, Conrad Diehl says : " Color 
 is the first sensation of which an infant Conrad 
 is capable. With the first ray of light DiehL 
 that enters the retina of the eye, the presence of 
 color forces itself on the mind. . . . When light 
 is present, color is present. The first impression 
 which the eye receives of an object is its color; 
 its form is revealed by the action of light upon 
 its surfaces. We recognize at a distance the 
 color of a leaf, an apple, a flower or berry, long 
 before we are able distinctly to make out their 
 forms. In the absence of light, neither the color 
 nor the form of an object can be seen." 2 
 
 1 " The infant begins to examine forms from the commence- 
 ment of his existence ; for without this knowledge it is doubtful 
 if he could distinguish one object from another, or even be 
 aware of an external world. Gradually he begins to know ob- 
 jects apart and to recognize them, and in time discerns resem- 
 blances which cause him to classify them." W. W. Speer'a 
 Form Lessons. 
 
 2 Conrad Diehl's Elements of Ornamentation and Color. 
 
14 FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 Spencer says : 1 " The earliest impressions which 
 Herbert * ne mind can assimilate are those given 
 spencer. j. Q -^ ^ v ^ un( j ecom p OSa ^i e sensations, 
 
 resistance, light, sound, etc. Manifestly decom- 
 posable states of consciousness cannot exist before 
 the states of consciousness out of which they are 
 composed. There can be no idea of form until 
 some familiarity with light in its gradations and 
 qualities, or resistance in its different intensities, 
 has been acquired ; for, as has long been known, 
 we recognize visible form by means of varieties 
 of light, and tangible form by means of varieties 
 of resistance. Similarly, no articulate sound is 
 cognizable until the inarticulate sounds which go 
 to make it up have been learned. And thus must 
 it be in every other case." 2 
 
 The balance of authority seems to be, on the 
 whole, upon the side of presenting color first to 
 the young child, as we appeal to the emotions at 
 this age rather than to the intellect; and while 
 the senses revel in color, form follows more the 
 law of use. Let us hear, however, what the 
 " great pioneer of child study " says 
 
 Froebel. , . . -^ 
 
 upon this point. 1 roebel says, as dis- 
 tinct and different as color and form may be in 
 
 1 Education, page 130. 
 
 2 " That priority of color to form which, as already pointed out, 
 has a psychological basis, and in virtue of which psychological 
 basis arises this strong preference in the child, should be recog- 
 nized from the very beginning." Spencer's Education. 
 
FROEBEL'S FIEST GIFT 15 
 
 themselves, they are to the young child indivis- 
 ible, as inseparable as body and life. Nay, the 
 idea of color seems to come to the child, as per- 
 haps to mankind in general, through the forms ; 
 so, on the other hand, the forms gain promi- 
 nence and impressiveness by the colors. Hence 
 ideas of colors must at first be coupled with ideas 
 of form, and vice versa; color and form are in 
 the beginning an undivided unity. 1 
 
 The color and form of the ball being indisso- 
 lubly blended in the child's eyes, we can scarcely 
 teach them separately at first. We may, how- 
 ever, consider each by itself, in order to present 
 the subject more clearly. 
 
 FORM. 
 
 To teach form in an interesting manner, to 
 make it plain to the child without giv- 
 
 Form. 
 
 ing him any terms, but rather coaxing 
 him by ingenuity to formulate his own know- 
 ledge, is a difficult thing to do, and should not 
 
 1 " A person born blind, and suddenly enabled to see, would at 
 first have no conception of in or out (of eye), and would be con- 
 scious of colors only, not of objects ; when by his sense of touch 
 he became acquainted with objects, and had time to associate 
 mentally the objects he touched with the colors he saw, then, 
 and not till then, would he begin to see objects." Preyer's 
 Mind of the Child, page 58. 
 
 " Color cannot be abstracted from that which gives it vital- 
 ity, i. e., Form, from which it cannot be abstracted without 
 rendering the color flat and meaningless." (Geo. L. Schreiber.) 
 
16 FROEBEUS FIRST GIFT 
 
 be attempted at all with very young children. 
 It seems unnecessary to say that Froebel did not 
 intend the ball should be made a medium of ob- 
 ject lessons for babies, although this distorted 
 view of his idea seems to have entered the minds 
 of some critics. 
 
 The child, when old enough to .enter a kinder- 
 garten, will generally know round objects, and 
 be somewhat familiar with the ball already in his 
 home plays. We should let him roll and grasp 
 it in his tiny fingers, till gradually, in compari- 
 son with other objects handled in the same way, 
 he notices the absence of corners, edges, or any 
 obstructions which would meet his touch or eye. 
 Then we may ask him if he could make a ball 
 out of a rough block of wood which we show. 
 Some bright little one will guess that a carpenter 
 could do it with his tools. "What would he 
 have to do? " "Plane it off," will perhaps be the 
 answer. "Where and how is he to plane?" may 
 be the next inquiry, and the child often answers, 
 "All the rough parts and the parts that stick 
 out." "Why does he like to play ball? " He does 
 not know exactly. " Would he like to play ball 
 with the scissors? " "Why not? " "Then why 
 does he like to feel the ball in his hand? " 
 
 After such preliminary conversations upon the 
 form of the ball, we may lead the children first 
 to note other round things in the room, and then 
 to recall what they have at home of a similar 
 
FROEBEIJS FIRST GIFT 17 
 
 shape and what they may have seen in the streets. 
 These exercises are always delightful to the little 
 ones, and are invaluable to the kindergartner, as 
 they furnish a thorough test of the child's compre- 
 hension of the subject she has been handling. 1 
 We should notice slight divergences from the 
 spherical form in the objects the children name, 
 and speak of them. They will soon be able to 
 tell in every case where the egg or cobblestone is 
 not "just round." 
 
 They will of course mention stove-lids, din- 
 ner-plates, etc., as round objects, and the attempt 
 to give a clear and definite understanding of the 
 difference between solids and planes is difficult 
 at first, but they very soon discriminate between 
 rounding objects that possess thickness and those 
 that are flat but have curved edges. A ball of 
 putty or one of dough is a good thing with which 
 to illustrate this difference. 
 
 We must remember that any abstract teaching 
 on Form is too difficult at this time, much more 
 
 1 " Finding forms of the same general shape as those taken 
 as types is of the highest importance. Unless this is done, pu- 
 pils are not learning to pass from the particular to the general. 
 They are not taught to see many things through the one, and 
 the impression they gain is that the particular forms observed 
 are the only forms of this kind. Unless that which the pupil 
 observes aids him in interpreting something else, it is of no 
 value to him. Certain things are taught that through them 
 other things may be seen. Pupils should not be trained to see 
 for the sake of the seeing, but that they may have the power to 
 see." W. W. Speer, Lessons in Form. 
 
18 FROEBEUS FIRST GIFT 
 
 difficult than Color. Let the children, during 
 these first few weeks, draw circles on the black- 
 board and on paper, and sew, and draw pictures 
 of balls, peaches, or round fruits ; they may also 
 make balls of wax, dough, or clay. Rousseau 
 says, "A child may forget what he sees, and 
 sooner still what is said to him, but he never 
 forgets what he has made." 
 
 COLOR. 
 
 " The comprehension of the single tone of color 
 
 gradually leads to the comprehension of 
 
 the full chord ; the recognition of single 
 
 colors leads to the recognition of shades and their 
 
 harmonious connections: thus, step by step, the 
 
 capacity of comprehending nature in its beauty 
 
 and with its treasures is developed." l 
 
 Again, suppose the play-lesson for the day to 
 be upon Color. Of course, the subject may be 
 handled in a dozen different ways and serve for 
 a dozen different lessons; a few hints only are 
 here given, as in matters of detail it is better 
 that each teacher should be free and unguided in 
 the use of her own ingenuity. 
 
 We may take, perhaps, the red 2 ball, and, hold- 
 
 1 Emma Marwedel, Childhood's Poetry and Studies, page 35. 
 
 2 Professor Earl Barnes, of Stanford University, reports that 
 in his various color experiments on the Pacific Coast, 1000 chil- 
 dren having been studied, a very large majority selected red as 
 their favorite color. 
 
FKOE BEL'S FIRST GIFT 19 
 
 ing it high in the air, ask, " Who has a ball ex- 
 actly like mine? Look carefully, now, and then 
 show me." A volley of balls, comprising every 
 color in the rainbow, will be shot into the air, 
 and then becomes necessary the task of discrimi- 
 nation. We may find the red ones, and gratify 
 the children by naming those who possess them, 
 as it seems a great honor in their eyes. Now 
 they should be led to find every bit of red in the 
 room, Andrew's stockings, Mary's ribbon, the 
 tiny pipings on Katie's apron, Jim's necktie, 
 your belt, the flowers on the wall, etc. The 
 scene will become intensely exciting; the bright 
 eyes will begin searching in every corner of the 
 room, and the transport which will greet us when 
 anything far out of sight and of the right color 
 is discovered is truly refreshing. 
 
 All the children, as far as possible, should be 
 engaged in this diversion, while the most timid 
 and backward should be kept near and encouraged 
 with word and smile. The name of the color 
 should not be asked for, or given, till it can be 
 matched by all, and found in surrounding objects. 
 
 We may ask what flowers they have seen which 
 were like the color they are studying, and show 
 them some of the more familiar kinds ; also speak 
 of the action of the sun in making certain fruits 
 red, the raspberries and strawberries, for in- 
 stance. Some rosy - faced little urchin in the 
 class may be chosen and asked how he keeps such 
 
20 FROEBEVS FIRST GIFT 
 
 red cheeks, and from this the idea of red as the 
 color of warmth and life may be developed. We 
 may proceed with blue and yellow, then with 
 violet, orange, and green, in like manner, con- 
 stantly diversifying the exercises with plays, 
 songs, and appropriate stories. 
 
 The formation of the so-called secondary col- 
 Hintson ors w ^ not be verv obvious to the 
 cok?r ioual younger children, nor is the fact to be 
 Exercises. taught scientifically or learned by them ; 
 they will, however, be greatly interested in the 
 mixing of paints in small dishes, or the blending 
 of different colored crayons on the blackboard. 
 Red and Yellow into Orange. 
 Yellow and Blue into Green. 
 Blue and Red into Purple. 
 Pieces of glass are serviceable objects with 
 which to show the same thing, or we can buy the 
 "gelatine films" from any kindergarten supply 
 store. Holding the red and yellow, one on the 
 other, for instance, the piece nearer the eye will, 
 of course, determine the shade; if the red piece 
 be next the ej^e, the orange color will be deeper 
 than if the yellow were in the same position. 
 None of these experiments, however, will produce 
 pure colors, the green and purple being especially 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 Among the devices with which to teach color 
 may be recommended a color quilt made of vari- 
 ous shades and shapes of woolens and silks or 
 
FROEBEUS FIRST GIFT 21 
 
 ribbons. This may be used as a sort of chart, 
 to the great delight of the children, and is one 
 of the valuable aids in teaching, because it calls 
 out both individual and general action. We 
 may also make a clothes-line of twine and sus- 
 pend it from door to door, or between any two 
 suitable points, attaching to it pieces of all 
 colors, and, after a while, of various tints and 
 shades of worsted, letting the children touch the 
 ones designated, or find bits of the same color as 
 their balls. 
 
 Cards wound with different tints and shades 
 of the same color are also useful when the chil- 
 dren have developed greater powers of discrimina- 
 tion, and a chart or map may be made by past- 
 ing colored squares, triangles, oblongs, or circles 
 on a ground of gray Bristol board. 
 
 Then, too, we may have a box of tablets of the 
 simple geometrical figures, and, giving a quantity 
 to the children, let them arrange the different 
 colors in separate rows. 
 
 Children of all ages will be fascinated by the 
 spectrum, "Nature's palette of pure colors, "which 
 the sunlight streaming through a prism shows 
 upon the wall; and as it can be supplemented 
 by a spectrum chart for cloudy days, they will 
 delight to arrange their colored papers to imitate 
 it. The older children will gain much valuable 
 knowledge by experimenting with the color tops, 
 and if a color wheel with the accompanying Max- 
 
22 FROEBEUS FIRST GIFT 
 
 well disks can be obtained, the materials for color 
 education will be quite complete. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the purpose of 
 all these exercises is that the child may learn to 
 know the six standards, and subsequently their 
 intermediates, and may in time learn to use and 
 combine them harmoniously. It is, therefore, 
 essential that the colors supplied him shall be 
 fresh and pure, 1 and that he not only have free- 
 dom to make his own experiments, but materials 
 to preserve them in permanent form when they 
 prove successful. 
 
 When the children are just making friends 
 with the teacher and with each other, it is very 
 interesting and profitable for them to formulate 
 their mite of knowledge into a sentence, each one 
 holding his ball high in the air with the right 
 hand, and saying : 
 
 My ball is red like a cherry. 
 
 My ball is yellow like a lemon. 
 
 My ball is blue like the sky. 
 
 My ball is orange like a marigold. 
 
 My ball is green like the grass. 
 
 My ball is violet like a plum. 
 
 We should not, however, allow this to degen- 
 erate into mere recitation, but let the child find 
 
 1 " Care should be taken, in the selection of all materials for 
 color lessons, to get as perfect foundation colors as possible ; no 
 faded or poor shades are allowable, as they lead the child 
 astray." 
 
FROEBEUS FIRST GIFT 23 
 
 his own objects of comparison, and change them 
 when he chooses for any others that occur to him. 
 This prevents parrot repetition, and gives room 
 for individuality and real self-expression. 
 
 MOTION; DIRECTION; POSITION. 
 
 The child of three or four years has seldom any 
 conception of the terms : 
 
 Right. ~ Left. Here ~^ There. 
 
 _ Motion ; 
 
 Up* Down. JNear "-^ rar. Direction; 
 
 1 Position. 
 
 Over ^^ Under. Front Back. 
 
 Even if he has a dim idea of direction, he can- 
 not express himself regarding it, nor is he certain 
 enough of his knowledge to be able to move or 
 place the ball according to dictation. 
 
 Motion is always easy and delightful to the 
 child, and therefore he will move his ball in 
 different directions, as the words and music sug- 
 gest, when he would be too timid to express a 
 thought, and is willing and happy to do in uni- 
 son what he would hesitate to do by himself. 
 
 The ball may be made a starting-point in giving 
 the child an idea of various simple facts about 
 objects in general, and in illustrating in move- 
 ments the many terms with which we wish him 
 to become familiar. The meaning of the terms 
 to swing, hop, jump, roll, spring, run away, 
 come back, fall, draw, bounce, and push may be 
 taught by a like movement of the ball, urging 
 the child to give his own interpretation of the 
 
24 FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 motions in words. All the children may then 
 make their balls hop, spring, roll, or swing at 
 the same time, accompanying the movements by 
 appropriate rhymes. 
 
 The ball is more purely a plaything than any- 
 thing which the child receives in the kindergar- 
 ten, and its mobility is so charming, it so easily 
 slips from his hands and travels so delightfully 
 far when dropped, that exercises with it soon 
 become riotous if not carefully guided. Every 
 play-lesson on the ball should close with some 
 active exercise in which the children may indulge 
 their wish for a game with their dear playfellow, 
 and in which they may also gain greater skill 
 and learn practically the laws of motion. 
 
 When sitting at their tables, each pair of chil- 
 dren may roll a ball to and fro, all beginning at 
 the same moment; or the first pair may begin, 
 the second and third follow, and so on until all 
 are rolling. They may throw balls against the 
 wall, or toss them in the air, or throw them 
 alternately first in the air, then against the wall ; 
 they may toss them to each other at increasing 
 distances. The whole company of children may 
 be arranged in two rows and throw the balls to 
 each other in unison, or they may pass them 
 from hand to hand as in a Wandering Game, 
 all the exercises being accompanied with appro- 
 priate songs or rhymes. 
 
 The laws of incidence and reflection may be 
 
FROEBEVS FIEST GIFT 25 
 
 simply taught by leading the children to note 
 that if they strike the ball straight against the 
 wall it will bound straight back, and then asking 
 them to see if it returns when thrown in a slant- 
 ing direction. 
 
 In order to present the ball in a more attractive 
 light in the kindergarten, to suit it to Symbolic 
 the symbolic stage of the child's devel- cwid'sDe- 
 opment, and to bring it nearer to his vel P ment - 
 sympathies, we constantly, in our play, suppose it 
 to be something which it resembles in certain of 
 its characteristics. By its color, it may repre- 
 sent a fruit, a flower, or a gayly dressed child ; 
 by its form, an egg, a downy chicken, a tiny 
 duckling; by its mobility, a bird, a squirrel, a 
 baby ; or when fastened to its string, a bucket in 
 the well, a toy wagon, a pendulum, or a pet lamb 
 tethered by the roadside. 
 
 The child is always at home in the world of 
 "make-believe," and delights in the stories and 
 the many charming songs to which this imagina- 
 tive use of the ball gives rise. 
 
 Perhaps we may wisely remind ourselves, how- 
 ever, that though the child's fancy is most vivid, 
 and though the ball is well adapted to represent 
 many objects, yet if it resemble in no single point 
 the thing to which we liken it, we are indulging 
 in empty imaginings which will only hinder the 
 child's comprehension of truth. 1 
 
 1 " The resemblance of the symbol to the thing signified is a 
 
26 FROEBEL'S FIRST GIFT 
 
 The teacher who truly understands the great 
 principles on which Froebel built the kinder- 
 garten will ever be mindful of one of the high- 
 cooperative est ^ t nese > "the brotherly union of 
 Exercises. those ^o are like-minded." Even in 
 the simple plays with the first gift, group work 
 is easily possible. The stringing of the first 
 gift beads or the supplementary modeling in 
 clay may be made into a cooperative exercise, 
 the work with the balls at the sand-table may 
 have a similar aim, and many of the ball games 
 are well fitted to unite the whole community of 
 children, older and younger, in a common aim, 
 a common, purpose. 1 
 
 We must remember that on a carefully pre- 
 whatwe pared plan of procedure depends much 
 
 Should .1 -t J 
 
 strive for. of the value of any system of educa- 
 tion; therefore we must decide, when the child 
 comes under our tutelage, what we wish to accom- 
 plish and what shall be our method of accomplish- 
 ing it ; and yet as the first gift is not the last, 
 as it is but the first link in a chain of related 
 
 very important matter in education, especially in kindergarten ed- 
 ucation." Geo. P. Brown, Essentials of Educational Psychology. 
 1 " If, therefore, genuine brotherliness, . . . consideration and 
 respect for playmates and fellow-men, are again to become 
 prevalent, they can become so only by being connected with 
 the feeling of community abiding in each man (however much 
 or little of it may be found), and by fostering this feeling with 
 the greatest care." Friedrich Froebel, Education of Man, 
 page 74. 
 
FKOEBEL'S FIEST GIFT 27 
 
 objects, it is obvious that it must be chiefly use- 
 ful as a starting-point. Each lesson should be 
 carefully studied by the teacher, for the founda- 
 tion is being laid for all future acquisition. 
 
 The kindergarten gifts are designed to lead 
 to the mastery of material objects, but at the 
 same time they are always connected with the 
 child's experience and affection by being often 
 transported into the region of fancy and feeling 
 in a blending of realism and symbolism. Omit- 
 ting everything which has reference to the moral 
 and physical development, and speaking now only 
 of that which is intellectual, what we should 
 strive for at the beginning is that the child may 
 acquire a habit of quick observation, with clear 
 and precise expression ; that in due time he may 
 see not only quickly, but accurately ; in short, that 
 a slight degree of judgment may begin to attend 
 his perceptions, so that he may know as well as 
 observe. It is not enough to awaken the curi- 
 osity of a child, and to heap up in his memory a 
 mass of good materials which will combine of 
 themselves in due time, and which the brain when 
 more highly developed will arrange in systematic 
 groups ; we should endeavor as far as possible to 
 control the first impressions which sink uncon- 
 sciously into a child's mind, but still more care- 
 ful should we be in the selection of those later 
 ones which we try to inculcate, and of the links 
 which we wish to establish between such and such 
 perceptions, sentiments, or actions. 
 
28 FEOEBEVS FIRST GIFT 
 
 We should seek to develop, side by side with 
 the perceptions, the faculty of judging and acting 
 rightly. 
 
 To give a child very little to observe at a 
 time, but to make him observe that little well and 
 rightly, is the true way of forming and storing his 
 mind. 
 
 The process of receiving an idea must be 
 through sensation, attention, and perception, con- 
 ception and judgment being later processes. The 
 curiosity to know must be kept alive, for it is our 
 greatest ally, and the imagination must be fed, for 
 the child remembers only what interests him. 
 
 Recognizing what is to be accomplished, we say, 
 then : 
 
 a. The ball is one of the first means used in 
 awakening and developing the dawning conscious- 
 ness and growing faculties of the child. 
 
 6. The beginning must be well made, or no 
 later step will seem clear. 
 
 c. If the first opportunity which occurs of deal- 
 ing with the gift (or with any instrumentality of 
 education) is wasted, interest on the part of the 
 child is permanently lessened. 
 
 d. The mind retains clear impressions in pro- 
 portion to the degree of spontaneous interest and 
 attention with which they are received. 
 
 e. The law of diminishing interest decrees 
 that each point in a successful exercise shall be 
 more interesting than the previous one. 
 
FROEBEVS FIRST GIFT 29 
 
 f. The lessons must not be confined to so nar- 
 row a channel that they become monotonous, and 
 they must leave room for the child to develop 
 and not attempt to prescribe his mental action. 
 
 Tiedemann says: " Liberty of action even in 
 imitated actions is one of the conditions of a 
 child's happiness; besides that, it has the effect of 
 exercising and developing all his faculties. Ex- 
 ample is the first tutor, and liberty the second, 
 in the order of evolution; but the second is the 
 better one, for it has inclination for its assist- 
 ant." 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 From Cradle to School. Bertha Meyer. Pages 118-20. 
 
 Education. Herbert Spencer. 128-40. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 41-46. 
 
 Education. E. Seguin. 7, 8. 
 
 The Kindergarten. Emily Shirreff. 10. 
 
 Kindergarten at Home. Emily Shirreff. 46. 
 
 Reminiscences of Froebel. Von Marenholtz-Biilow. 208, 209. 
 
 Lectures on Child-Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 24. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Ronge. 13. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 5-12. 
 
 Child- Culture. Henry Barnard. 567, 568, 570-75. 
 
 Education of Man. Fr. Froebel. Tr. by J. Jarvis. 105, 106, 
 206. 
 
 Lectures to Kindergartners. E. P. Peabody. 30, 31, 38, 39, 
 44-51. 
 
 Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Fr. Froebel. Tr. by J. Jar- 
 vis. 31-69. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. 7-9. 
 
 Law of Childhood. W. N. Hailmann. 31-33. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 115. 
 
 Froebel and Education by Self -Activity. JET. Courthope Bowen. 
 136-38. 
 
30 FROEBEUS FIEST GIFT 
 
 Childhood's Poetry and Studies. E. Marwedel. Part I. 7- ' 
 15. 
 
 Childhood's Poetry and Studies. E. Marwedel. Part II. 6- 
 17. 
 
 A System of Child-Culture. E. Marwedel 1-5. 
 
 The Dawn of History. A. Keary. 44-47. 
 
 Hints to Teachers. E. Marwedel. 5, 6. 
 
 Froebel's Letters. Tr. by Michaelis and Moore. 83-85, 98, 
 101-03, 107, 176, 220. 
 
 Conscious Motherhood. E. Marwedel 106, 107, 118, 119, 153, 
 162-64, 170-74, 256-62, 291-96. 
 
FROEBEL'S SECOND GIFT 
 
 " From the ball as a symbol of unity, we pass over in a con- 
 secutive manner to the manifoldness of form in the cube." 
 
 " The child has an intimation in the cube of the unity which 
 lies at the foundation of all manifoldness, and from which the 
 latter proceeds." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Notice has now become observation, and observation leads to 
 discrimination. He sees and is curious by nature, but it belongs 
 to us to lead him to observe and inquire." EMILY SHIRREFF. 
 
 1. FROEBEL'S second gift consists of a wooden 
 sphere, cube, and cylinder, two inches in diameter 
 (as now made), with rods and standards for revo- 
 lution. 1 
 
 2. In the first gift the child received objects 
 of the same shape and size but of different colors, 
 thus learning to separate color from form. In 
 the second gift he receives unlike objects, and 
 learns to distinguish them from each other by 
 their individual peculiarities. The first gift sug- 
 gests unity, and leads to the detection of resem- 
 blances ; the second suggests variety or manifold- 
 ness, and emphasizes contrasts. 
 
 1 " The wooden sphere has no string- like the balls of the first 
 gift, because the child no longer needs the outward connection ; 
 he now realizes the spiritual connection between himself and the 
 outer world." (E. G. Seymour.) 
 
32 FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 
 
 3. The most important characteristic of the 
 gift is contrast of form, leading* to the distinc- 
 tion of different objects. The mediation of con- 
 trasts here suggests the connection of all objects, 
 however widely separated. 
 
 4. The purpose of the gift is to stimulate 
 observation and comparison by presentation of 
 striking contrasts, and to afford new bases for the 
 classification of objects. Spencer says that any 
 systematic ministrations to the perceptions ought 
 to be based upon the general truth that in the 
 development of every faculty markedly contrasted 
 impressions are the first to be distinguished ; that 
 hence sounds greatly differing in loudness and 
 pitch, colors very remote from each other, and sub- 
 stances widely removed in hardness or texture 
 should be the first supplied ; and that in each case 
 the progression must be by slow degrees to impres- 
 sions more nearly allied. 1 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this 
 gift are : 
 
 ( Sphere. 
 
 Cube. 
 Solids, s Cylinder. 
 
 Double Cone. ) 
 ri -j t Seen in motion. 
 
 ^ Conoid. ) 
 
 ( Circles. 
 PlaneS ' {Squares. 
 
 6. The sphere and cube are sharply contrast- 
 
 1 Education, page 132. 
 
FROEBEISS SECOND GIFT 33 
 
 ing forms, and the cylinder illustrates the con- 
 necting link between the two, possessing charac- 
 teristics of both. 
 
 " The cylinder is the first example Froebel 
 gives of the intermediate transition - forms con- 
 necting opposites, which he explains as the very 
 ground plan of Nature, and on which his funda- 
 mental law of contrasts and connection of con- 
 trasts, the law of all harmonious development and 
 creative industry, is based." l 
 
 " That which follows is always conditioned 
 upon that which goes before," 2 says Pointstobe 
 Froebel, and he makes this apparent to each^w 
 children through his educational pro- Glft ' 
 cesses ; the gifts show this idea in concrete form. 
 
 In entering upon a consideration of the second 
 gift one thing cannot fail to impress us, and that 
 is the continuous development in each new set of 
 objects placed before the child ; together with an 
 increase of difficulty or complexity which is never 
 without a corresponding forethought, careful 
 arrangement, and attention to logical sequence ; 
 thus the newly introduced objects can never seem 
 unnatural to him. 
 
 We shall find that in every new gift or oc- 
 cupation there is always a suggestion of the last, 
 
 1 E. Shirreff. 
 
 2 " We cannot evolve what has not first been involved." 
 
34 FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 
 
 enough to make it a pleasant reminder of know- 
 ledge gained and difficulties surmounted, and so 
 the child sees not everything painfully strange, 
 but something which at least recalls to his mind 
 his former friend and familiar playfellow. 1 
 
 In the first lesson with the second gift the 
 Method of child will quickly see the similarities 
 FiJrt ISr- between his former worsted ball and 
 his new companion, the wooden sphere. 
 Let him take these two balls together, and find 
 out the similarities and dissimilarities, remember- 
 ing that before he compares objects consciously, 
 experiences should invariably be given him. 
 
 We should always draw attention to the uni- 
 versal properties of things first and then proceed 
 to the specific. The qualities common to all ob- 
 jects are the universal ones : Form, Size, Color, 
 Material, etc. The invariable rule should be: 
 simple before complex, concrete before abstract, 
 unity before variety, universal qualities before 
 special ones. 
 
 If we are in doubt as to whether we shall first 
 direct attention to the similarities or to the dis- 
 similarities between the ball and sphere, we may 
 recall the educational maxim, "The child's eye 
 
 1 " Nothing charms us more than the recognition of the old in 
 the new. The man who hurries through a foreign city, indiffer- 
 ent and inattentive to the passing crowd, feels a quick thrill of 
 pleasure when in the midst of all the strangers he recognizes a 
 familiar face." (E. Minhinnick.) 
 
FROEBEL'S SECOND GIFT 35 
 
 always at first seizes the analogous, the point of 
 union, the whole connection of things, and only 
 after that begins to discern differences and oppo- 
 sition." l 
 
 In comparing the ball and the sphere the child 
 will observe, in the first place that they Ball and 
 are both round and both roll equally s P here - 
 well, but that one has color, one being without ; 
 one is soft, the other hard ; one quiet, one noisy ; 
 one a little rough to the touch, the other velvet 
 smooth. He should find for and by himself, aided 
 by our suggestive questioning, the reasons for 
 these evident differences. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary that each child should 
 have one of the boxes containing the solids, or at 
 least the three forms of the gift without the box, 
 rods, and standards, and examine them thoroughly 
 and often as he will be glad to do. 
 
 If the solids as ordinarily manufactured are too 
 costly for a kindergartner of limited means, she 
 can substitute large marbles, blocks, and linen 
 thread spools; the material does not matter so 
 long as each child has the objects to handle. 
 
 We need not be distressed if the lessons are a 
 little noisy when the children are making the 
 acquaintance of these wonderful new friends. 
 To be sure they will pound the wooden forms 
 heartily up and down on the table (if they are 
 
 1 " The infant mind is transparent to resemblance, but opaque 
 to difference." Susan E. Blow, Symbolic Education, page 83. 
 
36 FROEBEISS SECOND GIFT 
 
 three-year old babies, they certainly would and 
 Value of the should do so) ; but within bounds what 
 
 Discrimiua- ', . Ti . . , 
 
 tive Power ; does it matter ? If it can be arranged 
 which it y so that other classes shall not be dis- 
 turbed, and each child can have the 
 
 same opportunity for experimenting as his neigh- 
 bor, there will be no great harm done. 
 
 We are endeavoring to rouse all the latent en- 
 ergies of the child by the presentation of these 
 objects to his observation, and he must have full 
 liberty to make the various experiments which 
 suggest themselves to him. His desire to hear 
 the sound of the objects is so manifest that it 
 would be folly to try and thwart it. It is far 
 better to use the desire for educational purposes 
 and divert it into the channel of systematized 
 noise. Let us suppose that we are carpenters to- 
 day and pound the wooden objects on the floor in 
 exact time with a building song ; let us play we 
 are drummer boys and tap with our drumsticks 
 for the soldiers to march ; or shall we make be- 
 lieve that the sphere is a woodpecker and let it 
 tap on the trees while we recite some simple little 
 rhyme ? l 
 
 " This craving of young children for informa- 
 tion," says Bernard Perez, "is an emotional and 
 intellectual absorbing power, as dominant as the 
 appetite for nutrition, and equally needing to be 
 watched over and regulated." 
 
 1 For second gift songs, see Kindergarten Chimes (Kate D. 
 Wiggin), pages 32, 33, Oliver Ditson Publishing Co. 
 
FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 37 
 
 It is not alone the noise of the sphere which 
 delights the child, 1 though this is always pleasing, 
 it is the knowledge he is gaining, the new 
 ideas that dawn upon him for the first time in 
 recognizable form. It is, in fact, a knowledge of 
 cause and effect. He has often dropped the 
 woolen ball and pounded it on the table, and it 
 produced no sound. He does the same with the 
 sphere and recognizes the difference. He will 
 begin to experiment with other objects, by and 
 by to classify his knowledge, and finally, he will 
 see and remember that like causes produce like 
 effects, and in progressing thus far will have made 
 a tremendous stride. The child will see all the 
 more clearly, in comparing the woolen ball and 
 wooden sphere, the difference between soft and 
 hard, rough and smooth, light and heavy, if he is 
 allowed to perform his own experiments. 
 
 We will now turn to the investigation of the 
 cube and open a new world of informa- 
 
 1 The Cube. 
 
 tion to the child, and here we seem to 
 deviate a little from the famous educational 
 maxim, " Proceed from the known to the un- 
 known," and almost to make a leap into the dark. 
 However, we very soon give the cylinder, and 
 thus connect the opposites. Here he meets a daz- 
 
 1 " The sound is a yet higher sign of life to the child, as he 
 then, and also later, likes to lend speech to all dumb things ; 
 therefore he also desires to hear sound and speech from every- 
 thing." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 72. 
 
38 FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 
 
 zling quantity of new appearances; the square 
 sides or faces, and the many edges and corners, 
 all of which must be viewed in comparison with 
 the sphere. We can give him an experience of 
 the faces of the cube without conscious analysis, 
 by letting the ball roll against them. 
 
 Of course we shall see the underlying idea of 
 
 ^ e ^ e connec ^ on 
 
 Mediation of 
 
 contraats. sites. Not too much can be said of this 
 law, so all-important and significant in Froebel's 
 system. 1 We should bear it constantly in mind, 
 and bring it in connection with every new phase 
 of our work. Froebel cannot be understood 
 clearly unless this deep principle, which lies at 
 the very root of his system, is appreciated and 
 comprehended. At the same time it is, when 
 formulated, an abstract and metaphysical state- 
 ment, which one cannot grasp at once, but to 
 which one must grow. 
 
 It may be said that comparatively few kinder- 
 gartners know its value ; nevertheless knowledge 
 of this kind can never be useless or fruitless to 
 the person who is forming the mind of the child, 
 and who should be a perfect mistress of her 
 science and her art. 
 
 1 " But each thing 1 is recognized only when it is connected 
 with the opposite of its kind, and when the union, accord, simil- 
 itude with this object are found ; and the connection with the 
 opposite, and the discovery of the uniting, renders the recogni- 
 tion so much the more complete." Froebel's Education of 
 Man, page 26. 
 
FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 39 
 
 These contrasts of the second gift, and all con- 
 trasts, arouse the mind to attention. Valueof 
 We can have no judgment without com- Contrasts - 
 parison. We should have no idea of heat or 
 darkness if we had not a conception of cold and 
 light ; the quality of sweetness would have no 
 meaning if its opposite did not serve to stimulate 
 comparison. 
 
 The sphere is sharply contrasted with the 
 cube, so that there may be a ready perception of 
 the striking qualities of both. The more abrupt 
 the contrast the more readily noticed and de- 
 scribed ; for it takes a more developed eye to 
 discern the difference between a sphere and a 
 spheroid, for instance, than between a sphere and 
 a cube. 
 
 The contrasts of the first gift were contrasts 
 of color, mediations of them being shown also, 
 and contrasts of direction and position or situa- 
 tion. Another point less readily seen in the first 
 gift perhaps was Froebel's thought that the ball, 
 in its perfect simplicity and unity, when first 
 given to the young child, is regarded by him as 
 another contrasted individuality, almost as capa- 
 ble of life in its varied movements as he is him- 
 self. 
 
 The sphere is the symbol of motion, the cube 
 the embodiment of rest, and the fact Mobilityof 
 should be illustrated in divers ways. s P here - 
 We may, for instance, place the sphere near the 
 
40 FROEBEL'S SECOND GIFT 
 
 rim of a plate, and by inclining the latter a little, 
 the sphere will roll rapidly round its own axis 
 and round the rim. A few simple little rhymes 
 may be taught, which the children may say or sing 
 together while the sphere is journeying rapidly 
 round and round the plate, for, as Froebel says, 
 the thought always grows clearer to the child when 
 word and motion go hand in hand. 
 
 The cube can only be moved, on the contrary, 
 s here and wnen ^ orce * s exerted, and then it 
 Cube. merely slides, to stop when the force is 
 
 removed. The children will soon see why the 
 cube is so lazily inclined, and why the sphere is 
 ever rolling, rolling about, scarcely to be kept 
 still, for by various experiments we may show 
 that the sphere stands only on a little part of its 
 face, the cube on the whole. 
 
 The sphere is always the same in whatever way 
 regarded, and to whatever tests subjected. It is 
 always an emblem of unity, and cannot be robbed 
 of its simplicity, its unity, its freedom from all 
 that is puzzling. 
 
 The cube, on the contrary, being made to re- 
 volve on any one of its axes, constantly shows a 
 different aspect, so that the child views it as a 
 very extraordinary little block, full of fascinating 
 surprises and whimsical apparitions. 
 
 It is put upon the string, and, when whirled 
 rapidly, mysteriously loses its identity, and ap- 
 pears to the little one's laughing gaze as an 
 
FEOEBEVS SECOND GIFT 41 
 
 entirely different object; and yet as the motion 
 grows more sedate, the new form fades away and 
 the cube reappears so quickly as to make him rub 
 his eyes and wonder if he has been dreaming. 
 
 The square faces of the cube, in comparison 
 with the one curved, unbroken surface Counting 
 of the sphere, must now be noted, and Faces - 
 may be counted if we are using the gift as a 
 means of instruction. 
 
 We must beware, however, of making this 
 counting exercise into a lesson, or requiring that 
 the number of faces shall be learned and recited. 
 Every teacher of experience will corroborate Mr. 
 W. N. Hailmann when he says : " If the kinder- 
 gartner sets the cube before the child and counts 
 the faces, edges, and corners, so that he may 
 4 know all about it,' the child's interest, if born 
 at all, will soon die." 
 
 If the faces are counted, as they are all so ex- 
 actly alike, the children may sometimes be puz- 
 zled as to the number, by enumerating the same 
 one more than once. This difficulty may be ob- 
 viated by pasting a paper square of a different 
 color on each face, and then submitting it to ex- 
 amination, giving each child an opportunity to 
 count, since independent self-activity is to be more 
 and more encouraged. 
 
 If the faces, edges, and corners be made the 
 integral point of an interesting story or play, the 
 child will have little difficulty in recalling their 
 
42 FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 
 
 number and character, but we must remember 
 that "lively interest and steady progress come 
 only from following and feeding the child's pur- 
 poses." 
 
 We now proceed to the cylinder, the reconcilia- 
 tion of the two opposites; an object 
 which having qualities possessed by both 
 occupies a middle ground in which each has some- 
 thing in common. 
 
 Froebel originally took the doll 1 as the interme- 
 diate form " uniting in itself the opposites of the 
 sphere and cube," and thus showed that he under- 
 stood child nature well, for no toy follows the ball 
 with greater certainty than the doll. 
 
 The cylinder, however, was subsequently se- 
 lected, as being more in line with the other geo- 
 metrical forms shown in the sequence of gifts. 
 It is as easily moved as the sphere, upon one 
 side ; as prone to rest as the cube, when placed 
 upon the other ; it has the curved surface of the 
 sphere and the flat faces of the cube ; it has no 
 corners but two curved edges ; more edges than 
 the sphere, fewer than the cube ; less unity than 
 the sphere, more than the cube. 
 
 Its importance as a mediation, or connecting 
 
 1 "But now as man both unites the single, which finds its 
 limits in itself, and the manifold, which is constantly developing 1 , 
 and reconciles them within himself as opposites, there results 
 also to the child from both, from sphere and cube outwardly 
 united, the expression of the animate and active, especially as 
 embodied in the doll." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 106. 
 
FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 43 
 
 link, is further shown by suspending the cube on 
 a string, by which it may be twisted rapidly and 
 caused to revolve ; in this motion a cylinder being 
 readily seen. When the cylinder is spun in like 
 manner a sphere suddenly appears, and so the 
 wonderful and subtle bond of union is complete. 1 
 Let the children call the cylinder a " roller " or 
 "barrel" if they choose, and tell them Hints as to 
 
 . . . , ,, Manner and 
 
 the right name when it is neediul. Method. 
 Each gift must be thoroughly understood before 
 we pass to the next, or there will be no orderly 
 development ; but as the impressions have all 
 been made through the senses of the child, we 
 must not expect him to voice these impressions 
 in logical phrases all at once, so beware of making 
 the lesson irksome or wearisome to him through 
 a formal questioning that does not properly be- 
 long to childhood. 
 
 When the keen appetite for knowledge disap- 
 pears we may well despair. If several children 
 in our class express dislike of a certain exercise or 
 lesson, and seem to dread its appearance, we may 
 be well assured that the fault lies in our method 
 
 1 " On revolving the cylinder on an axis parallel to the circu- 
 lar faces, we find that it incloses a solid, opaque sphere ; teach- 
 ing- us the lesson, not only that each member of the second gift 
 contains each and all of the others, but that whatever is in the 
 universe is in every individual part of it ; that even the meanest 
 holds the elements of the noblest ; that the highest life is even 
 in what in short-sighted conceit we call death." W. N. Hail- 
 mann, Law of Childhood, page 35. 
 
44 FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 
 
 of putting it before them, and strive in all humility 
 for a better understanding of them, of ourselves, 
 and of the subject. 
 
 We must not, however, be too hard in our self- 
 judgments and lose courage. We are not re- 
 sponsible for a child who is " born tired," and who 
 seems to have no interest in anything, either in 
 heaven above or in the earth beneath, until, by 
 ingenuity and perseverance, we are able to open 
 the eyes and ears which see and hear not. 
 
 It will be remembered that in discussing the 
 first play or lesson with the second gift great free- 
 dom was advised ; but let us note the difference 
 between liberty and lawlessness, between sponta- 
 neity and the confusion of self-assertion which is 
 sometimes mistaken for it. 
 
 No lesson or play amounts to anything unless 
 conducted with order and harmony, unless at its 
 close, no matter how merry and hearty the enjoy- 
 ment, some quiet and lasting impression has been 
 made on the mind. Many teachers miss the 
 happy medium, and in trying with the best in- 
 tentions to allow the individuality of the child 
 proper development, only succeed in gaining 
 excitement and disorder. 
 
 The second gift is, more than any other, too 
 Dangers of much used for mere obiect lessons, and 
 
 Object Les- . . J 
 
 sons. these are invariably dangerous . because 
 
 there is apt to be too much impressing of the 
 teacher's own ideas upon the mind, and too little 
 
FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 45 
 
 actual handling, perceiving, observing, compar- 
 ing, judging, concluding, oil the child's part, and 
 that is the only logical way in which he is able 
 to form a clearly crystallized idea. 
 
 We can have no higher authority than Dr. 
 Alexander Bain, who says that the object lesson 
 more than anything else demands a careful hand- 
 ling ; there being " great danger lest an admir- 
 able device should settle down into a plausible 
 but vicious formality." 
 
 It is not uncommon to hear students in kin- 
 dergarten training classes (and even HOW to deal 
 some full-fledged kindergartners) ex- SScoSd 
 press a distaste for the second gift, c 
 and it is, unfortunately, even more common to 
 find the children dealing with it either sunk in 
 deepest apathy, or mercifully oblivious of the 
 matter in hand and chatting with their neigh- 
 bors. The fact is that we have too commonly 
 made the exercises dull, dreary affairs ; we have 
 doled out the forms to the children and asked a 
 series of formal questions about them, giving no 
 experiments, no concerted work, and no opportu- 
 nity for action. The children have been intensely 
 bored, therefore either stupid or wandering, and 
 the kindergartner has attributed her want of suc- 
 cess to the gift, and not to her method of deal- 
 ing with it. 
 
 Let the light of imagination shine on the scene, 
 and note the answering sparkle in the children's 
 
46 FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 
 
 eyes. Who cares for the names of all the faces 
 on a stupid block ; but who does n't care when 
 it 's a house and Johnnie can't find his mother, 
 though he looks in the front door and the back 
 door, the right-hand door, the left-hand door, the 
 cellar-door, and finally the trap-door leading to 
 the roof? Nobody knows, or wants to know, 
 when questioned if the cylinder rolls better on 
 its flat circular face, or on its rounding face ; but 
 when it 's a log of wood in the forest, and must 
 be taken home for winter fires, then it is worth 
 while to experiment and see how it may be moved 
 most easily. 
 
 The second gift, too, is delightful for group- 
 work in the sand table, where the objects may be 
 treated symbolically, and likened to a hundred 
 different things. With the second gift beads, 
 which in the natural wood color are admirable 
 supplements to the larger forms, the children are 
 always charmed, assorting and stringing them 
 according to fancy or dictation, and with the 
 addition of sticks making them into rows of 
 soldiers, trees in flowerpots, kitchen utensils, 
 churns, stoves, lamps, and divers other house- 
 hold objects. 
 
 The kindergartner may give many a lesson in 
 the simple principles of mechanics with the sec- 
 ond gift and its rods and standards, allowing the 
 children to experiment freely as well as to fol- 
 low her suggestions. The pulley, the steelyard, 
 
FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 47 
 
 the capstan, the pump, the mechanical churn, the 
 wheelbarrow, etc., may all be made, adding the 
 beads where necessary, and thus the child gain a 
 real working knowledge of simple machinery. 
 
 The preceding gift need not entirely disap- 
 pear, but be used occasionally for a pleasing 
 review as a bond of friendly intercourse between 
 older and younger pupils. 1 This will Trea tment 
 convey an indirect hint, perhaps, to the GiS^S 
 little ones that it is not well to neg- P assedover - 
 lect old friends for new ones, but that they should 
 still love and value the playthings and playmates 
 of former days. 
 
 These three objects, the sphere, cylinder, and 
 cube, constitute a triad of forms united Second Gift 
 in architecture and sculpture producing ScwteSure 
 the column, which is made up of the l n n d ci S t be in 
 pedestal or base (the cube), the shaft Times ' 
 (the cylinder), and the capital (the sphere). 
 
 In a book 011 Egyptian antiquities we find that, 
 in the beginning of the culture of that country, 
 the three Graces, or goddesses of beauty, were 
 represented by three cubes leaning upon each 
 other. The Egyptians did not, of course, know 
 that it was the first regular form of solid bodies in 
 
 1 " The giving of a new play by no means precludes the fur- 
 ther use of the preceding and earlier plays. But, on the con- 
 trary, the use of the preceding play for some time longer with 
 the new play, and alternating with it, makes the application of 
 the new play so much the easier and more widely significant." 
 Froebel's Pedagogics, page 145. 
 
48 FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 
 
 nature or crystallization ; but the significant fact 
 again brings us to the thought expressed in the 
 first lecture : " It would seem, indeed, as though 
 Froebel, in selecting his gifts, looked far back 
 into the past of humanity, and there sought the 
 thread which from the beginning connects all 
 times and leads to the farthest future." 
 
 And here we leave the second gift, that trinity 
 of forms which, wrought in marble, marks the 
 place dear and sacred to all kindergart- 
 ^^ the graye of Froebel, a simple 
 monument to one so great, yet so connected with 
 our study and the child's experience that with all 
 its simplicity it is strangely effective. A still 
 more enduring monument he has in the millions 
 of happy children who have found their way to 
 knowledge through the door which he opened to 
 them ; indeed, if half the children he has bene- 
 fited could build a tower of these tiny blocks to 
 commemorate his life and death, its point would 
 reach higher than St. Peter's dome and draw the 
 thoughts of men to heaven. 
 
 This gift can hardly be studied but that an 
 suggestions inner unity, born of these reconciled 
 of the Gift. con t r asts, suggests itself to the imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 The cube seems to stand as the symbol of the 
 inorganic, the mineral kingdom, with its wonder- 
 ful crystals ; the cylinder as the type of vegeta- 
 ble life, suggesting the roots, stems, and branches, 
 
FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 49 
 
 with their rounded sides, and forming a beautiful 
 connection between the cube, that emblem of 
 " things in the earth beneath," and the sphere 
 which completes the trinity and speaks to us 
 of a never-ending and perfect whole having 
 " Unity for its centre, Diversity for its circumfer- 
 ence." 
 
 The cube seems to suggest rest, immobility; 
 the cylinder, in this connection, growth; and the 
 sphere, perfection, completeness, so delicately 
 poised it is, only kept in its proper place by 
 the most exquisite adjustment. And so to us, 
 sometimes, the things that are visible become 
 luminous with suggestions of greater realities 
 which are yet unseen ; and in the least we dis- 
 cern a faint radiance of the greatest. 
 
 Things that are small mirror things that are 
 mighty. The tiny sphere is an emblem of the 
 "big round world" and the planetary systems. 
 The cube recalls the wonderful crystals, and shows 
 the form that men reflect in architecture and 
 sculpture. As for the cylinder it is Nature's 
 special form, and God has taught man through 
 Nature to use it in a thousand ways, and indeed 
 has himself fashioned man more or less in its 
 shape. 
 
 Mr. Hailmann says : " The second gift pre- 
 sents types of the principal phases of human de- 
 velopment ; from the easy mobility of infancy 
 and childhood, the ball, we pass through the 
 
50 FROEBEVS SECOND GIFT 
 
 half-steady stages of boyhood and girlhood, rep- 
 resented in the cylinder, to the firm character 
 of manhood and womanhood for which the cube 
 furnishes the formula." 
 
 Bishop Brooks, speaking from the words, " The 
 length and the breadth of it are equal," in his ser- 
 mon on Symmetry of Life, uses the cube as a sym- 
 bol of perfect character : The personal push of a 
 life forward, its outreach laterally or the going 
 out in sympathy to others, the upward reach to- 
 ward God, these he considers the three life 
 dimensions. But such building must be done 
 without nervous haste ; the foundation must hint 
 solidly of the threefold purpose ; length, breadth, 
 and thickness must be kept in proportion, if the 
 perfect cube of life is ever to be found. 
 
 NOTE ON SECOND GiFT. 1 "The second gift, 
 even in the nursery, calls for modifications from 
 the form in which it comes to us from Froebel. 
 It is incomparable in its rich symbolism for illus- 
 trating Froebel's thought to mature minds, and 
 answers quite a useful purpose in the nursery, 
 where it may help mamma tell her stories. But 
 in the kindergarten the child wants to build with 
 blocks. Hence, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth 
 gifts are indicated; the second gift, as such, is, 
 to say the least, an anachronism. Only in the 
 form of the beads, or some similar expedient 
 
 1 W. N. Hailraann. 
 
FBOEBEL'S SECOND GIFT 51 
 
 which gives many of these things for control, will 
 it satisfy the kindergarten child. When he is ex- 
 pected to study the cube, as an object lesson, to 
 count the squares and corners and tell where they 
 are, it is wholly unpalatable to him and entirely 
 foreign to his plans." 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE DISCRIMINATIVE POWER. 
 
 " Mind starts from Discrimination. The con- 
 sciousness of difference is the beginning of every 
 intellectual exercise." 
 
 " Our intelligence is, therefore, absolutely lim- 
 ited by our power of discrimination ; the other 
 functions of intellect, the retentive power, for in- 
 stance, are not called into play until we have first 
 discriminated a number of things." 
 
 " The minuteness or delicacy of the feeling of 
 difference is the measure of the variety and mul- 
 titude of our primary impressions and therefore 
 of our stored-up recollections." 
 
 " Bear in mind the fact that until a difference 
 is felt between two things, intelligence has not 
 yet made the first step." 
 
 " The higher arts of comparison to impress dif- 
 ference are best illustrated when both differences 
 and agreements have to be noted, i. e., similari- 
 ties and dissimilarities." 
 
 "Discrimination is the necessary prelude of 
 
52 FEOEBEVS SECOND GIFT 
 
 every intellectual impression as the basis of our 
 stored-up knowledge or memory." 
 
 Definition of the state of mind significantly 
 named Indifference, " the state where differing 
 impressions fail to be recognized as distinct." 
 
 " The retentive power works up to the height 
 of the discriminative power ; it can do no more." 
 
 ALEX. BAIN. 
 
 "The most delightful and fruitful of all the 
 intellectual energies is the perception of similarity 
 and agreement, by which we rise from the indi- 
 vidual to the general, trace sameness in diversity, 
 and master instead of being mastered by the mul- 
 tiplicity of nature." FKIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " It is by comparisons that we ascertain the 
 difference which exists between things, and it 
 is by comparisons, also, that we ascertain the gen- 
 eral features of things, and it is by comparisons 
 that we reach general propositions. In fact, com- 
 parisons are at the bottom of all philosophy." 
 
 Louis AGASSIZ. 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 From Cradle to School. Bertha Meyer. Pages 132, 133. 
 
 The Kindergarten. Emily Shirr eff. 11, 12. 
 
 Lectures on Child-Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 26, 27. 
 
 Froebel and Education by Self -Activity. H. Courtliope Bowen. 
 138-40. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Ronge. 3-5. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 47- 
 49. 
 
FROEBEUS SECOND GIFT 53 
 
 Kindergarten at Home. Emily Shirr eff. 47-49. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 46, 51, 54. 
 
 Childhood's Poetry and Studies. E. Marwedel. Part II. 
 16-42. 
 
 Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Fr. Froebel. 69-107. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. 9-11. 
 
 Law of Childhood. W. N. Hailmann. 33-35. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 15-27. 
 
 Education of Man. Fr. Froebel. 107-10. 
 
 Kindergarten Toys. H. Hoffmann. 12-17. 
 
 Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth. W. K. Lethaby. 50, 65. 
 
 Stories of Industry. Vols. i. and ii. A. Chase and E. Clow. 
 
 Ethics of the Dust. John Ruskin. 
 
 Mme. A. de Portugall's Synoptical Table, as given in " Essays 
 on the Kindergarten." 
 
THE BUILDING GIFTS 
 
 THE Building Gifts meet two very strongly 
 marked tendencies in the child, a. The tendency 
 to investigate, b. The tendency to transform. 
 
 The first and second gifts consist of undi- 
 vided units, each one of which stands in relation 
 to a larger whole, or to a class of objects. 
 
 The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth gifts are 
 divided units, and their significance lies in the 
 relationship of the parts to one another, and to 
 the whole of which they are the parts. 
 
 The effect of the Building Gifts is to develop 
 the constructive powers of the child. Their sec- 
 ondary importance lies in the fact that they 
 afford striking fundamental perceptions of Form, 
 Size, Number, Relation, and Position. 
 
 The following rules should govern the dictation 
 exercises : 
 
 BUILDING RULES. 
 
 1. Use all material in order to keep the idea 
 of relation of parts to a whole, and because all 
 unused material is wasted material. 1 
 
 1 " In each construction the whole of the materials must be 
 used ; or at least each separate piece must be arranged so as 
 to stand in some actual relation to the whole. While this 
 awakens the thinking spirit, it also strengthens and elevates the 
 
THE BUILDING GIFTS 55 
 
 2. Build on the squares of the table in order 
 to develop accuracy and symmetry. 
 
 3. " Induce the child to form other wholes 
 gradually and systematically from the various 
 parts of the cube. In doing this the laws of 
 contrast and development must be your guide." 
 
 KOEHLEB. 
 
 4. Give names to each object constructed, 
 thereby bringing it into relation with the child's 
 experience; for the miniature model serves to 
 interpret more clearly to him the object which 
 it represents. 
 
 5. Connect with the child's life and sympathy 
 in order to increase his interest and develop the 
 tendency to view things in their right relations. 
 
 6. " The younger the child, the more you 
 should talk about the thing which you intend 
 to construct. You should intersperse passing ob- 
 servations or short songs. As the children gain 
 intelligence, this conversation will be replaced by 
 more formal descriptions of the things repre- 
 sented." KOEHLEB. 
 
 7. Begin with Life forms and proceed from 
 these to forms of Beauty and Knowledge. 
 
 8. Allow no child to rely upon the blocks of 
 his playmates in his building, thus he will learn 
 economy, self-reliance, and independence of action. 
 
 imagination ; because amidst so much variety, the underlying 
 unity is made visibly apparent." Froebel's Letters, tr. by Mi- 
 chaelis and Moore, page 72. 
 
56 THE BUILDING GIFTS 
 
 This should not be carried too far, or rather the 
 necessity and beauty of interdependence should 
 also be taught. Herein, indeed, lies more than 
 at first appears. To make the most out of 
 little is the great work of life ; to be contented 
 with what one has, and to make the best of it 
 with happiness and contentment is surely no 
 small lesson, and one which is constantly, though 
 indirectly, taught in the kindergarten work and 
 plays and lessons. 
 
 9. Group work, or united building, should fre- 
 quently be introduced. " Every direction given 
 by the kindergartner should be followed by spon- 
 taneous work (either in word or deed) by the 
 child. This must not only be individual, but 
 synthesized for the community." 
 
 10. Often encourage the class to imitate some 
 specially attractive form which has been pro- 
 duced by a child, and named according to his 
 fancy. 
 
 11. Accustom the child to develop figures or 
 forms by slight changes rather than by rudely 
 destroying each single one preparatory to con- 
 structing another. From learning to be strictly 
 methodical in his actions, he will become so in 
 his later reasoning. 
 
 12. " Let the child, if possible, correct his own 
 mistakes, and do not constantly interfere with his 
 work. Whatever he is able to do for himself, no 
 one should do for him." KOEHLER. 
 
FROEBEL'S THIRD GIFT 
 
 " All children have the building instinct, and ' to make a 
 house ' is a universal form of unguided play." 
 
 " It is not a mere pastime, but a key with which to open the 
 outer world, and a means of awakening the inner world." 
 
 " This gift includes in itself more outward manifoldness, and, 
 at the same time, makes the inward manifoldness yet more per- 
 ceptible and manifest." 
 
 " The plaything shows also the ultimate type of structures 
 put together by human hand which stand in their substantiality 
 around the child." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " The definitely productive exercises begin with the third 
 gift." SUSAN E. BLOW. 
 
 1. THE third gift is a wooden cube measuring 
 two inches in each of its dimensions. It is di- 
 vided once in its height, breadth, and thickness, 
 according to the three dimensions which define a 
 solid, and thus eight smaller cubes are produced. 
 
 2. We pass from the undivided to the divided 
 unit, emphasizing the fact that unity still exists, 
 though divisibility enters as a new factor. 
 
 3. The most important characteristics of the 
 gift are contrasts of size resulting in the abstrac- 
 tion of form from size ; increase of material as a 
 whole, decrease of size in parts ; increase of facili- 
 ties in illustrating form and number. 
 
58 FROEBEVS TRIED GIFT 
 
 The new experience to be found in this first 
 divided body is the idea of relativity; of the 
 whole in its relation to the parts (each an em- 
 bryo whole), and of the parts in relation to the 
 whole. 
 
 The form of the parts is like the form of the 
 whole, but, in shape alike, the dissimilarity is in 
 size ; the fact becoming more apparent by a vari- 
 ety of combinations of a different number of 
 parts : thus the relations of numbers are intro- 
 duced to the observation of the child together 
 with those of form and magnitude. 
 
 4. The third gift was intended by Froebel to 
 meet the necessities of the child at a period when, 
 no longer satisfied with the external appearances 
 of things, he strives to penetrate their internal 
 conditions, and begins to realize the many differ- 
 ent possibilities of the same element. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this gift 
 are: 
 
 f Cube. 
 Solids. < Square Prism. 
 
 ( Rectangular Parallelepiped. 
 
 Planes, j ^ uare ' 
 ( Oblong. 
 
 6. Froebel intends the building exercise to be 
 carried on in a certain way with a view of estab- 
 lishing a law to regulate the child's activity. 
 The upper and lower parts of the figure the 
 contrasts are first brought into position, and 
 
FEOEBEVS THIRD GIFT 59 
 
 the balance is established by the intermediates 
 right and left. 
 
 The cube itself is divided according to the law 
 of Mediation of Contrasts. The contrasts of 
 exterior and interior, whole and parts, analysis 
 and synthesis, are also brought into relation with 
 each other. 
 
 Mr. W. N. Hailmann says that the third gift 
 marks an important step in the mental H aiimann<m 
 life of the child. Heretofore, he has ThirdGift - 
 had to do with playthings indivisible, whole, com- 
 plete in themselves. Every impression, or, rather, 
 every fact, came to him as a unit, a one, an indi- 
 visible whole. 
 
 The analyses and syntheses that are presented 
 to him in the first and second gifts come ready- 
 made as it were, so that the joyous exercise of 
 his instinctive activity, guided and directed by 
 the judicious, loving mother, is sufficient to give 
 him control of them ; indeed, the first and sec- 
 ond gifts hold to his mental development the 
 same relation that the mother's milk holds to his 
 physical growth. 
 
 But the third gift satisfies the growing desire 
 for independent activity, for the exercise of his 
 own power of analysis and synthesis, of taking 
 apart and putting together. 1 
 
 1 " The idea of separation gained here in concrete form be- 
 comes typical of that condition which must always exist in any 
 
60 FROEBEVS THIRD GIFT 
 
 Simple as this first building gift appears, it is 
 simplicity capable of great things. It lends itself 
 biiity A o? P the to a hundred practical lessons and a 
 hundred charming transformations, but 
 if it is not thoroughly comprehended it will never 
 be well or effectively used by the kindergartner, 
 and will be nothing more to her than to uninter- 
 ested observers, who see in it nothing more than 
 eight commonplace little blocks in a wooden box. 
 
 Froebel says if his educational materials are 
 found useful it cannot be because of their exte- 
 rior, which is as plain as possible and contains 
 nothing new, but that their worth is to be found 
 exclusively in their application. 
 
 Therefore these simple devices with which we 
 HOW chii- carry on our education should never seem 
 
 dren are to n f 
 
 be reached, trifling, for we are compelled m teaching 
 very young children to put forth all gentle allure- 
 ments to the gaining of knowledge. 
 
 They are to be reached chiefly by the charms 
 of sense, novelty, and variety, and consequently, to 
 please such active and imaginative little critics, 
 our lessons must be fresh, vivid, vigorous, and to 
 the point. 
 
 To accomplish this, we can see that not only 
 is absolute knowledge necessary, but that a well 
 developed sensibility and imagination are needed 
 
 growth the seed breaks through its covering's, and seems to 
 divide itself into distinct parts, each having 1 its function in the 
 growth of the whole plant." (Alice H. Putnam.) 
 
FEOEBEVS THIRD GIFT 61 
 
 in leading the child from the indefinite to the 
 definite, from universal to particular, and What is Nec 
 from concrete to abstract. The worth of fS r J J in . 
 the gifts then, we repeat, lies exclusively der g artner - 
 in their application ; the rude little forms must be 
 used so that. the child's imagination and sympathy 
 will be reached. 
 
 We may be thankful that this heaven-born im- 
 aginative faculty is the heritage of every Imagination 
 child, that it is hard to kill and lives SiSei^S? 
 on very short rations. The little boy ner ' 
 ties a string around a stone and drags it through 
 dust and mire with happy conviction that it is a 
 go-cart. The little girl wraps up a stocking or a 
 towel with tender hands, winds her shawl about 
 it, and at once the God-given maternal instinct 
 leaps into life, in an instant she has it in her 
 arms. She kisses its cotton head and sings it to 
 sleep in divine unconsciousness of any incomplete- 
 ness, for love supplies many deficiencies. So let 
 us cherish the child heart in ourselves and never 
 look with scorn upon the rude suggestions of the 
 forms the child has built, but rather enter into 
 the play, enriching it with our own imaginative 
 power. The children will rarely perceive any 
 incongruities, and surely we need not hint them, 
 any more than we would remind a child needlessly 
 that her doll is stuffed with sawdust and has a 
 plaster head, when she thinks it a responsive and 
 affectionate little daughter. 
 
62 FBOEBEVS THIED GIFT 
 
 Middendorf said, " This is like a fresh bath 
 for the human soul, when we dare to be children 
 again with children. 1 The burdens of life could 
 not be borne were it not for real gayety of heart." 
 
 " If it were only the play and the mere outward 
 apparatus," says the Baroness von Marenholtz- 
 Biilow, " we might indeed find our daily teaching 
 monotonous, but the idea at the foundation of it 
 and the contemplation of the being of man and 
 its development in the child is an inexhaustible 
 mine of interesting discovery." 
 
 This third gift satisfies the child's craving to 
 Reasons for take things to pieces. Froebel did not 
 
 Choice of .,.., 
 
 Third Gift, choose it arbitrarily, for Nature, human 
 and physical, was an open handbook to him, and 
 if we study deeply and sympathetically the rea- 
 sons for his choice they will always be compre- 
 hended. 2 Fenelon says, " The curiosity of chil- 
 dren is a natural tendency, which goes in the van 
 of instruction." Destruction after all is only 
 
 1 " If we want to educate children, we must be children with 
 them ourselves." (Martin Luther.) 
 
 2 " What must we furnish to the child after the self-contained 
 ball, after the hard sphere, every part of which is similar, and 
 after the single solid cube ? It must be something firm which 
 can be easily pulled apart by the child's strength, and just as 
 easily put together again. Therefore it must also be something 
 which is simple, yet multiform ; and what should this be, after 
 what we have perceived up to this point, and in view of what 
 the surrounding world affords us, but the cube divided through 
 the centre by three planes perpendicular to one another." 
 Froebel's Pedagogics, 
 
 * 
 
FROEBEUS THIRD GIFT 63 
 
 constructive faculty turned back upon itself. The 
 child, having no legitimate outlet for his creative 
 instinct, pulls his playthings to pieces, to see what 
 is inside, what they are made of and how they are 
 put together ; 1 but to his chagrin he finds it not 
 so easy to reunite the tattered fragments. 
 
 In the divided cube, however, he can gratify his 
 desires, and at the same time possess the joy of 
 doing right and destroying nothing, for the eight 
 little blocks can be quickly united into their origi- 
 nal form, and also into many other pleasing little 
 forms, each one complete in itself, so that every 
 analysis ends as it should, in synthesis. 
 
 Froebel calls this gift specifically "the chil- 
 dren's delight," and indeed it is, responding so 
 generously to their spontaneous activity, while at 
 the same time it suits their small capabilities, for 
 the possibilities of an object used for form study 
 should not be too varied. " It must be suggestive 
 through its limitations," says Miss Blow, " for 
 the young mind may be as easily crushed by ex- 
 cess as by defect." 2 
 
 1 " Unmaking is as important as making to the child. His 
 destructive energy is as essential to him as his power of construc- 
 tion." (W. T. Harris.) 
 
 " The child wishes to discover the inside of the thing-, being 
 urged to this by an impulse he has not given to himself, the 
 impulse which, rightly recognized and rightly guided, seeks to 
 know God in all his works. . . . Where can the child seek for 
 satisfaction of his impulse to research but from the thing it- 
 self ? " Friedrich Froebel, Education of Man. 
 
 2 " An element which slumbers like a viper under roses is 
 
64 FROEBEUS THIRD GIFT 
 
 Froebel was left motherless at a very early age, 
 and during his first four years of life his father 
 was entirely engrossed with parish duties, and the 
 child had only occasional supervision from a hard- 
 worked servant. Thus it happened that he was 
 frequently alone long hours at a time in a dusky 
 room overshadowed by the neighboring church, 
 and naturally strayed often to the window, from 
 whence he might look down upon the busy world 
 outside. He recalls that he was greatly interested 
 at one time in some workmen who were repairing 
 the church, and that he constantly turned from 
 his post of observation to try and imitate their 
 labors, but his only building material was the 
 furniture of the room, and chairs and tables 
 clumsily resisted his efforts to pile them up into 
 suitable form. He tells us that this strong desire 
 for building and the bitter disappointment of his 
 repeated failures were still keenly remembered 
 when he was a grown man, and thus suggested 
 to him that children ought to be provided with 
 materials for building among their playthings. 
 He often noticed also, in later years, that all chil- 
 dren seem to have the building instinct, cor- 
 responding to what Dr. Seguin calls " the build- 
 that which is now so frequently provided as a plaything for 
 children ; it is, in a word, the already too complex and ornate, 
 too finished toy. The child can beg-in no new thing with it, can- 
 not produce enough variety by means of it ; his power of crea- 
 tive imagination, his power of giving outward form to his own 
 idea, are thus actually deadened." Froebel's Pedagogics. 
 
FROEBEVS THIRD GIFT 65 
 
 ing mania in the infancy of peoples," and that 
 " to make a house is the universal form of un- 
 guided play." 1 
 
 We now understand the meaning of the gift, 
 the reason for its importance in Froebel's plan, 
 and its capabilities as a vehicle for delightful 
 instruction. 
 
 There are three different classes of forms for 
 dictation and invention, variously named Classe8 of 
 by kindergartners. Form8> 
 
 1. Life forms, or upright forms, which are 
 seen in the child's daily life, as a pair of boots, a 
 chair, table, bed, or sofa. Froebel calls them 
 also object forms, or forms of things. 
 
 ("The child demands that the object con- 
 structed stand in connection with himself, his 
 life, or somebody or something in his life." 
 Froebel.) 
 
 2. Mathematical forms, or various combina- 
 tions of the blocks, upright and supine, for math- 
 ematical exercises. They correspond to the forms 
 of knowledge in Logic. 
 
 (Also called by Froebel forms of truth, forms 
 of instruction, forms of learning.) 
 
 1 " One of the greatest and most universal delights of chil- 
 dren is to construct for themselves a habitation of some sort, 
 either in the garden or indoors, where chairs have generally to 
 serve their purpose. Instinct leads them, as it does all animals, 
 to procure shelter and protection for their persons, individual 
 outward self-existence and independence." Bertha von Ma- 
 renholtz-Biilow, Child and Child Nature. 
 
66 FROEBEVS THIRD GIFT 
 
 3. Symmetrical forms, or flat designs formed 
 by opposites and their intermediates. These are 
 figures in which four of the blocks generally re- 
 volve in order around the other four as a centre. 
 
 (Also called by Froebel picture forms, flower 
 forms, star forms, dance forms.) 
 
 LIFE FORMS. 
 
 Life forms should be given first, as the nat- 
 ural tendency of the young child is to 
 
 Life Forms. . & 
 
 pile things up, 1 and these forms seem 
 simpler for dictation, are more readily grasped 
 by the mind, and more fascinating to the imagi- 
 nation. They are the images of things both dear 
 and familiar to him, and thus are particularly 
 adapted to the beginning since the "starting 
 point of the child's development is the heart and 
 the emotions." It is easier for him to be an 
 architect at first than an artist, though each will 
 be comprehended in the other after a time. 2 
 
 1 " The building or piling up is with the child, as with the 
 development of the human race, and as with the fixed forms in 
 Nature, the first" Froebel's Education of Man. 
 
 1 ' Towers, pyramids, up, up, connecting- themselves with some- 
 thing high, voicing aspiration." 
 
 2 " The representation of facts and circumstances of history, 
 of geography, and especially of every-day life, by means of 
 building, I hold to be in the highest degree important for chil- 
 dren, even if these representations are imperfect and fall far 
 short of their originals. The eye is at all events aroused and 
 stimulated to observe with greater precision than before the 
 object that has been represented. . . . And thus, by means of 
 
FROEBEVS TRIED GIFT 67 
 
 The dictations should be given very simply, 
 clearly, and slowly, always using one set of terms 
 to express a certain meaning, and having those 
 absolutely correct. We should never give dicta- 
 tions from a book, but from memory, having pre- 
 pared the lesson beforehand, and should remem- 
 ber that every exercise we give should " incite and 
 develop self-activity." We must guard against 
 mistakes or confusion in our own minds ; it is 
 very easy to confuse the child, and he will be- 
 come inattentive and careless if he is unable to 
 catch our meaning. 
 
 Brief stories should occasionally be told, just 
 mere outlines to give color and force to the 
 child's building, and connect it with his experi- 
 ence. If it is an armchair, grandmother may 
 sit in it knitting the baby's stocking. If it is a 
 well, describe the digging of it, the lining with 
 stones or brick, the inflowing of the water, the 
 letting down of the bucket and long chain, the 
 clear, cool water coming up from the deep, dark 
 hole in the ground on a hot summer's day. These, 
 of course, are but the merest suggestions which 
 experience may be trusted to develop. 
 
 It is better, perhaps, to give a bit of word- 
 painting to each object constructed than to wait 
 till the end of the series for the day and tell a 
 
 perhaps a quite imperfect outward representation, the inner 
 perception is made more perfect." Froebel's Letters, tr. by 
 Michaelis and Moore, page 99. 
 
68 FEOEBEVS THIRD GIFT 
 
 longer story, as the interest is thus more easily 
 sustained. The children, too, should be encour- 
 aged to talk about the forms and tell little stories 
 concerning them. The form created should never 
 be destroyed, but transformed into the next in 
 order by a few simple movements. 
 
 SYMMETKICAL FORMS. 
 
 "These forms, in spite of their regularity, are 
 symmetrical called forms of beauty. The mathe- 
 matical forms which Froebel designates 
 forms of knowledge give only the skeleton from 
 which the beautiful form develops itself. 
 
 " Symmetry of the parts which make up these 
 simple figures gives the impression of beauty to 
 the childish eye. He must have the elements of 
 the beautiful before he is in a condition to com- 
 prehend it in its whole extent. 
 
 " Only what is simple gives light to the child at 
 first. He can only operate with a small number 
 of materials, therefore Froebel gives only eight 
 cubes for this object at this time." 
 
 Of course these three classes of forms are not 
 to be kept arbitrarily separate, and the children 
 finish and lay aside one set before attempting 
 another. There are many cases where the three 
 may be united, as indeed they are morally speak- 
 ing in the life of every human being. 
 
 When the distinctions are clear in our own 
 minds, our knowledge and tact will guide us to 
 
FEOEBEVS THIRD GIFT 69 
 
 introduce the gift properly, and carry it on in a 
 natural, orderly, and rational manner, not restrict- 
 ing the child's own productive powers. 
 
 If the children have had time to imbibe a 
 love of symmetry and beauty, and have been 
 trained to observe and delight in them, then this 
 second class of forms will attract them as much, 
 after a little, as the first, though more difficult of 
 execution. 
 
 Each sequence starts from a definite point, the 
 four outside blocks revolving round the central 
 four, and going through or " dancing through," 
 as Froebel says, all the successive figures before 
 returning in the opposite direction. 
 
 All the dictations are most valuable intellec- 
 tually, but should not be long-continued at one 
 time, as they require great concentration of 
 mind, and are consequently wearisome. 
 
 Excellent exercises or suggestions for building 
 can be found in Ronge's " Kindergarten Hints from 
 Guide." He mentions one pleasant lit- "oSe." 
 tie play which I will quote. " When each in the 
 class has produced a different form, let the chil- 
 dren rise and march round the table to observe 
 the variety." Let them sing in the ascending 
 and descending scales : 
 
 Many pretty forms I see, 
 
 Which one seems the best to me ? 
 
 At another time let each child try to build the 
 
70 FROEBEVS THIRD GIFT 
 
 house he lives in, and while this is being done, let 
 them join in singing some song about home. It 
 is well to encourage singing during the building 
 exercises, as we have so many appropriate selec- 
 tions. 1 
 
 With the first of the Building Gifts enters a 
 Group new variety of group work, which was 
 Work- not adapted for the first and second 
 gifts. The children may now be seated at square 
 tables, one at each side, and build in unison in 
 the centre, the form produced being of course 
 four times as large and fine as any one of the 
 number could have produced alone. All the sug- 
 gestions or directions for building are necessarily 
 carried out together, and the success of the com- 
 pleted form is obviously dependent on the cooper- 
 ation of all four children. Forms of Beauty are 
 very easily constructed in this manner, as well as 
 forms of Life, having four uniform sides, and 
 when the little ones are somewhat more expert 
 builders, Life forms having opposite sides alike, 
 or even four different sides, may be constructed. 
 
 The other various forms of cooperative work 
 are of course never to be neglected, that a social 
 unity may be produced, in which " the might of 
 each individual may be reinforced by the might 
 of the whole." 
 
 1 See Kindergarten Chimes (Kate D. Wiggin), Oliver Ditson 
 Publishing Co. : "Building Song," pages 34, 35; "Trade Game," 
 page 70 ; " The Carpenter," page 92. 
 
FROEBEVS TRIED GIFT 71 
 
 MATHEMATICAL FORMS. 
 
 A better idea of these may be obtained through 
 a manipulation of the blocks and an ar- Mathemat- 
 rangement of the geometrical forms in lcalForms ' 
 their regular order. 
 
 The child, if he were taught as Froebel intended, 
 would make his first acquaintance with numbers 
 in the nursery, beginning in a very small way and 
 progressing slowly. The pupils of the kinder- 
 garten are a little older, and having already a 
 slight knowledge of numbers (though not of 
 course in their abstract relations) are able to ac- 
 complish greater things. 
 
 The child can, with our guidance, make, all 
 possible combinations of the parts of the num- 
 ber Eight. The principles of Addition, Subtrac- 
 tion, even Multiplication and Fractions, can also 
 be mastered without one tear of misery or pang 
 of torture. He grasps the whole first, then by 
 simple processes, building with his own hands, he 
 finds out and demonstrates for himself halves, 
 fourths, and eighths, sometimes in different po- 
 sitions, but always having the same contents. 
 
 Even yet we must not suffer this to become 
 work. The exercises should be repeated again 
 and again, but we must learn to break Method and 
 off when the play is still delightful, JJgJS? 
 and study ways to endow the next one Gift> 
 with new life and charm, though it carry with it 
 
72 FROEBEUS THIRD GIFT 
 
 the same old facts. What we want to secure is, 
 not a formidable number of parrot-like state- 
 ments, but a firm foundation for future clearness 
 of understanding, depth of feeling, and firmness 
 of purpose. So, at the beginning of the exercise, 
 we should not ask John if he remembers what 
 we talked about last time, and expect him to an- 
 swer clearly at once. Because he does not an- 
 swer our formal questions which do not properly 
 belong to babyhood, we need not conclude he has 
 learned nothing, for a child can show to our dull 
 eyes only a very tiny glimpse of his wonderful 
 inner world. 
 
 Let our aim be, that the child shall little by 
 little receive impressions so clearly that he will 
 recognize them when they appear again, and that 
 he shall, after a time, know these impressions by 
 their names. It is nothing but play after all, but 
 it is in this childish play that deep meaning lies. 
 
 A child is far less interested in that which is 
 given him complete than in that which needs 
 something from him to make it perfect. He 
 loves to employ all his energies in conceiving and 
 constructing forms ; the less you do for him the 
 better he enjoys it, if he has been trained to in- 
 dependence. 1 
 
 1 " Probably the chief wish of children is to do things for 
 themselves, instead of to have things done for them. They 
 would gladly live in a Paradise of the Home-made. For exam- 
 ple, when we read how the 'prentices of London used to skate 
 
FROEBEUS THIRD GIFT 73 
 
 Pedantry and dogmatism must be eliminated 
 from all the dictations ; the life must not be shut 
 out of the lessons in order that we may hear a 
 pin drop, nor should they be allowed to degener- 
 ate into a tedious formalism and mechanical pup- 
 pet-show, in which we pull the strings and the 
 poor little dummies move with one accord. 
 
 Yet most emphatically a certain order and har- 
 mony must prevail, the forms must follow each 
 other in natural sequence, the blocks must, invari- 
 ably, be taken carefully from the box, so as to pre- 
 sent a whole at the first glance, and at the close 
 of the lesson should always be neatly put together 
 again into the original form and returned to the 
 box as a whole. 1 
 
 on sharp bones of animals, which they bound about their feet, 
 we also wished, at least, to try that plan, rather than to wear 
 skates bought in shops." (Andrew Lang.) 
 
 " Complete toys hinder the activity of children, encourage 
 laziness and thoughtlessness, and do them more harm than can 
 be told. The active tendency in them turns to the distortion 
 of what is complete, and so becomes destructive." 
 
 " Any fusing together of lessons, work, and play, is possible 
 only when the objects with which the child plays allow room for 
 independent mental and bodily activity, i. e., when they are not 
 themselves complete in the child's hand. Had man found every- 
 thing in the world fixed and prepared for use ; had all means of 
 culture, of satisfaction for the spiritual and material wants of 
 his nature, been ready to his hand, there would have been no 
 development, no civilization of the human race." 
 
 1 " In order to furnish to the child at once clearly and defi- 
 nitely the impression of the whole, of the self-contained, the play- 
 thing before it is given to the child for his own free use must 
 
74 FROEBEVS THIRD GIFT 
 
 And now one last word of warning about doing 
 too much for the children in these exercises, and 
 even guiding too much, carrying system and 
 method too far in dictation. We must remember 
 that an excess of systematizing crushes instead of 
 developing originality, and that it is all too easy 
 even in the kindergarten to turn children into 
 machines incapable of acting when the guiding 
 hand is removed. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In opening the boxes, it is well to observe some 
 simple form. It is not irksome, but, on the con- 
 trary, rather pleasing to the children, who delight 
 in doing things in concert. 
 
 BOXES IN CENTRE OF TABLE. 
 
 1. Draw the cover out one half space. 
 
 2. Fingers of right hand placed on left-hand 
 side of box. 
 
 3. Turn entirely over from left to right. 
 
 4. Withdraw lid and place on right-hand upper 
 corner of table. 
 
 5. Lift box gently and place on top of cover 
 mouth upwards. 
 
 be opened as follows. . . . It will thus appear before the ob- 
 serving child as a cube closely united, yet easily separated and 
 again restored." Froebel's Pedagogics, pages 123, 124. 
 
FEOEBEVS TRIED GIFT 75 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Reminiscences of Froebel. Von Marenholtz-BUloiv. Page 152. 
 
 Child and Child Nature. Von Marenholtz- Billow. 145, 146. 
 
 Education. E. Seguin. 95, 96. 
 
 Lessons in Form. W. W. Speer. 23. 
 
 Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Fr. Froebel- 108-44. 
 
 Education of Man. Fr. Froebel. Tr. by Josephine Jarvis. 
 40, 41. 
 
 Kindergarten at Home. E. SMrreff. 12-14. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 55-66. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. 11-16. 
 
 Law of Childhood. W. N. Hailmann. 35-38. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Eonge. 5-13. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 27-47. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 20- 
 23. 
 
 Froebel and Education by Self - Activity. H. Courtkope 
 Bowen. 140-42. 
 
 Kindergarten Toys. Heinrich Hoffmann. 17-26. 
 
 Conscious Motherhood. E. Marwedel 165, 166. 
 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 49-70. 
 
FROEBEL'S FOURTH GIFT 
 
 " A new gift is demanded a gift wherein the length, 
 breadth, and thickness of a solid body shall be distinguished 
 from each other by difference of size. Such a gift will open the 
 child's eyes to the three dimensions of space, and will serve also 
 as a means of recognizing and interpreting the manifold forms 
 and structures with which he is constantly brought in contact." 
 
 " The inner difference, intimated in the three perpendicular 
 axes of the cube (and the sphere), now becomes externally visi- 
 ble and abiding in each of its building blocks as a difference of 
 size." FB. FROEBEL. 
 
 " The fourth gift incites the child to consider things in their 
 relations to space, and to the forces of nature, and in his play 
 with the bricks he is constantly engaged in efforts to adapt him- 
 self to the laws of their nature, while rendering them subser- 
 vient to his ends." W. N. HAILMANN. 
 
 1. THE fourth gift consists of a cube measur- 
 ing two inches in each of its dimensions. It is 
 divided once vertically in its height, and three 
 times horizontally in its thickness, giving eight 
 parallelepipeds or bricks, each two inches long, 
 one inch wide, and one half inch thick. 
 
 2. Like the third gift in form, size, material, 
 and use, it is unlike it in division. In the third 
 gift the parts were like each other, and like the 
 whole, in the fourth they are like each other, but 
 unlike the whole. 
 
FKOEBEVS FOURTH GIFT 11 
 
 3. The most important characteristics of the 
 gift are : 
 
 a. Approximation to surface in the symmetrical 
 forms. 
 
 b. Greater height and greater extension, result- 
 ing in a greater possible inclosure of space. 
 
 c. The illustration of two philosophical laws, 
 viz., the law of Equilibrium or Balance, and the 
 law of Transmitted Motion or Propagation of 
 Force. 
 
 4. Progress is shown in this gift as follows : 
 
 a. In the difficulty of dictation and manipula- 
 tion arising from the different character of the 
 faces of the bricks, and the many positions which 
 each brick can assume. 
 
 b. In the necessity of perfect balance. 
 
 c. In a clearer illustration of dimension. In 
 the third gift the parts were equal in height, 
 breadth, and thickness ; in the fourth they are 
 unequal, and therefore each dimension is empha- 
 sized. 
 
 As to progression, the increase of difficulty 
 suits the increase in the child's power of com- 
 prehension and receptivity. He is being devel- 
 oped thus far, not by rapid changes in material 
 or greater exercise in number, but by practice 
 with differing forms, each one bringing with it 
 new knowledge and experience. The organs of 
 perception are being constantly made to grow by 
 exercise with intention. We are forming the 
 
78 FBOEBEVS FOURTH GIFT 
 
 scientific eye which can detect differences ever 
 after at a glance. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this gift 
 are: 
 
 a vi j Rectangular Parallelepipeds. 
 I Square Prisms. 
 
 Planes. } blon S s ' 
 ( Squares. 
 
 6. The fourth gift presents contrasts of di- 
 mension and, as to the area of its faces, contrasts 
 of size and their mediation. 
 
 The use of the third gift opened to the child 
 what the quite a new world of experiences, each 
 gained h from one ^ which was pleasant and instruc- 
 ThirdGift tiye? coining all the delights of men- 
 tal and physical activity, imagination, practical 
 industry, and cooperation. 
 
 He has gained an idea, distinct in proportion 
 to the skill with which it has been placed before 
 him, of the cube as a solid body having surfaces, 
 corners, and edges ; of a whole and its equal frac- 
 tional parts; of the power of combining those 
 parts into new wholes ; and of the fact that form 
 and size are two separate and distinct character- 
 istics of objects. He has also gained new dex- 
 terity. 1 His ten little fingers that seemed "all 
 
 1 " A child trained for one year in a kindergarten would 
 acquire a skillful use of his hands and a habit of accurate mea- 
 
FBOEBEVS FOURTH GIFT 79 
 
 thumbs " as they arranged so carefully the clumsy 
 little cubes of the Low Wall can now build the 
 Bunker Hill Monument with unerring skill, and 
 can even, with the grave concentration that it 
 demands, drop the last difficult little block cor- 
 iierwise into the top of the church window. 
 
 The child has counted his cubes from one to 
 eight until he knows them like the children of a 
 family, and can divide them into sets of two and 
 four with equal ease. 
 
 These are the deeds. As to the new words 
 the little box of blocks has brought him, their 
 number is legion, comprising many terms of di- 
 rection and position, names of tools and imple- 
 ments, buildings and places. 
 
 Truly if the kindergartner has been wise and 
 faithful, the child has gained wonders from this 
 simple unassuming toy, one which is almost too 
 plain and rude to fix the momentary attention of 
 a modern spoiled child, though even he will grow 
 to appreciate its treasures if rightly guided. 
 
 And now we approach another cubical box, 
 containing the fourth gift, and, on open- 
 
 ., .-I , ., -. , Differences 
 
 ing it, see that it presents resemblances between 
 
 and differences when compared with that 
 just left behind. 
 
 We notice at once the new method of division, 
 and in separating it find that the parts, evidently 
 
 surement of the eye which would be his possession through 
 life." (W. T. Harris.) 
 
80 FROEBEVS FOURTH GIFT 
 
 in number the same as before, are entirely novel 
 in form, though the whole was familiar in its 
 aspect. If the child is old enough to understand 
 the process of comparison, he will see that the 
 parts of the two gifts have each six surfaces, 
 eight corners, and twelve edges ; but that while 
 edges and corners are alike, the faces differ 
 greatly on the new block, which he will probably 
 call the "brick," as it is a familiar form and 
 name to him. This process of comparison will 
 be greatly facilitated if he models the two cubes 
 in clay, and divides them with string or wire, the 
 one into inch cubes, the other into bricks. 
 
 Dr. E. Seguin, in his celebrated " Report on 
 Education," says, in regard to the use of the cube 
 as the primary block or figure in the kinder- 
 Dr. seguin's garten i " Had the kindergartners chosen 
 to thcfcube it with their senses, as it must speak to 
 the senses of the child, instead of with 
 
 dergarten. their mind, they would certainly never 
 have selected the cube, a form in which similarity 
 is everywhere, difference nowhere, a barren type 
 incapable by itself of instigating the child to 
 active comparison. Had they, on the contrary, 
 from infantile reminiscences, or from more philo- 
 sophical indications, selected a block of brick- 
 form, the child would soon have discovered and 
 made use of the similarity of the straight lines, 
 and of the difference of the three dimensions. 
 For example : Put a cube on your desk and let a 
 
FEOEBEUS FOURTH GIFT 81 
 
 pupil put one on his ; you change the position of 
 yours, he, accordingly, of his. If you renew these 
 moves till both of you are tired, they will not 
 make any perceptible change in the aspect of the 
 object. The movement has been barren of any 
 modification perceptible to the senses and appre- 
 ciable to the mind. There has been no lesson 
 unless you have, by words speaking to the mind, 
 succeeded in making the child comprehend the 
 idea of a cube derived from its intrinsic proper- 
 ties ; a body with six equal sides and eight equal 
 angles." 
 
 With all deference to Dr. Seguin, whose 
 opinions and deductions are generally Answers to 
 
 . _. . . these Objec- 
 
 indisputable, we cannot regard as un- 
 
 wise the choice of the cube as the primary figure 
 in the gifts. 
 
 In the first place, Froebel, having a sequence 
 of forms in his mind, undoubtedly wished to in- 
 troduce, early in that sequence, the one which 
 would best serve him as a foundation for further 
 division and subdivision. This need is, beyond 
 question, better met in the cube than in the brick, 
 which would lend itself awkwardly to regular 
 division. 
 
 Secondly, although there is in the cube " simi- 
 larity everywhere, difference nowhere," and there- 
 fore it might be called in truth a " barren type, 
 incapable by itself of instigating the child to 
 comparison and action," we do not introduce it, 
 
82 FROEBEUS FOURTH GIFT 
 
 by itself, but in contrast with the sphere and 
 cylinder. 
 
 Then, when it appears again in the building 
 gifts, " as the simplest and most easily handled 
 form element," the kindergartner has every op- 
 portunity to use it so that it may lead the child 
 to comparison and action, and to develop the 
 slowly dawning sense of difference and agreement 
 without which she well knows "knowledge has 
 not yet made the first step." But, if the cube is a 
 form speaking little to the senses of a child, and 
 requiring description by words spoken to the 
 mind, it is evident that we should use great care 
 in dealing with the second gift, lest we run need- 
 lessly into abstractions, and strive to give the child 
 ideas of which he can have no comprehension. 
 
 The " brick " is a form rich in impressions, for 
 Value of the we ^ nc ^ *hat every position in which it 
 Brick Form. j g p] ace( j gi ves the child a new percep- 
 tion, and the union of these perceptions furnishes 
 him with a complete idea of the object, and of its 
 possible uses in relation to its form. 
 
 Dr. Seguin does not rate it too highly when he 
 says : " What a spring of effective movements, of 
 perceptions and of ideas in the exercises with this 
 form, where analogy and difference, incessantly 
 noted by the touch and the view, challenge the 
 mind to comparison and judgment ! " 
 
 The fourth gift contains all that the three for- 
 mer gifts showed, and introduces differences of 
 
FROEBEVS FOURTH GIFT 83 
 
 dimension and equilibrium only hinted at before. 
 It also, as Froebel says, "throws into 
 relief the perception of size by showing 
 similarity of size with dissimilarity of dimension 
 and position." 
 
 As to dimension, the child built the Shot- 
 tower with the third gift, and knew that it was 
 high, the Platform and that it was broad, the 
 Well and that it was deep, the Wall and saw 
 that it was thick, etc., so that he has a conception 
 of height, length, breadth ; but in the fourth gift 
 he is shown these dimensions in a single block. 
 He is thus led from the known to the unknown. 1 
 They are united and contrasted in one object, 
 and therefore emphasized. 
 
 As to the law of equilibrium, it is very for- 
 cibly brought to the child's attention 
 every time his forms fall to the table 
 when constructed without due regard to its prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 He soon sees its practical significance, takes 
 care to follow its manifest expression, and to ob- 
 serve with more care the centre of gravity. 
 Great liberties could be taken with the stolid lit- 
 
 " The three principal dimensions of space, which in the 
 cube only make themselves known as differences of position, 
 in the fourth gift become more prominent and manifest them- 
 selves as differences of size. These three relations of size are in 
 the fourth gift as abiding and changeless as the position of the 
 three principal directions was before and still is." Froebel's 
 Pedagogics, page 189. 
 
84 FROEBEUS FOURTH GIFT 
 
 tie cubes and they seldom showed any resentment ; 
 they quietly settled down into their places and 
 resisted sturdily all the earthquake shocks which 
 are apt to visit a kindergarten table during the 
 building hour. The bricks on the other hand 
 have to be humored and treated with deference. 
 The moment one is placed upon another, end to 
 end, the struggle begins, and in any of the high 
 Life forms, the utmost delicacy of touch is neces- 
 sary as well as sure aim and steady hand. 
 
 Here comes in, too, a necessity of calculation 
 not before required. The cubes could be placed 
 on any side and always occupy the same space, 
 but the building with the bricks will vary accord- 
 ing as they are placed on the broad, the narrow, 
 or the short face. They must also fit together 
 and bear a certain relation to each other. 
 
 In the dictations it will be perceived that we 
 now have to specify the position which the brick 
 must take as well as the place which it is to oc- 
 cupy. We designate the three faces of the brick 
 as the broad face, the narrow face, and the short 
 face or end. 
 
 The symmetrical forms are much more inter- 
 esting than before and decidedly more artistic 
 when viewed in comparison with the somewhat 
 thick and clumsy designs made with the cubes. 
 Fourth Gift ^ e f ur th gift forms cover more space, 
 Building. approach nearer the surface, and the 
 bricks slide gracefully from one position to another, 
 
FROEBEL'S FOURTH GIFT 85 
 
 and slip in and out of the different figures with 
 a movement which seems like a swan's, compared 
 with the goose-step of the stubby little cubes. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that "the buds," as 
 Froebel calls them, of all the fourth gift Beauty 
 forms were contained in those of the third gift, 
 and have here opened into fuller bloom. 
 
 The Life forms are much more artistic now, 
 and begin to imitate a little more nearly the ob- 
 jects they are intended to represent. We can 
 make more extensive buildings also since we have 
 an additional height or length of eight inches over 
 that of the third gift, and thus can cover double 
 the amount of surface and inclose a much greater 
 space. In the first play with the gift, the chil- 
 dren's eyes, so keen in seeing play possibilities, 
 quickly discover the value of the bricks in furni- 
 ture-making, and set to work at once on tables and 
 chairs, or bureaus and sofas and bedsteads. 
 
 They engage too in a lively contest with the law 
 of equilibrium, and experiment long and patiently 
 until they comprehend its practical workings. 
 
 When they understand the fourth gift fairly 
 well, know the different faces and can handle the 
 bricks with some dexterity, the third gift should 
 be added and the two used together. They com- 
 plement each other admirably, and give variety 
 and strength to the building, whether forms of 
 Life, Beauty, or Knowledge are constructed. 
 
 Froebel, however, is most emphatic in directing 
 
86 FROEBEUS FOURTH GIFT 
 
 that each set of blocks should be given to the 
 child in its own box, opened so as to present a 
 whole at the first glance, and carefully rebuilt and 
 packed away when the play is over. The cubes 
 and bricks should never be left jumbled together 
 at the close of the exercise, nor should they be 
 kept in and returned to a common receptacle. 
 
 " Unimportant as these little rules may appear," 
 he says, " they are essential to the clear and defi- 
 nite development of the child, to his orderly ap- 
 prehension of external objects, and to the logical 
 unfolding of his own concepts and judgments." 
 
 " The box of building blocks should be regarded 
 by the child," he concludes, " as a worthy, an ap- 
 preciated, and a loved comrade." 
 
 The mathematical forms are constructed and 
 applied in precisely the same manner as before. 
 The fourth gift, however, offers a far greater num- 
 ber of these than its predecessor, while it is par- 
 ticularly adapted to show that objects identical 
 in form and size may be produced in quite differ- 
 ent ways. 
 
 Throughout all these guided plays, it should be 
 remembered that time is always to be allowed the 
 child for free invention, that the kindergartner 
 should talk to him about what he has produced so 
 that his thought may be discovered to himself, 1 
 
 1 " The child is allowed the greatest possible freedom of in- 
 vention ; the experience of the adult only accompanies and ex- 
 plains." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 130. 
 
FROEBEUS FOURTH GIFT 87 
 
 and that in all possible ways Group work should 
 be encouraged in order that his own strength and 
 attainments may be multiplied by that of his play- 
 fellows and swell the common stock of power. 
 Froebel, the great advocate of the "Together" 
 principle says, " Isolation and exclusion destroy 
 life ; union and participation create life." 1 
 
 It is perhaps needless to say that the philosoph- 
 ical laws which govern the outward manifesta- 
 tions of a moving force, as equilibrium or self- 
 propagating activity, are for personal study, and 
 are never to be spoken of abstractly to the child, 
 but merely to be illustrated with simple explana- 
 tions. 
 
 To show simply the law of transmitted motion, 
 for instance, let the child place his eight Transmitted 
 bricks on end, in a row, one half inch Motlon - 
 apart, with their broad faces toward each other. 
 Then ask him to give the one at the right a very 
 gentle push towards the others and see what will 
 happen ; the result is probably as great a delight 
 as you could reasonably wish to put within his 
 reach. 
 
 When he asks, " What makes them do so ? " 
 as every thoughtful child is apt to do, let us ask 
 the class the same question and set them think-- 
 ing about it. " Which brick did it ? " we may 
 say familiarly, and they will see it all in a mo- 
 ment, where the force originated, how it gave 
 1 Pedagogics, page 180. 
 
88 FROEBEL'S FOURTH GIFT 
 
 itself to the next brick in order, that one in turn 
 doing the same, and so on. 
 
 This law of transmitted motion, when so simply 
 illustrated in the fourth gift, easily suggests to 
 the children the force of example, and indeed 
 every physical law seems to have its correlate 
 in the moral world. We may make the children 
 see it very clearly through the seven poor, weak 
 little bricks that fell down because they were 
 touched by the first one. They really could not 
 help it; now, how about seven little boys or 
 girls ? They can help doing things, can they 
 not? 
 
 By such simple exercises and appropriate com- 
 ments the children may be made to realize their 
 moral free agency. 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Kindergarten at Home. Emily Shirreff. Pages 58-61. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 66. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 23, 
 24. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Ronge. 13-24. 
 
 Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Fr. Froebel. 166-95. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. 17-19. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 47-81. 
 
 Froebel and Education by Self -Activity. H. Courthope Bowen. 
 141, 142. 
 
 Kindergarten Toys. H. Hoffmann. 27-30. 
 
FROEBEL'S FIFTH GIFT 
 
 "The material for making 1 forms increases by degrees, pro- 
 gressing 1 according 1 to law, as Nature prescribes. The simple 
 wild rose existed before the double one was formed by careful 
 culture. Children are too often overwhelmed with quantity and 
 variety of material that makes formation impossible to them." 
 
 " The demand of the new gift, therefore, is that the oblique 
 line, hitherto only transiently indicated, shall become an abid- 
 ing- feature of its material." 
 
 " In the forms made with the fifth gift there rules a living 
 spirit of unity. Even members and directions which are appar- 
 ently isolated are discovered to be related by significant con- 
 necting members and links, and the whole shows itself in all its 
 parts as one and living, therefore, also, as a life-rousing, life- 
 nurturing, and life-developing totality." FB. FKOEBEL. 
 
 1. THE fifth gift is a three-inch cube, which, 
 being divided equally twice in each dimension, 
 produces twenty-seven one-inch cubes. Three of 
 these are divided into halves by one diagonal 
 cut, and three others into quarters by two diag- 
 onal cuts crossing each other, making in all 
 thirty-nine pieces, twenty-one of which are whole 
 cubes, the same size as those of the third gift. 
 
 2. The fifth gift seems to be an extension of 
 the third, from which it differs in the following 
 points : 
 
 The third gift is a two-inch cube, the fifth a 
 
90 FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 three-inch cube; the third is divided once in 
 each dimension, the fifth twice. In the third 
 all the parts are like each other and like the 
 whole ; in the fourth, they are like each other but 
 unlike the whole ; and in the fifth they are not 
 only for the most part unlike each other, but 
 eighteen of them are unlike the w r hole. 
 
 The third gift emphasized vertical and hori- 
 zontal divisions producing entirely rectangular 
 solids ; the fifth, by introduction of the slanting 
 line and triangular prism, extends the element of 
 form. In the third gift, the slanting direction 
 was merely implied in a transitory way by the 
 position of the blocks ; in the . fifth it is defi- 
 nitely realized by their diagonal division. 
 
 In number, the third gift emphasized two and 
 multiples of two ; the fifth is related to the fourth 
 in its advance in complexity of form and mathe- 
 matical relations. 
 
 3. The most important characteristics of the 
 gift are : introduction of diagonal line and tri- 
 angular form ; division into thirds, ninths, and 
 twenty-sevenths ; illustration of the inclined plane 
 and cube-root. As a result of these combined 
 characteristics, it is specially adapted to the pro- 
 duction of symmetrical forms. 
 
 It includes not only multiplicity, but, for the 
 first time, diversity of material. 
 
 4. The fifth gift realizes a higher unity through 
 a greater variety than has been illustrated previ- 
 
FEOEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 91 
 
 Solid 
 
 s. 
 
 ously. It corresponds with the child's increasing 
 power of analysis ; it offers increased complexity 
 to satisfy his growing powers of creation, and less 
 definitely suggestive material in order to keep 
 pace with his developing individuality. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this 
 gift are : 
 
 'Cube. 
 
 Rectangular Parallelepiped. 
 
 Square Prism. 
 
 Triangular Prism. 
 
 Rhomboidal Prism. 
 
 Trapezoidal Prism. 
 
 Pentagonal Prism. 
 
 Hexagonal Prism. 
 
 Heptagonal Prism. 
 
 Octagonal Prism. 
 'Square. 
 
 Oblong. 
 
 Right Isosceles Triangle. 
 
 Rhomboid. 
 
 Trapezium. 
 
 Trapezoid. 
 
 Pentagon. 
 
 Hexagon. 
 
 Heptagon. 
 s Octagon. 
 
 6. The fifth gift shows the following contrasts 
 and mediations : 
 
 The diagonal line a connection between the 
 
 Planes. 
 
92 FROEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 horizontal and vertical ; the right angle as a con- 
 nection between the obtuse angle (largest) and 
 the acute angle (smallest) ; in size of parts the 
 half cube standing between the whole and quarter 
 cubes. 
 
 We have thus far been proceeding from unity 
 to variety, from the whole to its parts, from the 
 simple to the complex, from easily constructed 
 forms to those more difficult of manipulation and 
 dictation, until we have arrived at the fifth gift. 
 
 How instructive and delightful have we found 
 Effect of the this orderly procedure ; this develop- 
 lroebei f 's ment of g reat froin little things; this 
 Khi fc dergaS thoughtful association of new and prac- 
 tical ideas with all that is familiar to the 
 child mind and heart. Every year the training 
 teacher feels it anew herself, and is sure of the 
 growing interest and sympathy of her pupils. 
 
 Many persons who fail to grasp the true mean- 
 ing of the kindergarten seem to consider the 
 balls and blocks and sticks with which we work 
 most insignificant little objects ; but we think, on 
 the other hand, that nothing in the universe is 
 small or insignificant if viewed in its right con- 
 nection and undertaken with earnestness and 
 enthusiasm. Nothing in childhood is too slight 
 for the notice, too trivial for the sympathy of 
 those on whom the Father of all has bestowed the 
 holy dignity of motherhood or teacherhood ; and 
 
FEOEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 93 
 
 to the kindergartrier belongs the added dignity 
 of approaching nearer the former than the latter, 
 for hers indeed is a sort of vice-motherhood. 
 
 We must always be impressed with the know- 
 ledge which we ourselves gain in studying these 
 gifts and preparing the exercises with them. In 
 concentration of thought; careful, distinct, pre- 
 cise, and expressive language ; logical arrange- 
 ment of ideas ; new love of order, beauty, sym- 
 metry, fitness, and proportion ; added ingenuity 
 in adapting material to various uses, aesthetic and 
 practical, in all these ways every practical stu- 
 dent of Froebel must constantly feel a decided 
 advance in ability. 
 
 Then, too, the simple rudiments of geometry 
 have been reviewed in a new light ; we have dealt 
 with solid bodies and planes, and studied them 
 critically so that we might draw the child's atten- 
 tion to all points of resemblance or difference ; 
 we have found some beautifully simple illustra- 
 tions of familiar philosophical truths, and, best of 
 all, have simplified and crystallized our knowledge 
 of , the relations of numbers so that the child's im- 
 pressions of them may be easily and clearly gained. 
 
 We have been required to look at each gift 
 in its broadest aspect, and to observe it Why we are 
 patiently and minutely in all its possi- 
 bilities, for the larger the amount of 
 knowledge the kindergartner possesses, 
 the more free from error will be her practice. 
 
94 FEOEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 Unless we know more than we expect to teach, 
 we shall find that our lessons will be stiff, formal 
 affairs, lacking variety, elasticity, and freshness, 
 and marred continually by lack of illustration 
 and spontaneity. 
 
 Lack of interest in the teacher is as fatal as 
 lack of interest in the child ; in fact, the one fol- 
 lows directly upon the heels of the other. For 
 this reason, continued study is vitally necessary 
 that new phases of truth may continually be seen. 
 
 Above all other people the teacher should go 
 through life with eyes and ears open. Unless she 
 is constantly accumulating new information her 
 mind will not only become like a stagnant pool, 
 but she will find out that what she possesses is 
 gradually evaporating. There is no state of equi- 
 librium here; she who does not progress retro- 
 gresses. 
 
 It should be a comparatively simple matter to 
 gain enough knowledge for teaching, the diffi- 
 cult thing is the art of imparting it. Said Lord 
 Bacon, " The art of well delivering the know- 
 ledge we possess to others is among the secrets 
 left to be discovered by future generations." 
 
 These are a few of the technicalities which 
 Relation be- have been mastered up to this time by 
 and e the?r ifts ' * faithful study of the gifts of Froebel; 
 SS child's and yet they are only technicalities, and 
 MoSi aland do not include the half of what has 
 been gained in ways more difficult to 
 describe. 
 
FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 95 
 
 " To clearly comprehend the gifts either indi- 
 vidually or collectively we must clearly conceive 
 their relation to and dependence on each other, 
 for it is only in this intimate connection that they 
 gain importance or value." 
 
 If the kindergartner does not recognize the 
 relationship which exists between them and their 
 relation to the child's mental and moral growth, 
 she uses them with no power or intelligence. We 
 conceive nothing truly so long as we conceive it 
 by itself ; the individual example must be referred 
 to the universal law before we can rightly appre- 
 hend its significance, and for a clear insight into 
 anything whatsoever we must view it in relation 
 to the class to which it belongs. We can never 
 really know the part unless we know the whole, 
 neither can we know the whole unless we know 
 the part. 
 
 In the fifth gift, which, it may be said, can 
 commonly only be used with profit after Pleasure of 
 
 ,, i MJ i i ^ -i i Child at 
 
 the child has neared or attained his New Gift. 
 fifth year, we find that we have not parted from 
 our good old friend, the cube, that has taught 
 us so many valuable lessons. We always find 
 contained in each gift a reminder of the previ- 
 ous one, together with new elements which may 
 have been implied before, but not realized. So, 
 therefore, we have again the cube, but greatly 
 enlarged, divided, and diversified. When the 
 child sees for the first time even the larger box 
 
96 FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 containing his new plaything, he feels joyful an- 
 ticipation, surmising that as he has grown more 
 careful and capable, he has been entrusted with 
 something of considerable importance. If he 
 has been allowed to use the third and fourth 
 gifts together frequently, he will not be embar- 
 rassed by the amount of material in the new 
 object. 
 
 Lest he be overwhelmed, however, by its vari- 
 ety as much as by its quantity, it might be well 
 before presenting the new material as a whole 
 to allow the child to play with a third gift in 
 which one cube cut in halves and one in quarters 
 have been substituted for two whole cubes. He 
 will joyfully discover the new forms, study them 
 carefully, and find out their distinctive peculiar- 
 ities and their value in building. When he has 
 used them successfully once or twice, and has 
 learned how to place the triangular prisms to 
 form the cube, then the mass of new material as 
 a whole can have no terrors for him. 
 
 How great is his pleasure when he withdraws 
 the cover and finds indeed something full of 
 immense possibilities; he feels, too, a command 
 of his faculties which leads him to regard the 
 new materials, not with doubt or misgiving, but 
 with a conscious power of comprehension. 
 
 At the first glance the most striking character- 
 its New Fea- istics are its greater size and greater 
 tures. number of divisions, into thirds, ninths, 
 
FROEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 97 
 
 and twenty-sevenths, instead of halves, quarters, 
 and eighths. 
 
 These divisions open a new field in number 
 lessons, while the introduction of the slanting line 
 and triangular prism makes a decided advance in 
 form and architectural possibilities. 
 
 The triangle, by the way, is a valuable addi- 
 tion in building exercises, for as a fun- importance 
 
 . . . of Triangu- 
 
 damental form in architecture it occurs iar Form. 
 very frequently in the formation of all familiar 
 objects. Indeed, the new form and its various 
 uses in building constitute the most striking and 
 valuable feature of the gift. 
 
 We find it an interesting fact that all the grand 
 divisions of the earth's surface have a triangular 
 form, and that the larger islands assume this 
 shape more or less. 
 
 The operation of dividing the earth's surface 
 into greater and lesser triangles is used in mak- 
 ing a trigonometrical survey and in ascertaining the 
 length of a degree of latitude or longitude. The 
 triangle is also of great use in the various depart- 
 ments of mechanical work, as will be noted here- 
 after in connection with the seventh gift. 
 
 The difficulties of the fifth gift are only appar- 
 ent, for the well-trained child of the kin- Difficulties 
 
 , . ,11 of the Fifth 
 
 dergarten sees more than any other, and Gift. 
 he will grasp the small complexities with wonder- 
 ful ease, smoothing out a path for himself while we 
 are wondering how we shall make it plain to him. 
 
98 FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 But here let us note that we can only succeed 
 
 Effect of in attaining satisfactory results in kin- 
 Good Train- _ _ J . 
 ing. dergarten work by beginning intelli- 
 gently and never discontinuing our patient watch- 
 fulness, self-command, and firmness of purpose, 
 firmness, remember, not stubbornness, for it is a 
 rare gift to be able to yield rightly and at the 
 proper time. 
 
 If we help the little one too much in his first 
 simple lessons or dictations ; if we supply the 
 word he ought to give ; if, to save time and pro- 
 duce a symmetrical effect, we move a block here 
 and there in weariness at some child's apparent 
 stupidity, we shall never fail to reap the natural 
 results. The effect of a rational conscientious 
 and consistent behavior to the child in all our 
 dealings with him is very great, and every little 
 slip from the loving yet firm and straightforward 
 course brings its immediate fruit. 
 
 The perfectly developed child welcomes each 
 new difficulty and invites it ; the imperfectly 
 trained pupil shrinks in half-terror and helpless- 
 ness, feeling no hope of becoming master of these 
 strange new impressions. 
 
 To return to the specific consideration of the 
 Arrange- gift, there must be a plan of arranging 
 
 ment of , . . i i i 
 
 Pieces. the various pieces which go to make up 
 the whole cube. 
 
 We have now for the first time the slanting 
 line, the mediation of the two opposites, vertical 
 
FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 99 
 
 and horizontal, and by this three of the small 
 cubes are divided into halves and three into quar- 
 ters. It is advisable, when building the cube, to 
 place nine whole cubes in each of the two lower 
 layers, keeping all the divided cubes in the upper 
 or third layer, halves in the middle row, quarters 
 at the back. Then we may slide the box gently 
 over the cube as in the third and fourth gifts, 
 which enables us to have the blocks separated 
 properly when taken out again, and forms the 
 only expedient way of handling the pieces. 1 
 
 The exercises with this gift are like those 
 which have preceded it. 
 
 1. Informal questions by the kindergartner 
 and answers by the children, on its in- Exer ci S e8of 
 troduction, that it may be well under- the Giftt 
 stood. This should be made entirely conversa- 
 tional, familiar, and playful, but a logical plan of 
 
 1 " This procedure is by no means intended merely to make 
 the withdrawal of the box easy for the child, but, on the contrary, 
 brings to him much inner profit. It is well for him to receive 
 his plaything's in an orderly manner not to have them tossed 
 to him as fodder is tossed to animals. It is good for the child to 
 begin his play with the perception of a whole, a simple self-con- 
 tained unit, and from this unity to develop his representations. 
 Finally, it is essential that the playing child should receive his 
 material so arranged that its various elements are discernible, 
 and that by seeing them his mind may unconsciously form plans 
 for using them. Receiving his material thus arranged, the 
 child will use it with ever-recurrent and increasing satisfaction, 
 and his play will produce far more abiding results than the play 
 of one whose material lies before him like a heap of cobble- 
 stones." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 205. 
 
100 FEOEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 development should be kept in mind. A consid- 
 eration of the various pieces of the gift may 
 occupy a part of each building or number lesson. 
 
 2. Dictation, building by suggestion, and co- 
 operative plays in the various forms. With all 
 except advanced children the Life forms are most 
 useful and desirable. 1 
 
 3. Free invention with each lesson. 
 
 4. Number and form lessons. In number there 
 will of course be some repetition of what has 
 been done before, but a sufficient amount of new 
 presentation to awaken interest. It is only by 
 constant review and repetition that we can assist 
 children to remember these things and to receive 
 them among their natural experiences, and fortu- 
 nately the habit of repetition in childhood is a 
 natural one, and therefore seldom irksome. 
 
 As to the form lessons, we must remember 
 Errors in that our method has nothing to do with 
 
 Form Teach- . , . 
 
 ing. scientific geometry, but is based en- 
 
 tirely on inspection and practice. It lays the 
 foundation of instruction in drawing, and forms 
 an admirable preparation for different trades, as 
 carpentry, cabinet-making, masonry, lock-smith- 
 ing, pattern-making, etc. Even in the primary 
 schools, and how much more in the kindergarten, 
 the form or geometrical work should be essen- 
 
 1 " The child, in a word, follows the same path as the man, 
 and advances from use to beauty and from beauty to truth." 
 Froebel's Pedagogics, page 219. 
 
FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 101 
 
 tially practical and given by inspection. Even 
 there all scientific demonstration should be pro- 
 hibited, and the teacher should be sparing in 
 definitions. 
 
 It is enough if the children recognize the forms 
 by their special characteristics and by perceiving 
 their relations, and can reproduce the solids in 
 modeling, and the planes and outlines in tablets, 
 sticks, rings, slats, drawing, and sewing. 1 
 
 LIFE FORMS. 
 
 We can now be quite methodical and workman- 
 like in our building, and can learn to Forms of 
 use all the parts economically and ac- Life< 
 cording to principle. We can discuss ground 
 plans, cellars, foundations, basements, roofs, eaves, 
 chimneys, entrances, and windows, and thus can 
 make almost habitable dwellings and miniature 
 models of larger objects. 2 
 
 1 " The Conference recommends that the child's geometrical 
 education should begin as early as possible ; in the kindergarten, 
 if he attends a kindergarten, or if not, in the primary school. 
 He should at first gain familiarity through the senses with sim- 
 ple geometrical figures and forms, plane and solid ; should han- 
 dle, draw, measure, and model them ; and should gradually learn 
 some of their simpler properties and relations." Report of 
 Committee of Ten, page 110. 
 
 2 " The child's life moves from the house and its living-rooms, 
 through kitchen and cellar, through yard and garden, to the 
 wider space and activity of street and market, and this expan- 
 sion of life is clearly reflected in the order and development of 
 his productions." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 221. 
 
102 FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 The child is a real carpenter now, and inno- 
 cently happy in his labor. Who can doubt that 
 in these cheerful daily avocations he becomes in 
 love with industry and perseverance, and as char- 
 acter is nothing but crystallized habit, he gets a 
 decided bias in these directions which affects him 
 for many a year afterward. 1 
 
 Objects which he meets in his daily walks are 
 to be constructed, and also objects with which he 
 is not so familiar, 2 so that by pleasant conversa- 
 tion the realm of his knowledge may be extended, 
 and the sphere of his affections and fancies en- 
 larged; for these exercises when properly con- 
 ducted address equally head, heart, and hand. 
 
 Froebel says of all this building, " It is essential 
 to proceed from the cube as a whole. In this 
 way the conception of the whole, of uniting, 
 
 1 "In some German kindergartens large building-logs are 
 supplied in one corner of the play garden. These logs are a 
 foot or more in length, three inches wide, and one inch thick. 
 Several hundred of these are kept neatly piled against the fence, 
 and the children are expected to leave them in good order. This 
 bit of voluntary discipline has its good uses on the playground, 
 and the free building allowed with this larger material gives rise 
 to individual effort, and tests the power of the children in a way 
 which makes the later, more organized work at the tables far 
 more full of meaning." Kindergarten Magazine, November, 
 1894. 
 
 2 " As these building gifts afford a means of clearing the per- 
 ceptions of the child, they give occasion for extending these 
 perceptions, and for representing in their essential parts objects 
 of which the child has only heard." Froebel's Pedagogics, 
 page 222. 
 
FROEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 103 
 
 stamps itself upon the child's mind, and the evo- 
 lution of the particular, partial, and manifold 
 from unity is illustrated." 
 
 Our opportunities for group work, or united 
 building, are greatly extended, and none Group 
 of them should be neglected, as it is Work - 
 essential to inculcate thus early the value of 
 cooperation. We have material enough to call 
 into being many different things on the children's 
 tables ; the house where they live, the church they 
 see on Sunday, the factory where their fathers or 
 brothers work, the schoolhouse, the City Hall, 
 the public fountain, the stable, and the shops. 
 Thus we may create an entire village with united 
 effort, and systematic, harmonious action. Each 
 object may be brought into intimate relation with 
 the others by telling a story in which every form 
 is introduced. This always increases the interest 
 of the class, and the story itself seems to be more 
 distinctly remembered by the child when brought 
 into connection with what he has himself con- 
 structed. 
 
 The third gift may be used with the fifth if 
 we wish to increase the number of blocks for 
 cooperative work, and is particularly adapted to 
 the laying of foundations for large buildings in 
 the sand-table. A large fifth gift, constructed 
 on the scale of a foot instead of an inch, is very 
 useful for united building. One child or the 
 kindergartner may be the architect of the monu- 
 
104 FBOEBEL'S FIFTH GIFT 
 
 ment or other large form which is to be erected 
 in the centre of the circle. The various children 
 then bring the whole cubes, the halves, and quar- 
 ters, and lay them in their appropriate places, and 
 the erection when complete is the work of every 
 member of the community. 
 
 SYMMETRICAL FORMS. 
 
 These are in number and variety almost end- 
 Forms of I GSS as we ^ ave thirty-nine pieces of 
 symmetry. dip eren t characters. Edward Wiebe 
 says : " He who is not a stranger in mathematics 
 knows that the number of combinations and per- 
 mutations of thirty-nine different bodies cannot 
 be counted by hundreds nor expressed by thou- 
 sands, but that millions hardly suffice to exhaust 
 all possible combinations." 
 
 These forms naturally separate themselves, 
 Froebel says, into two distinct series, i. e., the 
 series of squares and the series of triangles, and 
 move from these to the circle as the conclusion of 
 the whole series of representations. " From these 
 forms approximating to the circle there is an easy 
 transition to the representation of the different 
 kinds of cog-wheels, and hence to a crude prelim- 
 inary idea of mechanics." 
 
 If the movements begin with the exterior part 
 of the figure instead of the interior, we should 
 make all the changes we wish in that direction 
 before touching the centre, and vice versa. 
 
FROEBEL'S FIFTH GIFT 105 
 
 Each definite beginning conditions a certain 
 process of its own, and however much liberty in 
 regard to changes may be allowed, they are 
 always to be introduced within certain limits. 1 
 
 We should leave ample room for the child's 
 own powers of creation, but never disregard 
 Froebel's principle of connection of opposites ; 
 this alone will furnish him with the " inward 
 guide " which he needs. 2 It is only by becoming 
 accustomed to a logical mode of action that the 
 child can use this amount of material to good 
 advantage. 
 
 The dictations should be made with great care 
 and simplicity. The child's mind must Dangers of 
 
 t n i f , -i Dictation. 
 
 never be torced it it shows weariness, 
 nor the more difficult lessons given in too noisy 
 a room, as the nervous strain is very great under 
 such circumstances. We should remember that 
 great concentration is needed for a young child 
 to follow these dictations, and we must be exceed- 
 
 1 " With these forms of beauty it is above all important that 
 they be developed one from another. Each form in the series 
 should be a modification or transformation of its predecessor. 
 No form should be entirely destroyed. It is also essential that 
 the series should be developed so that each step should show 
 either an evolution into greater manifoldness and variety, or a 
 return to greater simplicity." Froebel's Pedagogics, page 225. 
 
 2 " This free activity ... is only possible when the law of 
 free creativeness is known and applied ; for that a free creative- 
 ness only can be a lawful one, we are taught by the smallest 
 blade of grass, whose development takes place only according 
 to immutable laws." Reminiscences of Froebd, page 133. 
 
106 FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 ingly careful in enforcing that strict attention for 
 too long a time. A well-known specialist says 
 that such exercises should not be allowed at first 
 to take up more than a minute or two at a time ; 
 then, that their duration should gradually extend 
 to five and ten minutes. The length of time 
 which children closely and voluntarily attend to 
 an exercise is as follows : Children from five 
 to seven years, about fifteen minutes ; from seven 
 to ten years, twenty minutes ; from twelve to 
 eighteen years, thirty minutes. A magnetic 
 teacher can obtain attention somewhat longer, 
 but it will always be at the expense of the suc- 
 ceeding lesson. " By teachers of high preten- 
 sions, lessons are often carried on greatly and 
 grievously in excess of the proper limits ; but 
 when the results are examined they show that 
 after a certain time has been exceeded, everything 
 forced upon the brain only tends to drive out or 
 to confuse what has been previously stored in it." 
 We find, of course, that the mind can sustain 
 more labor for a longer time when all the facul- 
 ties are employed than when a single faculty 
 is exerted, but the ambitious teacher needs to 
 remind herself every day that no error is more 
 fatal than to overwork the brain of a young child. 
 Other errors may perhaps be corrected, but the 
 effects of this end only with life. To force upon 
 him knowledge which is too advanced for his 
 present comprehension, or to demand from him 
 
FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 107 
 
 greater concentration, and for a longer period 
 than he is physically fitted to give, is to produce 
 arrested development. 1 
 
 MATHEMATICAL FORMS. 
 
 We must beware of abstractions in these forms 
 of knowledge, and let the child see and Forms of 
 build for himself, then lead him to ex- Knowled * e - 
 press in numbers what he has seen and built. 
 He will not call it Arithmetic, nor be troubled with 
 any visions of mathematics as an abstract science. 2 
 
 The cube may be divided into thirds, ninths, 
 and twenty-sevenths, and the fact thus practically 
 shown that whether the thirds are in one form 
 or another, in long lines or squares, upright or 
 flat, the contents remain the same. We may also 
 illustrate by building, that like forms may be 
 produced which shall have different contents, or 
 different forms having the same contents. 
 
 1 " Whoever sacrifices health to wisdom has generally sacri- 
 ficed wisdom, too." (Jean Paul.) 
 
 2 " Perceptions and recognitions which are with difficulty gained 
 from words are easily gained from facts and deeds. Through 
 actual experience the child gains in a trice a total concept, 
 whereas the same concept expressed in words would be only 
 grasped in a partial manner. The rare merit, the vivifying in- 
 fluence of this play-material is that, through the representations 
 it makes possible, concepts are recognized at once in their whole- 
 ness and unity, whereas such an idea of a whole can only very 
 gradually be gained from its verbal expression. It must, how- 
 ever, be added that later, through words, the concept can be 
 brought into higher and clearer consciousness." Froebel'sPecf- 
 agogics, page 206. 
 
108 FROEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 Halves and quarters may be discussed and 
 fully illustrated, and addition, subtraction, mul- 
 tiplication, and division may be continued as 
 fully as the comprehension of the child will 
 allow. 
 
 During the practice with the forms of know- 
 ledge we should frequently illustrate the lawful 
 evolution of one form from another, as in the 
 series moving from the parallelepiped to the hex- 
 agonal prism. 
 
 It should not be forgotten that whenever the 
 cube is separated and divided, recombination 
 should follow, and that the gift plays should 
 always close with synthetic processes. 
 
 Some of the mathematical truths shown in the 
 fifth gift were also seen in the third, but "re- 
 peated experiences," as Froebel says, " are of 
 great profit to the child." l 
 
 We should allow no memorizing in any of these 
 exercises or meaningless and sing-song repetitions 
 of words. We must always talk enough to make 
 the lesson a living one, but not too much, lest the 
 child be deprived of the use of his own thoughts 
 and abilities. 
 
 1 "It is through frequent return to a subject and intense 
 activity upon it for short periods, that it ' soaks in ' and be- 
 comes influential in the building of character. Especially is this 
 true if the principles of apperception and concentration are not 
 forgotten by the teacher in working upon the disciplinary sub- 
 jects." (Geo. P. Brown.) 
 
FROEBEUS FIFTH GIFT 109 
 
 THE FIFTH GIFT B. 
 
 There is a supplemental box of blocks called 
 in Germany the fifth gift B, which may be re- 
 garded as a combination of the second and fifth 
 gifts, and whose place in the regular line of ma- 
 terial is between the fifth and sixth. It was 
 brought out in Berlin more than thirteen years 
 ago, but has not so far been used to any extent 
 in this country. 
 
 It is a three -inch wooden cube divided into 
 twelve one-inch cubes, eight additional cubes from 
 each of which one corner is removed and which 
 correspond in size to a quarter of a cylinder, six 
 one-inch cylinders, divided in halves, and three 
 one-inch cubes divided diagonally into quarters 
 like those of the fifth gift. 
 
 Hermann Goldammer argues its necessity in 
 his book "The Gifts of the Kindergarten " (Ber- 
 lin, 1882), when he says that the curved line has 
 been kept too much in the background by kinder- 
 gartners, and that the new blocks will enable 
 children to construct forms derived from the 
 sphere and cylinder, as well as from the cube. 
 
 Goldammer's remark in regard to the curved 
 line is undoubtedly true, but it would seem that he 
 himself indicates that the place of the new blocks 
 (or of some gift containing curved lines) should 
 be supplemental to the third, rather than the 
 fifth, as they would there carry out more strictly 
 
110 FEOEBEVS FIFTH GIFT 
 
 the logical order of development and amplify the 
 suggestions of the sphere, cube, and cylinder. 
 
 It is possible that we need a third gift B and 
 a fourth gift B, as well as some modifications 
 of the one already existing, all of which should 
 include forms dealing with the curve. 
 
 Goldammer says further : " In Froebel's build- 
 ing boxes there are two series of development 
 intended to render a child by his own researches 
 and personal activity familiar with the general 
 properties of solid bodies and the special proper- 
 ties of the cube and forms derived from it. These 
 two series hitherto had the sixth gift as their 
 last stage, although Froebel himself wished to 
 see them continued by two new boxes. He never 
 constructed them, however, nor are the indica- 
 tions which he has left us with regard to those in- 
 tended additions sufficiently clear to be followed 
 by others." 
 
 The curved forms of the fifth gift B are, of 
 course, of marked advantage in building, espe- 
 cially in constructing entrances, wells, vestibules, 
 rose-windows, covered bridges, railroad stations, 
 viaducts, steam and horse cars, house-boats, foun- 
 tains, lighthouses, as well as familiar household 
 furniture, such as pianos, tall clocks, bookshelves, 
 cradles, etc. 
 
 Though one may perhaps consider the fifth 
 gift B as not entirely well placed in point of 
 sequence, and needing some modification of its 
 
FBOEBEL'S FIFTH GIFT 111 
 
 present form, yet no one can fail to enjoy its 
 practical use, or to recognize the validity of the 
 arguments for its introduction. 
 
 HEADINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. Pages 21-27. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Honge. 24-29. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 81-113. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 25 
 81. 
 
 Froebel and Education by Self - Activity. H. Courthope 
 Bowen. 142, 143. 
 
 Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Fr. Froebel. 201-236. 
 
 Art and the Formation of Taste. Walter Crane. 152, 197- 
 242. 
 
 Seven Lamps of Architecture. John Ruskin. 
 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 85-104, 111-116. 
 
 Kindergarten Toys. H. Hoffmann. 31-36. 
 
FROEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT 
 
 " The artistically cultivated senses of the new generation will 
 again restore pure, holy art." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Life brings to each his task, and whatever art you select, 
 algebra, planting, architecture, poems, commerce, politics, 
 all are attainable, even to the miraculous triumphs, on the same 
 terms, of selecting that for which you are apt ; begin at the 
 beginning, proceed in order, step by step." R. W. EMERSON. 
 
 " The sixth gift reveals the value of axial contrasts." 
 
 W. N. HAILMANN. 
 
 1. THE sixth gift is a three-inch cube divided 
 by various cuts into thirty-six pieces, eighteen of 
 which are rectangular parallelepipeds, or bricks, 
 the same size as those of the fourth gift, two 
 inches long, one inch wide, and one half inch 
 thick. Twelve additional pieces are formed by 
 cutting six of these parallelopipeds or units of 
 measure in halves breadthwise, giving blocks with 
 two square and four oblong faces. The remain- 
 ing six pieces are formed by cutting three paral- 
 lelopipeds or units of measure in halves, length- 
 wise, giving square prisms, columns, or pillars. 
 
 2. The sixth is the last of the solid gifts, and 
 is an extension of the fourth, from which it differs 
 in size and number of parts. It deals with mul- 
 tiples of the number two and three also; with 
 
FKOEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 113 
 
 halves rather than with quarters or thirds, the 
 " half " being treated in a new manner, i. e., by 
 dividing the unit of measure both in its length 
 and breadth, giving two solids, different in form 
 but alike in cubical contents. 
 
 3. The most important characteristics of the 
 gift are : 
 
 a. Irregularity of division. 
 
 b. Introduction of column. 
 
 c. Extent of surface covered by symmetrical 
 forms. 
 
 d. Greater inclosure of space in symmetrical 
 forms. 
 
 e. Introduction of distinct style of architec- 
 ture. 
 
 /. Greater height of Life forms. 
 g. Severe simplicity of Life forms produced by 
 the rectangular solids. 
 
 4. The sixth gift has no great increase of diffi- 
 culty, and though new forms are presented there 
 is little complexity in dictation. The building 
 needs a somewhat more careful handling, inasmuch 
 as the Life forms rise to considerable height and 
 need the most exact balance. 
 
 The child sees solids whose faces are all either 
 squares or oblongs, but of different sizes, viz., 
 oblongs of three sizes, squares of two sizes. 
 
 This is the last of the Building Gifts ; the child 
 having received sufficient knowledge to be in- 
 troduced step by step into the domain of the 
 
114 FROEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 
 
 abstract, the first step being the planes of the 
 seventh gift. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this 
 gift are : 
 
 f Rectangular parallelepipeds. 
 Solids. < Square prisms. 
 ( Cubes. 
 
 ( Squares. 
 Planes, j Qblongg 
 
 6. The brick of the sixth gift is identical with 
 that of the fourth, therefore it presents the same 
 contrasts and mediations. 
 
 In number the different classes of blocks stand 
 to each other as 6:12:18. 
 
 We may add that the brick is the foundation 
 form of the gift, and that we gain the remaining 
 two forms, the square block and pillar, by divid- 
 ing it in exactly opposite directions. 
 
 The sixth gift is so evidently an enlarged and 
 introduction diversified fourth gift, that it is well to 
 of the Gift. com p are it on its introduction with the 
 fourth, as well as with its immediate predeces- 
 sor in the series. When the fourth is placed 
 beside it, and the contents of the two boxes 
 brought to view, it is evident at once to the child 
 that a higher round in the ladder of evolution has 
 been reached, and a new and highly specialized 
 form developed. He is fired at once with crea- 
 
FBOEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT 115 
 
 tive activity, and his eager hands so quiver with 
 impatience to investigate the possibilities of the 
 new blocks that the wise kindergartner does not 
 detain him long with comparisons, only assuring 
 herself that he notes the relation of the new gift 
 to the former ones, that he compares the two 
 new solids to the brick, or unit of measure, and 
 to each other, and discovers how each has been 
 produced. 
 
 The difficulties of the new gift are very slight, 
 as has been said, consisting neither in Difficulties 
 
 ,. , ,. . f . , . of the 
 
 dictation, in mass of material, nor in New Gift. 
 new forms, lines, or angles. Equilibrium alone 
 presents novel problems, but this law the child 
 now understands fairly well in its practical work- 
 ings, while he has gained so much dexterity in 
 his use of the other blocks that the height and 
 delicate poise of the new forms are added attrac- 
 tions rather than obstacles. 
 
 The sixth gift far surpasses all the other build- 
 ing blocks in its decided adaptation to Form80f 
 the purely architectural forms. The Life- 
 bricks of the fourth gift may be used as a founda- 
 tion for the construction of large and ambitious 
 structures, and with this additional material, the 
 sixth gift may excel in producing elegant and 
 graceful forms. 
 
 The bricks of course admit of a much greater 
 superficial extension and the inclosure of a more 
 extensive space than has heretofore been possible. 
 
116 FROEBEVS SIXTH GIFT 
 
 The children will unaided construct familiar 
 objects, such as household furniture and imple- 
 ments, churches, fences, walled inclosures, and 
 towers, with the new blocks, and seize with de- 
 light upon the possibilities of the column, which 
 is really the distinctive feature of the gift. 
 
 So far, the building of object forms will closely 
 resemble those of the previous gifts, but a step 
 in advance may be made by the children if the 
 kindergartner is complete mistress of the new 
 forms and knows their capabilities. The gift 
 may serve as a primer of architecture if its mate- 
 rials are thoroughly exploited, and may lead 
 later on to a healthy discontent with incorrect 
 outline, with vulgar ornamentation, and with 
 crudity of form. 1 
 
 Froebel himself, who had made exhaustive 
 studies in architecture, and obtained the training 
 necessary to enable him to take it up as a profes- 
 sion, has left us many examples of sixth gift 
 building, which are to be found in all the German 
 "Guides." The structures are no longer rude 
 representations, but have a marked grace and 
 symmetry, and in their simplicity, clearness of 
 outline, and fine proportion, strongly resemble 
 early Greek architecture. Colonnades, commem- 
 orative columns, facades of palaces, belvederes, 
 
 1 " The sense of beauty must be awakened in the soul in 
 childhood if in later life he is to create the beautiful." Rem- 
 iniscences of Froebel, page 158. 
 
FROEBEVS SIXTH GIFT 117 
 
 temples, arches, city gates, monuments, fountains, 
 portals, fonts, observatories, all can be con- 
 structed in miniature with due regard to law, 
 fitness, and proportion, and as the soft, creamy- 
 white structures rise on the various tables, we see 
 borne out Froebel's saying that the order of his 
 Building Gifts was such that the child might be 
 led in their use through the world's great archi- 
 tectural epochs from Egypt to Kome. 1 
 
 Although with this gift we cannot produce 
 symmetrical forms in as great diversity Forms0 f 
 as with the fifth, yet the materials are s y mmetr y- 
 productive to the inventive mind, and when the 
 pieces are arranged with care and taste, beautiful 
 figures may always be developed, those having 
 a triangular centre being novel and especially 
 pleasing. Although not as diversified, however, 
 they have the added advantage of approaching 
 nearer the plane ; and that this progression may 
 be more clearly shown, it seems evident that the 
 symmetrical forms should only be produced by 
 laying the columns, " square-faced blocks " and 
 bricks, flat upon the table, and that the practice, 
 
 1 "As the gifts proceed from the first to the sixth, observa- 
 tion is demanded with increasing- strictness, relativity more and 
 more appreciated, and the opportunity afforded for endless 
 manifestations of the constructive faculty, while all the time 
 impressions are forming- in the mind which in due time will bear 
 rich fruits of mathematical and practical knowledge as well as 
 aesthetic culture, for the dawning- sense of the beautiful as well 
 as of the true is gaining consistency and power." (Karl Froe- 
 bel.) 
 
118 FROEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 
 
 advised by some authorities, of changing the 
 figures by placing the blocks erect, or half erect, 
 should be discouraged. 
 
 In the forms of knowledge we find again 
 Forms of much less diversity than in the fifth 
 Knowledge. g-^ ^e rec tilinear solids and conse- 
 quent absence of oblique angles limiting us in the 
 construction of geometrical forms. The blocks, 
 however, offer excellent means for general arith- 
 metical instruction, for working out problems as 
 to areas, for further illustration of dimension, and 
 for building many varieties of parallelepipeds, 
 square prisms, and cubes, and studying the par- 
 allelograms which bound them. The elements of 
 this knowledge, it is true, were gained with the 
 fourth gift, but we must remember that interest 
 in any subject is not necessarily decreased by 
 repetition, and that the value of review depends 
 upon whether or not it is mechanical. 1 
 
 The group work at the square tables is now 
 cooperative especially beautiful, both when forms 
 of symmetry or object forms are con- 
 structed. The fourth gift may be used, as has 
 
 1 "What makes Froebel's gifts particularly instructive is, 
 indeed, the fact that the most varied materials constantly lead 
 to the same observations, but always under different conditions, 
 so that we obtain the necessary repetitions without the dryness, 
 the tiresomeness, the fatigue inseparable from constant unvaried 
 iteration. But they also accustom the child to discover simi- 
 larity in things that appear to differ, to find resemblance in 
 contrasts, unity in diversity, connection in what appears uncon- 
 nected." H. Goldammer's The Kindergarten, page 109. 
 
FROEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT 119 
 
 been said, if more material is needed, and of 
 course combines perfectly with the sixth gift 
 blocks. A large sixth gift made as was sug- 
 gested for the fifth, on the scale of a foot in- 
 stead of an inch, is most useful for cooperative 
 exercises in the centre of the ring, and the slen- 
 der, graceful columns, for instance, which may 
 thus be built in unison to commemorate some 
 historic birthday, are so many concrete evidences 
 to the child's eyes of the value of united effort. 
 
 Every gift and occupation and exercise of the 
 kindergarten has been developed with The Gifts 
 
 . 8 and their 
 
 infinite love and forethought to meet Treatment 
 
 by the K.in- 
 
 the child's wishes and capabilities ; every dergartner. 
 one of them has been so delicately adjusted to 
 meet the demands of the case, and so gently 
 drawn into the natural and legitimate channel 
 of childlike play, that they never fail to meet 
 with an enthusiastic reception from the child, nor 
 to awaken the strongest interest in him. 
 
 The kindergartner should be careful that he 
 never builds hastily or lawlessly, and above all 
 she should guide him to those forms which he 
 will be able to construct with perfection and 
 accuracy. She should always follow him in his 
 work, answering his questions and suggesting 
 new ideas, letting him feel in every way that she 
 is in sympathy with him, and that none of his 
 plans or experiments, however small they may be, 
 are indifferent to her. It is always a delight to 
 
120 FROEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 
 
 the child if his productions are understood by 
 grown-up people, for he often feels somewhat 
 doubtful of the value of his work until the seal 
 of approval has been set upon it by a superior 
 mind. 
 
 If we have grasped the underlying idea which 
 underlying we lds the mass of material which 
 KoebeVs forms the kindergarten gifts into a har- 
 moniously connected whole ; if we have 
 developed the analytical faculty sufficiently to 
 perceive their relation to the child, the child's 
 relation to them, and the reasons for their selec- 
 tion as mediums of education; if we see clearly 
 Why each object is given, what connection it has 
 with the child's development, and what natural 
 laws should govern it in play, then we compre- 
 hend Froebel's own idea of their use. 
 
 Certainly the ignorant and unsympathetic kin- 
 Education dergartner may err in dealing with them, 
 
 vs ' -i*~ii 
 
 Cramming, and introduce the cramming process into 
 
 her field of labor as easily as the public school 
 teacher, for it is as easy to cram with objects as 
 with books, and should this occur there is cause 
 for grave uneasiness, since the opportunity for 
 injuring the brain of the child is greater during 
 these first years than at any other time. 
 
 If we force the child, or make the lesson seem 
 work to him, his faculties will rebel, he will be 
 dull, inattentive, or restless, according to his tem- 
 perament or physical state ; he will not be inter- 
 
FROEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT 121 
 
 ested in what we teach him, and therefore it will 
 make no impression on him. 
 
 The child has memory enough ; he remembers 
 the picnic in the woods, the glorious sail across 
 the bay, the white foam in the wake of the boat, 
 the very tint of the flowers that he gathered, 
 in fact, he remembers everything in which he is 
 interested. If we would have him remember our 
 teachings forever, we must make them worthy of 
 being remembered forever. And to this end it is 
 essential that only the best teachers be provided 
 for little children. The ideal teacher should 
 know her subject thoroughly, but should be able 
 to boil it down, to condense it, so that the con- 
 centrated extract alone will remain, and this be 
 presented to her pupils. 1 
 
 In leaving these first six gifts, we need finally 
 to remember these things : 
 
 First, that we must not be too anxious to resolve 
 these plays into the routine of lessons ; suggestions 
 with our younger pupils especially this Method. 
 is not admissible, and we must guard against it 
 in all exercises with the kindergarten materials. 
 
 Second, we may assure ourselves, in all modesty, 
 that it is a difficult matter, indeed, to direct these 
 plays properly ; that is, to have system and method 
 enough to guard the children from all lawlessness, 
 
 1 " If you would be pungent, be brief ; for it is with words as 
 with sunbeams, the more they are condensed the deeper they 
 burn." 
 
122 FROEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 
 
 idleness, and disorder, and yet to keep from fall- 
 ing into a mechanical drill which will never pro- 
 duce the wished-for results. Play is the natural, 
 the appropriate business and occupation of the 
 child left to his own resources, and we must 
 strive to turn our lessons into that channel, only 
 thus shall we reach the highest measure of true 
 success. 
 
 Third, we must strive by constant study and 
 thought, by entering into the innermost chambers 
 of the child-nature, and estimating its cravings 
 and necessities, to penetrate the secret, the soul 
 of the Froebel gifts, then we shall never more 
 be satisfied with their external appearances and 
 superficial uses. 
 
 NOTE. In arranging the blocks of the sixth gift, place the 
 eighteen bricks erect, in three rows, with their broad faces 
 together. On top of these place nine of the square-faced blocks, 
 thus forming a second layer. The third layer is formed by 
 placing the remaining three blocks of this class on the back row, 
 and filling in the space in front with the six pillars, placed side 
 by side. 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. Pages 27-29. 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Eonge. 20-31. 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 113-145. 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 31, 
 32. 
 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 105-110. 
 
 Stones of Venice. John Ruskin. 
 
 Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth. W. K. Lethaby. 
 
FEOEBEUS SIXTH GIFT 123 
 
 The Sources of Architectural Types. Spencer's Essays, vol. ii. 
 page 375. 
 
 The Two Paths. John Buskin. (Chapter on Influence of Im- 
 agination in Architecture.) 
 
 Discourses on Architecture. E. E. Viollet-le-Duc. Tr. by 
 Henry Van Brunt. (First and Second Discourses.) 
 
FROEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 " The properties of number, form, and size, the knowledge of 
 space, the nature of powers, the effects of material, beg-in to 
 disclose themselves to him. Color, rhythm, tone, and figure 
 come forward at the budding-point and in their individual value. 
 The child begins already to distinguish with precision nature 
 and the world of art, and looks with certainty upon the outer 
 world as separate from himself." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Froebel's thin colored planes correspond with the mosaic 
 wood or stone work of early man." H. POESCHB. 
 
 "There is nothing in the whole present system of education 
 more deserving pf serious consideration than the sudden and 
 violent transition from the material to the abstract which our 
 children have to go through on quitting the parental house to 
 enter a school. Froebel therefore made it a point to bridge over 
 this transition by a whole series of play-material, and in this 
 series it is the laying-tablets which occupy the first place." 
 
 H. GOLDAMMER. 
 
 1. THE seventh gift consists of variously col- 
 ored square and triangular tablets made of wood 
 or pasteboard, the sides of the pieces being about 
 one inch in length. Circular and oblong paste- 
 board tablets have lately been introduced, as well 
 as whole and half circles in polished woods. 
 
 2. The first six gifts illustrated solids, while 
 the seventh, moving from the concrete towards 
 the abstract, makes the transition to the surface. 
 
 The Building Gifts presented to the child 
 
FROEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 125 
 
 divided units, from which he constructed new 
 wholes. Through these he became familiar with 
 the idea of a whole and parts, and was prepared 
 for the seventh gift, which offers him not an 
 object to transform, but independent elements 
 to be combined into varied forms. These divided 
 solids also offered the child a certain fixed amount 
 of material for his use ; after the introduction of 
 the seventh gift, the amount to be used is op- 
 tional with the kindergartner. 
 
 3. The child up to this time has seen the sur- 
 face in connection with solids. He now receives 
 the embodied surface separated from the solid, 
 and gradually abstracts the general idea of " sur- 
 face," learning to regard it not only as a part, 
 but as an individual whole. 
 
 This gift also emphasizes color and the various 
 triangular forms, besides imparting the idea of 
 pictorial representation, or the representation of 
 objects by means of plane surfaces. 
 
 4. The gift leads the child from the object 
 itself towards the representation of the object, 
 thus sharpening the observation and preparing 
 the way for drawing. 
 
 It is also less definitely suggestive than previ- 
 ous gifts, and demands more creative power for 
 its proper use. It appeals to the sense of form, 
 sense of place, sense of color, and sense of number. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this 
 gift are : 
 
126 FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 Squares. 
 
 f Right isosceles. 
 
 Triangles. J Obtuse isosceles. 
 
 Equilateral. 
 ^Right-angled scalene. 
 Oblong. 
 Rhombus. 
 
 In combination. < 
 
 Rhomboid. 
 Trapezoid. 
 Trapezium. 
 
 Pentagon. 
 
 Hexagon. 
 
 Heptagon. 
 
 Octagon. 
 
 6. The law of Mediation of Contrasts is shown 
 in the forms of the gift. We have in the trian- 
 gles, for instance, two lines running in opposite 
 directions, connected by a third, which serves as 
 the mediation. Contrasts and their mediations 
 are also shown in the squares and in the forms 
 made by combination. This gift, representing 
 the plane, is a link between the divided solid and 
 the line. 
 
 We have now left the solid and are approach- 
 loi& f to m * n abstraction when we begin the study 
 Plane. o f planes. All mental development has 
 ever begun and must begin with the concrete, 
 and progress by successive stages toward the ab- 
 stract, and it was Froebel's idea that his play- 
 
FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 127 
 
 material might be used to form a series of steps 
 up which the child might climb in his journey 
 toward the abstract. 
 
 Beginning with the ball, a perfect type of 
 wholeness and unity, we are led through diver- 
 sity, as shown in the three solids of the second 
 gift, toward divisibility in the Building Gifts, and 
 approximation to surface in the sixth gift. The 
 next move in advance is the partial abstraction of 
 surface, shown in the tablets of the seventh gift. 
 
 The tablets show two dimensions, length and 
 breadth, the thickness being so trifling relatively 
 that it need not be considered, as it does not mar 
 the child's perception and idea of the plane. 
 They are intended to represent surfaces, and 
 should be made as thin as is consistent with dura- 
 bility. 
 
 The various tablets as first introduced in Ger- 
 many and in this country were com- Systematic 
 monly quite different in size and degrees ^eenthe e " 
 of angles in the different kindergartens, Tablets - 
 as they were either cut out hastily by the teach- 
 ers themselves, or made by manufacturers who 
 knew very little of the subject. The former prac- 
 tice of dividing an oblong from corner to corner 
 to produce the right-angled scalene triangle was 
 much to be condemned, as it entirely set aside the 
 law of systematic relation between the tablets and 
 rendered it impossible to produce the standard 
 angles, which are so valuable a feature of the gift. 
 
128 FBOEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 " One of the principal advantages of the kin- 
 dergarten system is that it lays the foundation for 
 a systematic, scientific education which will help 
 the masses to become expert and artistic work- 
 men in whatever occupation they may be en- 
 gaged." 1 
 
 In this direction the seventh gift has doubt- 
 less immense capabilities, but much of its force 
 and value has been lost, much of the work thrown 
 away which it has accomplished, for want of proper 
 and systematic relation between the tablets. The 
 order in which these are now derived and intro- 
 duced is as follows : 
 
 The square tablet is, of course, the type of 
 quadrilaterals, and when it is divided from corner 
 to corner a three-sided figure is seen, the half 
 square or right isosceles triangle ; but one which 
 is not the type of three-sided figures. The typi- 
 cal and simplest triangle, the equilateral, is next 
 presented, and if this be divided by a line bisect- 
 ing one angle, the result will be two triangles of 
 still different shape, the right-angled scalene. If 
 these two are placed with shortest sides together, 
 we have another form, the obtuse-angled triangle, 
 and this gives us all the five forms of the sev- 
 enth gift. 
 
 The square educates the eye to judge correctly 
 of a right angle, and the division of the square 
 gives the angle of 45, or the mitre. The equi- 
 1 Pamphlet on the Seventh Gift. (Milton Bradley Co.) 
 
FROEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 129 
 
 lateral has three angles of 60 each ; the divided 
 equilateral or right-angled scalene has one an- 
 gle of 90, one of 60, and one of 30, while the 
 obtuse isosceles has one angle of 120, and the 
 remaining two each 30. These are the standard 
 angles (90, 45, 60, and 30) used by carpen- 
 ter, joiner, cabinet-maker, blacksmith, in fact, 
 in all the trades and many of the professions, 
 and the child's eye should become as familiar 
 with them as with the size of the squares on his 
 table. 
 
 Edward Wiebe says in regard to the relation 
 of the seventh gift to geometry and gen- possibilities 
 eral mathematical instruction : " Who in Mathe- 
 can doubt that the contemplation of instruction. 
 these figures and the occupations with them must 
 tend to facilitate the understanding of geomet- 
 rical axioms in the future, and who can doubt 
 that all mathematical instruction by means of 
 Froebel's system must needs be facilitated and 
 better results obtained? That such instruction 
 will be rendered fruitful in practical life is a fact 
 which will be obvious to all who simply glance at 
 the sequence of figures even without a thorough 
 explanation, for they contain demonstratively the 
 larger number of those axioms in elementary 
 geometry which relate to the conditions of the 
 plane in regular figures." 
 
 As the tablets are used in the kindergarten, 
 they are intended only " to increase the sum of 
 
130 FROEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 general experience in regard to the qualities of 
 things," but they may be made the medium of 
 really advanced instruction in mathematics, such 
 as would be suitable for a connecting-class or a 
 primary school. All this training, too, may be 
 given in the concrete, and so lay the foundation 
 for future mathematical work on the rock of prac- 
 tical observation. 
 
 The kindergarten child is expected only to 
 know the different kinds of triangles from each 
 other, and to be familiar with their simple names, 
 to recognize the standard angles, and to know 
 practically that all right angles are equally large, 
 obtuse angles greater, and acute less than right 
 angles. All this he will learn by means of play 
 with the tablets, by dictations and inventions, 
 and by constant comparison and use of the vari- 
 ous forms. 
 
 As to the introduction of the tablets, the square 
 HOW and is first of all of course given to the 
 child. A small cube of the third gift 
 
 may be taken and surrounded on all its 
 faces by square tablets, and then each one 
 " peeled off," disclosing, as it were, the hidden 
 solid. We may also mould cubes of clay and 
 have the children slice off one of the square faces, 
 as both processes show conclusively the relation 
 the square plane bears to the cube whose faces 
 are squares. If the first tablets introduced are of 
 pasteboard, as probably will be the case, the new 
 
FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 131 
 
 material should be noted and some idea given of 
 the manufacture of paper. 
 
 There is a vast difference in opinion concerning 
 the introduction of this seventh gift, and it is 
 used by the child in the various kindergartens at 
 all times, from the beginning of his ball plays up 
 to his laying aside of the fifth gift. It seems 
 very clear, however, that he should not use the 
 square plane until after he has received some 
 impression of the three dimensions as they are 
 shown in solid bodies, and this Mr. Hailmann tells 
 us he has no proper means of gaining, save through 
 the fourth gift. 1 
 
 As to the triangular tablets, it is evident 
 enough they should not be dealt with until after 
 the child has seen the triangular plane on the 
 solid forms of the fifth gift. Mr. Hailmann 
 says that a clear idea of the extension of solids in 
 three dimensions can only come from a familiarity 
 with the bricks, and again that the abstractions of 
 the tablet should not be obtruded on the child's 
 notice until he has that clear idea. 
 
 Though the six tablets which surround the cube 
 may be given to the child at the first exercise, it 
 is better to dictate simple positions of one or two 
 squares first, and let him use the six in dictation 
 and many more in invention. 
 
 1 " The perception of the difference between a surface-exten- 
 sion and an extension in three dimensions begins late and is es- 
 tablished slowly." W. Preyer, The Mind of the Child, page 180. 
 
132 FROEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 The first triangle given is the right isosceles, 
 Order of showing the angle of forty-five degrees, 
 
 introducing i -i i i i 
 
 Triangles. and tormed by bisecting the square with 
 a diagonal line. The child should be given a 
 square of paper and scissors and allowed to dis- 
 cover the new form for himself, letting him 
 experiment until the desired triangle is obtained. 
 He should then study the new form, its edges and 
 angles, and then join his two right-angled trian- 
 gles into a square, a larger triangle, etc. Then 
 let him observe how many positions these trian- 
 gles may assume by moving one round the other. 
 He will find them acting according to the law 
 of opposites already familiar to him, and if not 
 comprehended, 1 yet furnishing him with an infal- 
 lible criterion for his inventive work. 
 
 The equilateral is then taken up, is compared 
 with the half -square, and then studied by itself, its 
 three equal sides and angles (each sixty degrees) 
 being noted as well as the obtuse angles made 
 by all possible combinations of the equilateral. 
 
 Next, as we have said, comes the right-angled 
 scalene triangle, with its inequality of sides and 
 angles, which must be studied and compared with 
 the equilateral ; and last of all, the obtuse isos- 
 celes triangle, which is dealt with in the same way. 
 
 1 " With this law I give children a guide for creating, and be- 
 cause it is the law according to which they, as creatures of God, 
 have themselves been created, they can easily apply it. It is 
 born with them." Reminiscences of Froebel, page 73. 
 
FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 133 
 
 Here, again, it should be noted that the two 
 last forms should always be discovered by the 
 child in his play with the equilateral, and that he 
 should cut them himself from paper before he is 
 given the regular pasteboard or wooden triangles 
 for study. If presented for the first time in this 
 latter form, they can never mean as much to him 
 as if he had found them out for himself. 
 
 The dictations should invariably be given so 
 that opposites and their intermediates 
 may be readily seen. The different tri- 
 angles may be studied each in the same way, 
 introducing them one at a time in the order named, 
 afterwards allowing as free a combination as will 
 produce symmetrical figures. It is best always 
 to study one of a new kind, then two, then gradu- 
 ally give larger numbers. 
 
 Great possibilities undoubtedly lie in this gift, 
 but it is well to remember that with young 
 children it must not be made the vehicle of too 
 abstract instruction. In order to make the dicta- 
 tions simple, the child must be perfectly familiar 
 with the terms of direction, up, down, right, left, 
 centre ; with the simple names of the planes 
 (squares, half-squares, equal-sided, blunt and 
 sharp-angled triangles, etc.) ; and he must learn 
 to know the longest edge of each triangle, that he 
 may be able to place it according to direction. 
 
 The children should be encouraged to invent, 
 to give the dictation exercises to one another, and 
 
134 FEOEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 to copy the simpler forms of the lesson on black- 
 board or paper. Some duplicate copies in colored 
 papers may be made from their inventions, and 
 the walls of the schoolroom ornamented with 
 them. It will be a pleasure to the little ones 
 themselves, and demonstrate to others how won- 
 derful a gift this is and how charmingly the chil- 
 dren use it. 
 
 No exercise should be given without previous 
 study, and in the first year's teaching it is wiser 
 to draw or make the figures before giving the dic- 
 tations. The materials, too, should be prepared 
 beforehand, in such a form that they can be given 
 out readily and quietly by the children at the 
 opening of the exercise. To require a class of a 
 dozen or more pupils to wait while the kinder- 
 gartner assorts and counts the various colors and 
 shapes of tablets to be used is positively to invite 
 loss of interest on the children's part, and to pro- 
 duce in the teacher a hurry and worry and ner- 
 vous tension which will infallibly ruin the play. 
 
 The Life forms are no longer absolute repre- 
 sentations, but only more or less sugges- 
 
 Life Forms. J . 
 
 tive images of certain objects, and thus 
 show still more clearly the orderly movement from 
 concrete to abstract. 
 
 Hitherto in Life forms the child has produced 
 more or less real objects, for instance, he built 
 a miniature house, a fountain, a chair, or a sofa. 
 They were not absolutely real, and therefore in 
 
FROEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 135 
 
 one way merely images ; but they were bodily 
 images. He could place a little dish, on the table, 
 a tiny cup on the edge of the fountain, a doll could 
 sit in the chair, and therefore they were all real 
 for purposes of play, at least. 
 
 With the tablets, however, the child can no 
 longer make a chair, though by a certain arrange- 
 ment of them he can make an image of it. 
 
 The child will notice that many of the forms 
 made with squares are flat pictures of those made 
 with the third gift, and with the addition of the 
 right isosceles triangles he can reproduce the 
 facades of many of the elaborate object forms of 
 the fifth. The various triangles differ greatly in 
 their capabilities of producing Life forms, the 
 equilateral and the obtuse isosceles being espe- 
 cially deficient in this regard and requiring to be 
 combined with the other tablets. The fact that 
 both the right isosceles and right scalene trian- 
 gles produce Life forms in great variety seems to 
 prove that, as Goldammer says, " the right angle 
 predominates in the products of human activity." 
 
 The symmetrical forms are more varied and 
 innumerable than those of any other g ymmetri . 
 gift, and with the addition of the bril- calForms - 
 liant colors of the pasteboard, or the s6ft shades 
 of the wooden tablets, make figures which are un- 
 deniably beautiful, and which are mosaic-like in 
 their effect. 
 
 The whirling figures are interesting and new, 
 
136 FROEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 and the child with developed eye and growing ar- 
 tistic taste will delight in their oddity, and yet be 
 able to find opposites and their intermediates and 
 make them as correctly as in the more methodical 
 figures, where the exact right and left balanced 
 the upper and lower extremes. Here we note 
 that the equilateral and obtuse isosceles triangles, 
 so ill fitted to produce Life forms, lend them- 
 selves to forms of symmetry in great variety. 
 The various sequences of the latter in the third 
 and fifth gifts may of course be faithfully repro- 
 duced in surface-extension with the tablets, and 
 thus gain an added charm. 
 
 The ambunt of material given to the child is 
 now a matter for the decisiou of the kindergart- 
 ner, and is dependent only on the ability of the 
 child to use it to advantage. This increase of 
 material presents a further difficulty, and it is 
 time for us to add still another, that is, to expect 
 more of the child, and to require that he produce 
 not only something original, but something which 
 shall, though simple, be really beautiful. 
 
 Inventions in borders are a new and charming 
 feature of this gift, and the circular and oblong 
 tablets as well as the squares and various trian- 
 gles are well adapted to produce them. The vari- 
 ous borders laid horizontally across the tablets 
 may be divided by lines of sticks, and thus make 
 an effect altogether different from anything we 
 have had before. 
 
FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 137 
 
 The work with forms of knowledge, as has 
 been fully shown, will be in geometry M athemat- 
 rather than in arithmetic, to which in- icalForms - 
 deed the gift is not especially well adapted. In 
 addition to the study and comparison of the vari- 
 ous forms, their lines and angles, we have a great 
 variety of figures to be produced by combination. 
 We can make the nine regular forms already 
 mentioned in the introduction in a variety of ways, 
 and thus give new charm to the old truths. We 
 must allow the child to experiment by himself very 
 frequently, and interpret to him his discoveries 
 when he makes them. 
 
 The square tablets afford a valuable aid to the 
 occupation of weaving, as all the simple The seventh 
 patterns can be formed with them, the weaving. 
 child laying them upon his table until he has mas- 
 tered the numerical principle upon which they are 
 constructed. We can easily see how these same 
 patterns may be further utilized as designs for 
 inlaid tiles, or parquetry floors. Thus the sev- 
 enth gift may introduce children to subsequent 
 practical life, and serve as a useful preparation 
 for various branches of art-work. 
 
 It is easy to see when we begin the practical 
 use of the tablets that the essential char- seventh 
 acteristics of the gifts in their progress Parquetry. 
 from solid to point are now becoming less marked, 
 and that they begin to merge into the occupa- 
 tions, which develop from point to solid. The 
 
138 FROEBEVS SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 meeting-place of the two series is close at hand, 
 and, like drops of water fallen near each other, 
 they tremble with impatience to rush into one. 
 
 The inventions which the child makes with 
 tablets he now very commonly expresses a desire 
 to give away, or to take home with him, a 
 thought which he seldom had with the gifts, 
 wishing rather to show them in their place upon 
 the tables. As this is a natural and legitimate 
 desire, a supplement to the seventh gift has been 
 devised, consisting of paper substitutes for the 
 various forms, of the same size and appropriate 
 coloring, and to be had either plain or gummed on 
 the back. After the inventions have been made, 
 they are easily transferred to paper with par- 
 quetry, and so can be bestowed according to the 
 will of the inventor. 
 
 The parquetry of the seventh gift lends an 
 Group added grace to cooperative work, for 
 Workt the children can now combine all their 
 material in one form to decorate the room, or 
 perhaps to send as a gift to an absent playmate. 
 They may make an inlaid floor for the doll's 
 house, a brightly colored windowpane for the sun 
 to stream through, and with larger forms may 
 even design an effective border for the wains- 
 coting of the schoolroom. 1 
 
 1 " The utility of this united action is not to be overlooked. 
 The children all proceed according to one and the same law, 
 they all work to produce one and the same result, the same pur- 
 
FROEBEUS SEVENTH GIFT 139 
 
 The group work at the square tables is also 
 carried on very fully with the tablets, the sym- 
 metrical figures when the colors are well com- 
 bined being quite dazzling in beauty. 
 
 In this connection, a danger may be noted in 
 the treatment of the gifts, both by coiorwith 
 
 & ' Seventh 
 
 kindergartner and children. Color ap- Gift- 
 pears again here in almost bewildering profusion 
 after its long absence in the series, and is an- 
 other straw to prove that the wind is blowing 
 strongly toward the occupations. Many of the 
 pasteboard tablets are of different colors on the 
 opposite sides, and though this is of great use 
 in Beauty forms, when properly treated, it is 
 quite often unfortunate in forms of life, unless 
 careful attention is given to arranging the mate- 
 rial beforehand. The effect of a barn, for in- 
 stance, with its front view checkered with violet, 
 red, and yellow squares, may be imagined, or of a 
 pigeon-house with a parti-colored green and blue 
 roof, an orange standard, and red supports. Yet 
 these are no fancy pictures I have painted, and if 
 
 pose unites them all ; in short, we see here in the children's play 
 all that forms the base of every human society, all that renders 
 it possible for men to act tog-ether in organized communities, 
 such as are the family, the state, and the church. And to pre- 
 pare for the future, to be mindful even amidst play of that 
 which a child will afterwards require in order worthily to fill 
 his place in the world, ought surely not to be among the least 
 important ends of an education claiming- to be in conformity 
 with nature and reason." H. Goldammer, The Kindergarten, 
 pag-e 135. 
 
140 FEOEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 
 
 the child places the tablets in this fashion, they 
 are often allowed so to remain without criticism 
 from the purblind kindergartner. She even some- 
 times dictates, herself, extravagant and vulgar 
 combinations of color, such as a violet centre- 
 piece with green corners and an orange border. 
 
 There needs no reasoning to prove that such a 
 person is radically unfit to handle the subject of 
 color-teaching, and is sure to corrupt the children 
 under her charge ; for in general, if ordinarily 
 well trained, they should now be far beyond the 
 stage in which they would be satisfied with such 
 crudity of combination. They have had their 
 season of " playing with brightness," as Mr. Hail- 
 mann calls it, and should now begin to have really 
 good ideas as to harmonious arrangement of hues. 
 If they have not, if they really seem to prefer the 
 pigeon-house or barn above mentioned, then they 
 are viciously ill-taught, or altogether deficient in 
 color sense. 
 
 It has been noted that the older children often 
 choose the light and dark wooden tablets, for in- 
 vention, rather than the gay pasteboard forms ; 
 but this may be on account of the high polish of 
 the wood, and its novelty in this guise, rather than 
 because, as has been suggested, they have been 
 surfeited with brightness. 
 
FBOEBEL'S SEVENTH GIFT 141 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. Pages 30-38. 
 
 Law of Childhood. W. N. Hailmann. 38, 39. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 145-237. 
 
 Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by Mary Gurney. 6-9. 
 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 116-54. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 68-70. 
 
 Kindergarten and Child-Culture. Henry Barnard. 210, 255, 
 257. 
 
 Prang Primary Course in Art Education. Part I. Mary D. 
 Hicks, Josephine C. Locke. 
 
 Color in the School-Room. Milton Bradley. 
 
 Elementary Color. Milton Bradley. 
 
 Color Teaching in Public Schools. Louis Prang, J. S. Clark, 
 Mary D. Hicks. 
 
 Color, an Elementary Manual for Students. A. H. Church. 
 
 The Principles of Harmony and Contrasts of Colors. M. E. 
 Chevreul. 
 
 Students' Text-Book of Color. O. N. Rood. 
 
 Suggestions with Regard to the Use of Color. Prang Ed. Co. 
 
FROEBEL'S EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 THE STRAIGHT LINE. 
 
 The Single and Jointed Slats and Staff or Stick. 
 
 " The knowledge of the linear lies at the foundation of the 
 knowledge of each form ; the forms are viewed and recognized 
 by the intermediation of the straight-lined." 
 
 FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 " Froebel's laths, wherewith the child can form letters, corre- 
 spond to the beech-staves (buchenen Stabchen, now contracted to 
 Buchstaben, i. e., letters of the alphabet), whereon were carved 
 the runes and magic symbols of our primitive ancestors." 
 
 HERMANN POESCHE. 
 
 " It will be readily seen how useful stick-laying may become 
 in perspective drawing, in the study of planes and solids, in 
 crystallography ; how, while it insures an enjoyable familiarity 
 with geometrical forms and secures ever-increasing manual skill 
 and delicacy of touch, it develops at the same time the artistic 
 sense of the children in a high degree." W. N. HAILMANN. 
 
 1. THE wooden staffs of the eighth gift (some- 
 times called the tenth) are of various lengths, 
 but have for their uniform thickness the tenth of 
 an inch. 
 
 They present, as now made, flat sides and 
 square ends, are sometimes uncolored and some- 
 times dyed in the six primary colors. 
 
 2. The previous gifts dealt with solids and 
 
FROEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 143 
 
 plane surfaces, wholes or divided wholes, while 
 this one illustrates the edge or line. 
 
 The previous gifts more definitely suggested 
 their uses by their prominent characteristics ; this 
 depends for its value largely upon the ingenuity 
 of the teacher. 
 
 We have contrasts of size in the preceding 
 gifts, both in the units themselves and in the 
 component parts of which the divided units are 
 made ; but in this gift the dimension length is 
 alone emphasized. 
 
 3. The most important characteristic of the 
 gift is the representation of the line. The re- 
 lations of position and form enter as essential 
 elements of usefulness. 
 
 4. The laying of sticks may be used as an oc- 
 cupation very early in the kindergarten course, 
 and thus serve as a preparation for the first draw- 
 ing exercises, but there should be no attempt at 
 this time to give them their legitimate connection 
 with the cube as the edge of the solid and with 
 the tablet as a portion of the surface. 
 
 Later they may be introduced in their proper 
 place in the sequence of gifts, and thus assume 
 their true relation in the child's mind. This re- 
 lation is made more evident as we can and should 
 reproduce the lessons with the solids in outline 
 with the sticks. When the child is more ad- 
 vanced, the connection of the sticks with the pre- 
 ceding objects will be more clearly explained and 
 
144 FROEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 intelligently comprehended, and then they may 
 be used in connection with softened peas or tiny 
 corks, which serve to illustrate the points of con- 
 tact of the sides of surfaces and edges of solids 
 whose skeletons the child can then construct with 
 these materials. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this gift 
 are: 
 
 Angles of every degree. 
 
 Triangles, quadrilaterals, and additional poly- 
 gons. 
 
 Skeletons of solids by means of corks or peas. 
 
 6. The law of the mediation of contrasts is 
 shown in the fact that every line is a connection 
 between opposite points. As in the other gifts, 
 the law governs the use of the line in the forma- 
 tion of all outlines of objects and all symmetrical 
 designs. 
 
 As we have already noted, the gifts of Froebel 
 are thus far solids, divided solids, planes and 
 divided planes. 
 
 With the single and jointed slats we shall not 
 Relation of deal separately, merely stating that they 
 
 the Single , *' , * , J 
 
 and Jointed form a transition between the suriace 
 
 Slats to the , _.. - 
 
 other Gifts, and the line, having more breadth and 
 
 How both i. . , , 
 
 are used. relation to the surface itself than to the 
 edge, but manifestly tending towards the embodied 
 line of which the little stick given by Froebel is 
 the realization. 
 
FROEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 145 
 
 The jointed slats, generally ruled in half and 
 quarter inches for measuring, may be used to 
 show how one form is developed from another, 
 for instance, the rhombus from the square, the 
 rhomboid from the oblong, and they are very 
 useful also for explaining and illustrating the dif- 
 ferent kinds of angles, as the opening between the 
 joints may be made narrower or wider at pleasure. 
 
 The disconnected slats are used for the occa- 
 sional play or exercise of interlacing, forming a 
 variety of figures, geometrical and artistic, which 
 hold together when carefully treated. 1 
 
 As to the unpretentious little sticks themselves, 
 the use of these bits of waste wood is Materials of 
 
 i 11 -XT Froebel's 
 
 entirely unique and characteristic. No Gifts. 
 one else would have deemed them worthy of a 
 place in school apparatus or among educational 
 appliances ; but Froebel had the eye and mind 
 of a true philosopher, ever seeing the great in 
 the small, ever bringing out of the common- 
 place material, which lies unused on every hand, 
 all its inherent possibilities and capabilities of 
 usefulness. Froebel was no destructive reformer, 
 but the most conservative of philosophers. 
 
 1 " The slats form, in some sort, the transition from the sur- 
 face-pictures of the laying-tablets to the lineal representations 
 of the laying-sticks, but have this advantage over both tablets 
 and sticks, that the forms constructed with them are not bound 
 down to the surface of the table, but possess sufficient solidity 
 to bear being removed from it." H. Goldammer, The Kinder- 
 garten, page 155. 
 
146 FEOEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 The stick of course is to be regarded in its re- 
 How the lation to what comes before and after 
 
 Stick is to. IT-IT ft t 
 
 be regarded, it, as the embodied edge 01 the cube, 
 as the tablet was its embodied face. The child 
 should at last identify his stick, the embodiment 
 of the straight line, with the axis of the sphere, 
 the edge of the cube, and the side of the square. 1 
 The sticks and rings are, properly speaking, one 
 gift, contrasting the curved and straight lines. 
 
 Although the stick exercises should make their 
 Method and appearance at least once every week 
 
 Manner of , 
 
 Lessons. after their introduction, they may al- 
 ways be varied by stories, and when occasion- 
 ally connected with other objects, cut from paper 
 to illustrate some point, are among the pleasant- 
 est and most fruitful exercises of the kinder- 
 garten. 
 
 The sticks may be used for teaching number 
 and elementary geometry, both in the kindergar- 
 ten and school, or for reviewing and fixing know- 
 ledge already gained in these directions, for prac- 
 tice in the elements of designing, for giving a 
 correct idea of outlines of familiar objects, and 
 
 1 " Just as we obtained the tablets from the cubes, of which 
 they are the embodied faces, so now we obtain also the laying- 
 sticks from the cube, whose edges they represent. But they 
 are contained also in the laying-tablets, for one may regard the 
 surface as produced by the progressive movement of a line, and 
 this may be made clear to the child by slicing a square tablet 
 into a number of sticks." H. Goldammer, The Kindergarten, 
 page 161. 
 
FROEBEL'S EIGHTH GIFT 147 
 
 should constantly serve as an introduction to 
 drawing and sewing lessons, to which they are 
 the natural prelude. 
 
 They should be used strictly after the manner 
 of the other gifts, beginning with careful dic- 
 tations, in which the various positions of one 
 stick should be exhausted before proceeding to a 
 greater number, with cooperative work, and with 
 free invention. These exercises and original de- 
 signs may be put into permanent form in par- 
 quetry, which is furnished for this gift in the 
 various colored papers, as well as for the tablets. 
 The inventions may also be transferred to paper 
 by drawing, and to card-board by sewing. 
 
 The exercises may continue from the various 
 simple positions which one stick may assume to 
 really complex dictations requiring from fifteen 
 to twenty-five sticks, and introducing many diffi- 
 cult positions and outlines of new geometrical 
 figures. 
 
 When we consider that the length of the sticks 
 varies from one to six inches, and that Form8 of 
 the number given to the child is limited SSumf 
 only by his capacity for using them sue- ber Work ' 
 cessfully, we can see that the outlines of all the 
 rectilinear plane figures can easily be made by 
 their use. Of course in these exercises there must 
 be a great deal of incidental arithmetic, but the 
 gift may also be used for definite number work, 
 and is far better adapted to this purpose than any 
 
148 FEOEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 other in the series, since it presents a number 
 of separate units which may be grouped or com- 
 bined to suit any simple arithmetical process. 
 Representing the line as it does, it has less bod- 
 ily substance than any previous gift, and hence 
 comes nearest to the numerical symbols, as the 
 next step to using a line would obviously be 
 making one. It also offers very much the same 
 materials for calculation as were used by the race 
 in its childhood, and hence fits in with the inher- 
 ited instincts of the undeveloped human being. 1 
 
 Who has not seen him arranging twigs and 
 branches in his play, counting them over and 
 over or simulating the process, and delighting to 
 divide them into groups ? So the cave-dweller 
 used them, doubtless, not in play, but in serious 
 earnest, for some such purpose as keeping tally 
 of the wild beasts he had killed, or the number of 
 his enemies vanquished. 
 
 " With a few packets of .Froebel's sticks," as has 
 been verv well said, " the child is provided with 
 an excellent calculating machine." The use of 
 this machine in the primary school in word mak- 
 ing as well as in number work is practically un- 
 
 1 " Each following 1 generation and each following- individual 
 man is to pass through the whole earlier development and culti- 
 vation of the human race, and he does pass it ; otherwise he 
 would not understand the world past and present, but not by 
 the dead way of imitation, of copying, but by the living- way of 
 individual, free, active development and cultivation." Fried- 
 rich Froebel, Education of Man, page 11. 
 
FROEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 149 
 
 limited ; but in the kindergarten it may very 
 well give a clear, practical understanding of the 
 first iour rules of arithmetic, an understand- 
 ing which will be based on personal activity and 
 experience. 1 
 
 It is well by way of prelude to the first few 
 lessons to draw from the children the Evolution of 
 
 . - the Kinder- 
 
 Origin and history of the tiny bit of garteu stick. 
 
 wood given them for their play, and they will 
 henceforth regard it in a new light and treat it 
 with greater respect and care. 
 
 Let us trace it carefully from its baby begin- 
 nings in the seed, its germination and growth, the 
 influences which surround and foster it from day 
 to day, its steady increase in size and strength, 
 its downward grasp and its upward reach, the 
 hardening of the tender stem and slender cylin- 
 drical trunk into the massive oak or pine, the 
 growth of its tough, strong garment of bark, its 
 winter times of rest and spring times of renewal, 
 until from the tender green twig so frail and pli- 
 ant it has become too large to clasp with the arms, 
 and high enough to swing its dry leaves into the 
 church tower. 
 
 1 " Thus the child's sphere of knowledge, the world of his life, 
 is again extended by the observation and recognition, by the de- 
 velopment and cultivation, of the capacity of number ; and an 
 essential need of his inner nature, a certain yearning of his 
 spirit, are thereby satisfied. . . . The knowledge of the rela- 
 tions of quantity extraordinarily heightens the life of the child." 
 Friedrich Froebel, Education of Man, page 45. 
 
150 FROEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 Then let us follow out its usefulness ; for in- 
 stance, we might first paint a glowing word-pic- 
 ture of the logging-camp, the chopping and hew- 
 ing and felling, the life of the busy woodcutter 
 in the leafy woods in autumn, or in the dense for- 
 ests in winter time, when the snow, cold and 
 white and dazzling, covers the ground with its 
 fleecy carpet. Again, let us depict the road and 
 the busy teamsters driving their yokes of strong 
 oxen with their heavy loads of logs to the towns 
 and cities where they are to be sold. A scene, a 
 perfect word-picture, should be painted of every- 
 thing concerning the trip, the crunching of the 
 oxen's hoofs on the pressed snow, the creaking of 
 the heavy truck as its runners slip along the 
 smooth surface, the breath of the men and ani- 
 mals rising like steam into the clear, cold air. 
 All these things rise in image before the child's 
 eye and are not soon forgotten, you may be sure. 
 The work and life of the river-drivers might also 
 be described, and their manner of floating the 
 logs down river in springtime when the water is 
 high and the current strong. Then perhaps the 
 children will help to tell us about the mill of 
 which they doubtless know something, where 
 the sawmills are built, how the water helps in 
 turning the great wheel, the buzzing and hissing 
 of the big saws, and the way in which they quickly 
 make boards of the long, strong logs. This and 
 much more may be said, and if it is well said, no 
 
FEOEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 151 
 
 child can ever look at the tiny stick afterwards 
 and entirely forget the charm which once sur- 
 rounded it. 1 
 
 The sticks are especially serviceable for group 
 work of various kinds, either at the lonsr Group 
 
 ' Work with 
 
 or square tables. As the children have sticks. 
 now an abundance of material they can make all 
 the objects, perhaps, which may be mentioned in 
 a story the kindergartner tells. If it is about 
 the origin of Thanksgiving Day, for instance, 
 Abby, who sits at one end of the line, may make 
 a picture of the Mayflower, and John, her neigh- 
 bor, make the Speedwell. The next child may 
 construct a cradle for Oceanus, the little Pilgrim 
 baby born on shipboard ; the next use his mate- 
 rial for the Indian huts the settlers saw after 
 landing ; and so on, each child making a different 
 object, which remains upon his table until the close 
 of the story. When this is completed, it will 
 have been fully illustrated by the children with 
 their sticks, and they will be delighted to inspect 
 the different pictures which they will plainly see 
 are much more varied and beautiful than any one 
 
 1 " These terse graphic descriptions of objects will he found 
 very serviceable in sharpening- and intensifying- the powers of 
 observation, as well as securing- clearness, distinctness, accuracy, 
 and life in verbal description. Here the pupil learns practically 
 to give due prominence to essentials, and to appreciate the full 
 value of accessories ; to look for and discover the fundamental 
 ideas of which thing-s are the modified, adorned, g-arbled, or 
 stunted expression ; to seek and find the very soul of things." 
 W. N. Hailmann, Primary Helps, page 17. 
 
152 FEOEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 of them could have made alone. Thus the value 
 of cooperation will be plainly shown, without a 
 word from the kindergartner. 1 
 
 As to Life forms in general, their number is 
 Forms of practically unlimited, though as they 
 are only line-pictures, and heavy lines 
 at that, they are not as real as those made in 
 the Building Gifts. They are easily made, how- 
 ever, and the veriest baby in the kindergarten 
 who handles the sticks as a prelude to his draw- 
 ing exercises invents with them all sorts of rude 
 forms which he calls by appropriate names. 
 
 The question of color as it enters into these 
 forms needs, perhaps, a moment's consideration 
 here. As the gift includes both white and col- 
 ored sticks, would it not be well to use the former 
 for all dictations in Life forms, reserving the 
 brilliant hues for the forms of symmetry whose 
 charms they would greatly enhance ? 
 
 We may sometimes connect simple, inexpensive 
 Connection objects with stick dictations, with a view 
 
 of other Ob- . . . . 
 
 jects with to making them more realistic and de- 
 tions. lightful. When the little ones are just 
 
 getting the various positions and corresponding 
 
 1 " In this group work it is desirable that the common aims 
 should be fully within the comprehension of each little worker, 
 yet sufficiently beyond his powers of execution and endurance 
 to make him sensible of the need of assistance. The former 
 secures the possibility of individual enjoyment, and hence the 
 only reliable incentive to persistence ; the latter insures free 
 subordination to the will of the whole, the essential condition of 
 success." W. N. Hailmann, Primary Helps, page 18. 
 
FROEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 153 
 
 terms into their minds, and when therefore it is 
 advisable to keep them amused and happy with 
 one to three sticks as long as possible, that is, 
 until the fundamental principles have become very 
 familiar, these objects are most invaluable. 
 
 Innumerable lessons may be practiced with one 
 stick only, calling it at last a whipstock and 
 giving it a bit of curly paper for a lash. Far 
 from being an instrument of punishment, it makes 
 every child laugh with the glee of possession. 
 
 With two sticks laid horizontally we may give 
 a little paper horse-car, or when one is vertical 
 and the other runs horizontally across its end, we 
 may call it a candlestick and snip a half-circle of 
 paper into the semblance of a flame. The effect 
 is electrical, though the light be only one candle- 
 power. 
 
 And so on, ad infinitum ; it is enough to give 
 the hint for the play. We can cut little paper 
 birds for the bird-cages, tumblers for the rude 
 little tables, green leaves for the trees, etc., 
 making the stick exercise, even in its first more 
 difficult details, a time of great satisfaction and 
 gladness. 
 
 Complete sets of these card-board objects, one 
 for each child, should always be kept on hand ; if 
 well made they will last a year. 
 
 Enough has already been said of the possibil- 
 ities of the sticks to show that they are most 
 valuable for symmetrical forms. They may be 
 
154 FROEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 combined with the tablets, and thus very pretty 
 Forms of effects be made, and when four children 
 Beauty. un ite their material at the group work 
 tables, the dictations and inventions produced are 
 of course very large, and may be really beautiful 
 if constructed on artistic principles. 
 
 Border work may be very fully carried out with 
 the sticks, and another charming feature of the 
 gift is the way in which it lends itself to the 
 making of snow crystals. These are symmetrical 
 combinations and modifications of familiar geo- 
 metrical forms around the hexagon. Mr. W. N. 
 Hailmann says regarding them : " At first, it is 
 best to give each child only six or twelve sticks, 
 and to dictate the central figure (a hexagon or 
 hexagonal star) verbally or by means of a draw- 
 ing on the blackboard. They may then receive 
 a number of additional sticks, and let the central 
 figure grow, all obeying the teacher's dictation, or 
 each following his own inventive genius." 1 
 
 In this gift, as well as in the seventh, the 
 child's imitative and inventive powers are obvi- 
 ously more greatly taxed than in the others, and 
 the danger will be, if he is not well trained, that, 
 as he apparently can do anything with the mate- 
 
 1 " These forms are invaluable even as silent teachers of geo- 
 metrical and numerical relations. Used judiciously in conver- 
 sational lessons, leading to partial or complete analysis of the 
 figures in spoken or written descriptions, their teaching power is 
 inexhaustible." W. N. Hailmann's Primary Helps, page 21. 
 
FROEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 155 
 
 rial, lie will end by doing nothing. The greater 
 the freedom given to the child, the greater the 
 necessity of teaching him to use that liberty in 
 and through the law, and not to abuse it by fail- 
 ing to reach with its aid the highest ends. 
 
 We may make the laying of one-inch sticks in 
 vertical and horizontal positions, in an- Connection 
 gles and squares, a prelude to the draw- wiui'i^aw- 
 ing of similar lines ; and the copying of ing< 
 stick dictations, either from the table, or from 
 memory, into drawing, is a most excellent exer- 
 cise, calling into requisition great correctness and 
 good judgment, besides an unusual amount of 
 calculation, since the stick dictation will be on 
 a scale of one inch, and the drawing on a scale 
 of one fourth inch, reducing the original design 
 to one in miniature. The child will almost always 
 begin by attempting to make the picture exactly 
 like his model in size without counting the inches 
 and trying to make it mathematically correct ; but 
 after the idea is carefully explained and fully 
 illustrated, he will have no further difficulty ex- 
 cepting, perhaps, with the more complicated fig- 
 ures containing slanting lines. 
 
 We should encourage in all possible ways the 
 use of both hands in all the exercises Ambidex . 
 with gifts and occupations, not only that terifcy> 
 one may be as skillful as the other, but also to 
 avoid a one-sided position of the body which fre- 
 quently leads to curvature of the spine. The well- 
 
156 FEOEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 known physiologist, Professor Brown -Se*quard, 
 insists on the equal use of both hands, in order 
 to induce the necessary equal flow of blood to 
 the brain. Through the effect of our irregular 
 and abnormal development, the cause of which 
 is the too persistent use of the right hand, one 
 lobe of our brains and one side of our bodies are 
 in a neglected and weakened condition, and the 
 evils resulting from this weakness are many and 
 widespread. Dr. Daniel Wilson says : " In the 
 majority of cases the defect, though it cannot be 
 wholly overcome, may be in great part cured by 
 early training, which will strengthen at once both 
 the body and mind." l 
 
 1 " Whenever the early and persistent cultivation of the full 
 use of both hands has been accomplished, the result is greater 
 efficiency, without any corresponding 1 awkwardness or defect. 
 In certain arts and professions, both hands are necessarily called 
 into play. The skillful surgeon finds an enormous advantage in 
 being able to transfer his instrument from one hand to the 
 other. The dentist has to multiply instruments to make up for 
 the lack of such acquired power. The fencer who can transfer 
 his weapon to the left hand places his adversary at a disadvan- 
 tage. The lumberer finds it indispensable, in the operation of 
 his woodcraft, to learn to chop timber right-and-left-handed ; 
 and the carpenter may be frequently seen using the saw and 
 hammer in either hand, and thereby not only resting his arm, 
 but greatly facilitating his work. In all the fine arts the mas- 
 tery of both hands is advantageous. The sculptor, the carver, 
 the draughtsman, the engraver, the cameo-cutter, each has 
 recourse at times to the left hand for special manipulative dex- 
 terity ; the pianist depends little less on the left hand than on 
 the right ; and as for the organist, with the numerous pedals 
 and stops of the modern grand organ, a quadrumanous musician 
 
FEOEBEVS EIGHTH GIFT 157 
 
 No materials of the kindergarten (save the 
 beans, lentils, etc., which serve to repre- Abuse of 
 sent the point) have been so over-used Elgllth Glft ' 
 and so abused as the sticks. When no other 
 work was prepared for the children, when helpers 
 were few, and it was desirable to give something 
 which needed no supervision, when inexperienced 
 students were to take charge of classes, when the 
 kindergartner was weary and wanted a quiet mo- 
 ment to rest, when everybody was in a hurry, 
 when the weather was very cold, or oppressively 
 warm, when there was a torrent of rain, or had 
 been a long drought, the sticks were hastily 
 brought forth from the closet and as hastily 
 thrust upon the children. These small sufferers, 
 being thus provided with work-materials in which 
 it was obvious that superior grown people took 
 no interest, immediately lost interest themselves. 
 In riotous kindergartens the sticks were broken, 
 poked into pockets, and thrown on the floor ; in 
 the orderly ones they were gazed at apathetically, 
 no one deeming it worth while to stir a hand to 
 arrange them, save under pressure. Sticks had 
 been presented so often and in so tiresome a man- 
 ner that they produced a kind of mental atrophy 
 in the child, they were arresting his develop- 
 ment instead of forwarding it. 
 
 would still find reason to envy the ampler scope which a Bria- 
 reus could command." Dr. Daniel Wilson, Left-Handedness. A 
 Hint for Educators. 
 
158 FROEBEUS EIGHTH GIFT 
 
 Such an abuse of material is entirely unneces- 
 sary in the kindergarten, where so many ways are 
 provided of presenting the same truths in all sorts 
 of different and charming guises. It is unneces- 
 sary and most unfortunate, for it has frequently 
 thrown undeserved contempt on an innocent and 
 attractive gift, which, when properly treated, is 
 one of the most pleasing and useful which Froebel 
 has bequeathed to us. 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. Pages 39-45. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. J. and B. Ronge. 33-36. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 239-373. 
 
 The Kindergarten Principle. Mary J. LyschinsTca. 103-20. 
 
 Law of Childhood. W. N. Hailmann. 39. 
 
 Kindergarten Culture. W. N. Hailmann. 70-72. 
 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 154-72. 
 
 Primary Helps. W. N. Hailmann. 
 
 Industrial Art in Schools. 1 Charles G. Leland. 
 
 Drawing and Decorative Design. Charles G. Leland. 
 
 Art and the Formation of Taste. Walter Crane. 
 
 Manual of Design. Richard Redgrave, R. A. 
 
 Principles of Decorative Design. Christopher Dresser. 
 
 Art and Ornament in Dress. Introduction. Charles Blanc. 
 
 1 Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education, No. 4, 
 
 1882. 
 
FROEBEL'S NINTH GIFT 
 
 THE RING OR CURVED LINE 
 
 "Art developed in the same way. The Egyptian temples 
 show us only straight-lined figures, which consequently show 
 mathematical relations. Only in later times appeared the lines 
 of beauty, that is, the arched or circular lines. I carry the child 
 on in the same way." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 "The curve bears with it in its unity and variety, its rich 
 symbolism to everything which lives and moves, the most inti- 
 mate relation to that which the child sees, feels, and loves." 
 
 EMMA MARWEDEL. 
 
 " It might be said that to produce useful objects is the result 
 of the struggle for life ; but the tendency to create that which 
 is simply artistic results from no such urgent need, yet it is 
 found wherever the former exists." CHARLES G. LEIAND. 
 
 " Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, 
 Or dip thy paddle in the lake, 
 But it carves the bow of beauty there, 
 And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake." 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 1. THE rings of the ninth gift are made of 
 silvered wire, either soldered or unsoldered, and 
 are whole circles three inches, two inches, and 
 one inch in diameter, with their respective halves 
 and quarters. 
 
 2. As the first six gifts emphasized solids and 
 divided solids, the seventh, the plane, and the 
 
160 FEOEBEVS NINTH GIFT 
 
 eighth, the straight line, so the ninth, the ring, 
 embodies the curve, and illustrates the circumfer- 
 ence of the sphere and the edge of the cylinder. 
 
 3. All the objects hitherto used have, with the 
 exception of the ball and cylinder, dealt with 
 straight lines and the figures formed by those 
 lines. We now begin a series of exercises with 
 the curve, and the variety of symmetrical figures 
 that can be constructed is immensely increased. 
 
 4. Much new knowledge can be conveyed by 
 means of this fresh material, a complete set of 
 new figures may be produced, and the imitation 
 of objects passes from that of things constructed 
 by man, which are mostly rectilinear, to those of 
 nature in which curved lines in every possible 
 variety prevail. 
 
 5. The geometrical forms illustrated in this 
 gift are : 
 
 f Circles. 
 
 Semicircles. 
 Planes. < Quadrants. 
 
 Sectors. 
 1^ Segments. 
 
 By the union of straight and curved lines 
 (sticks and rings) the entire geometry of the 
 circle may be illustrated, and the child may thus 
 become acquainted with the appearance of the 
 Diameter. Radius. 
 
 Circumference. Chord. 
 Arc. 
 
FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 161 
 
 6. The law of mediation of contrasts is shown 
 as follows : the semicircles, when placed on the 
 table with ends towards right or left, connect 
 points of opposite direction up and down, and 
 when placed with ends pointing upward or down- 
 ward they connect the right with the left side. 
 
 The circle is of course an unending line traced 
 from a given point back to itself, according to 
 certain laws, but it is also a union of two semi- 
 circles curving outward in opposite directions. 
 "It is a representation of the general law, since 
 the periphery and centre stand in contrast to each 
 other, and are connected by the radii." (Froe- 
 bel.) 
 
 Having already analyzed straight lines in the 
 
 sticks, we will pass directly to the con- The New 
 . -, . ,. , i i . P Gift and its 
 
 sideration ot the ninth in the series 01 charms. 
 
 Froebel's gifts, the rings, which are whole, half, 
 and quarter circles of bright silvered wire. 
 
 If the sticks were fascinating to the child as 
 the embodied straight edge or line, and perfect 
 treasure-houses of new possibilities to the kinder- 
 gartner, the rings are just a bit more delightful 
 as, with their glittering surface and curved lines, 
 and their wonderful property of having neither 
 beginning nor end, they are quite different in 
 appearance from anything which precedes or fol- 
 lows them. Of course the child sees at once that 
 here is an entirely new field for invention, and he 
 
162 FROEBEVS NINTH GIFT 
 
 hastens to possess it, fully conscious of his power 
 of combining the new elements. 
 
 We must first discuss the new form with the 
 introduction children so as to be certain that they 
 of the Ring. full y understand its relation to the 
 other gifts. Perhaps in a previous exercise 
 with the eighth gift we have allowed the chil- 
 dren to experiment with a stick, and to break it 
 partially in a number of places so as to produce 
 a measurably correct curved line, afterwards 
 promising them that they should soon have per- 
 fect curves to play with. This exercise has its 
 value because it illustrates practically that a 
 curved line is one which changes its direction at 
 every point. 
 
 Let us see when to-day's play begins if the 
 children can think of any way to make such 
 curves, save by the stick already used. Some 
 quick-witted little one will remember at once 
 the surface of the ball and his repeated experi- 
 ments in dividing it, and will suggest in suffi- 
 ciently plain words that a curved line might be 
 made from a clay sphere. His neighbor thinks 
 a clay cylinder would make one more easily, and 
 both experiments are tried by all the children 
 with a resultant of quite perfect clay rings. 
 Then some one wants to make paper rings, and 
 some one else cloth rings, and the wise kinder- 
 gartner encourages all this experimenting, know- 
 ing that " the power of memory increases in the 
 
FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 163 
 
 same ratio as delight, animation, and joy are 
 connected with free mental activity." 
 
 When the wire rings are at last given, some 
 conversation about their material will Materialo 
 be pleasant and timely, as it is of a theRm & s - 
 kind we have not had before in the gifts, and 
 shall not have again. The children will see 
 that it is akin to the substance of which their 
 sewing and weaving needles and their scissors 
 are made, and possibly some one may know that 
 both are products of iron. At this juncture it 
 may be well to show a piece of iron, to let the 
 children handle it and note its various properties, 
 and while this is being done, to tell them of the 
 many parts of the world in which it is found, of 
 its great strength and usefulness, and that its 
 value is greater than that of the shining yellow 
 gold. A description of iron mines will easily fol- 
 low, and the children will delight to hear of the 
 great shafts sunk deep in the earth, of the bas- 
 kets in which the miners travel up and down, of 
 the darkness underground where they toil all 
 day with pick and shovel, of the safety lamps 
 they carry in their caps, of the mules that drag 
 the loads of iron ore to and fro, and startling 
 fact, at which round eyes are invariably opened 
 that some of these mules have their stables down 
 in the ground below, and never come up where 
 the sun shines and the flowers bloom. If there is 
 a foundry in the vicinity of the kindergarten, 
 
164 FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 
 
 and we can take the little ones to see the huge 
 furnaces, the intense fires, the molten iron, and 
 the various roasting, melting, and moulding pro- 
 cesses necessary in refining the ore, they will gain 
 an ineffaceable idea of the value of the metal in 
 human labor, and of the endless chain of hands, 
 clasped each in the other, through which the 
 slender wire rings have passed to reach them. 
 
 In the first dictation exercise several whole 
 First Exer- circles of the same size may be given, 
 and their equality shown by laying one 
 on top of the other. Then we may lay them side 
 by side in actual contact, and the important fact 
 will be discovered by the children that circles can 
 touch each other at one point only. Subsequent 
 exercises take up rings of different sizes, when 
 concentric circles are of course made, showing 
 one thing completely inclosed in another, and 
 next follow the half and quarter rings, which the 
 children must be led, as heretofore, to discover 
 and make for themsel es. 
 
 With the semicircles, which offer still richer 
 suggestions for invention than the whole rings, 
 another property of the curved line is seen. Two 
 blocks, two tablets, two sticks could not touch 
 each other without forming new angles, nor could 
 they be so placed as to produce a complete figure. 
 Two semicircles, on the other hand, form no new 
 angles when they touch, and they may be joined 
 completely and leave no opening. 
 
FROEBEL'S NINTH GIFT 165 
 
 In his work with the sticks the child became 
 well versed in handling- a comparatively large 
 amount of material, so that now he can deal suc- 
 cessfully from the first exercise with a fair num- 
 ber of whole, half, and quarter rings. We must 
 be careful, however, not to give him too many of 
 these in the beginning, lest he be overwhelmed 
 with the riches at his command. 1 
 
 The rings should not be used freely until the 
 child is familiar with vertical, horizon- Whent he 
 tal, and slanting lines, and not only b"iutro- ul( 
 familiar in the sense of being able to 
 receive and obey dictations intelligently, but in 
 constantly making correct and artistic use of 
 them in his creations. The practice with them, 
 however, is often deferred entirely too long, and 
 the intense pleasure and profit which the child 
 gains from the beautiful and satisfying curved 
 line are not given him until very late in the kin- 
 dergarten course. This is manifestly unnecessary, 
 for although, if we introduce Froebel's gifts and 
 occupations in orderly sequence, we make greater 
 use of the straight line after the first and second 
 gifts are passed than we do of the curve, yet we 
 should not end with it, nor accept it as a finality ; 
 neither should we keep the child tied down alto- 
 gether to the contemplation of such lines. 
 
 1 " The number of rings should only gradually be augmented. 
 Satiety destroys every impulse of creation." Emma Marwe- 
 del, Childhood's Poetry and Studies, page 15. 
 
166 FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 
 
 There is no need of exhausting all the possibil- 
 ities of the straight line before beginning work 
 with the curve, for sufficient difficulties could be 
 devised with the former to last an indefinite 
 length of time. 
 
 If the child understands the relation of the 
 edge to the solid, and of the outline to the body ; 
 if he is skilled in the use of six to a dozen sticks 
 laid in various positions, he can appreciate per- 
 fectly the relation of the curved edge or line to 
 the spherical and circular objects which he has 
 seen in the kindergarten. He remembers the 
 faces of the cylinder, the conversation about 
 spherical and flat rounding objects in his plays 
 with the ball, and he has seen the circular as well 
 as square paper-folding. 
 
 He will be accustomed in that to the appear- 
 ance of the semicircle, segment, quadrant, and 
 sector, and will take great delight in cutting and 
 drawing rings and crescents if we open the way 
 for him. 
 
 Although the gifts, from third to ninth, illus- 
 trate straight lines, angles, and recti- 
 
 keepthe 
 
 Curve before linear figures, vet the occupations pre- 
 
 the Child's ' -J . 
 
 Eye. sent many facilities for keeping the 
 
 curve before the eye of the child. In sewing, we 
 introduce curving outlines during the study of 
 the ball, and work out a series of objects in the 
 vegetable and animal world in order to vary the 
 mathematical precision of the making of lines, 
 
FROEBEVS NINTH GIFT 167 
 
 angles, and geometrical figures, as well as to illus- 
 trate more fully the spherical form. 
 
 We may also use the circular paper-folding in 
 some simple sequence as early as the child's devel- 
 opment will permit, and we have, of course, at 
 the very outset, the occupation of modeling, 
 which is one of the most valuable of aids in this 
 matter, and the stringing of wooden spheres and 
 beads. 
 
 The thread game enters here also, and makes 
 a useful supplement to the rings, as the wet 
 thread may be pushed while it lies on the surface 
 of the table or slate into numberless different 
 forms, all of which may be included under curv- 
 ing outlines. 
 
 In linear drawing we give the child lines 
 running in various directions at the earliest pos- 
 sible time, so that he may not grow into a strained 
 and unnatural position of the hand, for this con- 
 stant drawing of the vertical line, which is neces- 
 sary to its execution with perfect precision by 
 the young child, limits the freedom of the wrist 
 and muscles, and instead of preparing him to 
 write a good hand, does absolutely the reverse. 
 The various exercises, on the other hand, in 
 drawing the curves of circle and oval and their 
 
 o 
 
 combinations are quite perfect preparations for 
 clear, graceful penmanship. 
 
 We also have, in drawing, Miss Emma Marwe- 
 del's circular system, and the outline work per- 
 
168 FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 
 
 formed by means of pasteboard patterns, most 
 of which are of the curving outlines of leaves, 
 flowers, fruits, and vegetables. When the chil- 
 dren can draw quite well from these patterns 
 we always encourage the drawing without them, 
 merely looking at the object to be copied. 
 
 These exercises are of the greatest value as 
 connected with modeling when the subjects chosen 
 for invention are comprehended under the sphere, 
 prolate and oblate spheroid, ovoid, cone, etc., the 
 cube with its straight lines coming last of all. 
 
 In this way, while keeping up the regular se- 
 quence of lessons and occupations with the straight 
 line, we do not debar the child from the contem- 
 plation of the line of beauty. 
 
 After this, he takes great pleasure in uniting 
 Uniting the * ne straight and curved lines in his 
 cu r r a vfd tand inventions with the sticks and rings 
 given him together, and is quite able to 
 use them separately or unitedly in his creative 
 work. About this time the fruit of these exer- 
 cises will begin to appear in his drawing. He 
 will attempt to unite his straight lines by curves, 
 and even essay large designs in curves which will 
 be far from perfect, but nevertheless will not be 
 without their value. 
 
 The first trials of this kind may be in copying 
 copying the inventions in rings which he has 
 inventions. ma( j e on hj s table, exactly as he previ- 
 ously transferred his stick inventions to the slate. 
 
FROEBEVS NINTH GIFT 169 
 
 The spaces should be just as carefully counted, 
 and accuracy expected in preserving the numer- 
 ical proportions. But this needs much tact and 
 patience on the part of the kindergartner, as well 
 as skill in teaching ; for the principles of drawing 
 the curve are much less obvious to the child and 
 much more difficult for him to comprehend than 
 the measurement and calculation of straight lines 
 with their various lengths and inclinations. 
 
 These inventions with rings, which are often 
 wonderfully beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that 
 the uninstructed person is sometimes skeptical as 
 to their production by the children, may also 
 be preserved in permanent form by parquetry. It 
 is furnished in various colors for this gift, as for 
 the seventh and eighth, and is greatly enjoyed by 
 the children. 
 
 If any should fear that the long contemplation 
 of rectangular solids, planes, and straight lines in 
 Froebel's gifts should tend towards too great 
 rigidity and barrenness of imagination in inven- 
 tive work, it is obviously within our power, as has 
 been shown, to vary this mathematical exactness, 
 which is no doubt less agreeable to the child than 
 the graceful image of his own fancy (could he 
 attain it), by introducing, the curve freely into 
 many of the occupations and exercises with the 
 kindergarten material in general. 
 
 The rings are of course not as well adapted to 
 the production of objects constructed by man as 
 
170 FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 
 
 were the sticks, but, nevertheless, the material 
 Forms of * s no ^ without value in this direction. 
 and know- ty ' Various fruits, flowers, and leaves may be 
 made, as well as such objects as bowls, 
 goblets, hour-glasses, baskets, and vases. When 
 connected with sticks, the number of Life forms 
 is obviously much increased on account of the 
 union of straight and curved lines thus made pos- 
 sible. Tablets may also be added and contribute 
 a new element to the possibilities for invention. 
 
 For symmetrical forms, however, the gift is 
 admirably adapted, since the child can hardly 
 put two rings together without producing some- 
 thing pleasing. 1 Borders enter here in great vari- 
 ety, tablets and sticks being added when desir- 
 able, and the group work forms, combining the 
 seventh, eighth, and ninth gifts, give full play 
 to the creative impulses of the child, while calling 
 constantly upon those principles of design which 
 he has learned empirically. 
 
 The forms of knowledge which can be made 
 with the ninth gift are necessarily few. It is not 
 especially well fitted for number work, and devel- 
 opment of geometrical form is limited to the 
 planes and lines of the circle. 
 
 1 " It is true that the child produces forms of beauty with 
 other material also, but it is the curved line which offers the 
 strongest inducements to attempt such forms, since even the 
 simplest combinations of a small number of semicircles and 
 circles yield figures bearing the stamp of beauty." H. Gol- 
 dammer's The Kindergarten, page 177. 
 
FEOEBEUS NINTH GIFT 171 
 
 Miss Emma Marwedel introduced a supple- 
 ment to the ninth gift in the form of Wooden 
 wooden circles and half-circles in many Rlngs< 
 colors. These are much heavier than the metal 
 rings, therefore somewhat easier to handle and 
 give, as she claims, "the child's creative powers 
 a much larger field for aesthetic development." 
 Of course, this larger field is to be found in 
 color blending, not in beauty of design, as the 
 form elements remain the same. The bright hues 
 are undoubtedly a great attraction, however, and 
 perhaps are in line with that return to color 
 which was noted in the seventh gift, when the 
 architectural forms were laid aside. If we adopt 
 the wooden rings we need not on that account lay 
 aside the metal ones, for the two materials may 
 be combined to great advantage. 
 
 The gift presents little difficulty, the dictations 
 requiring less concentration than here- Difficulties 
 tofore as the positions in which the oftheGift - 
 rings may be placed are few and simple. Froe- 
 bel's purpose evidently was that the child should 
 now concentrate his activity entirely upon de- 
 sign, and that he should use the material by it- 
 self, and in connection with sticks and tablets 
 to give out in visible form whatever aesthetic im- 
 pressions he had received through the preceding 
 gifts. The office of the kindergartner is hardly 
 now more than to suggest, merely to watch the 
 child in his creative work, and to advise when 
 
172 FEOEBEL'S NINTH GIFT 
 
 necessary as to the most artistic disposition of the 
 simple material. She may here, if she adopts 
 this attitude, have the experience of seeing the 
 direct result of her teachings, for the child's work 
 will be a mirror in which she can see reflected 
 her successes or her failures. 
 
 The idea of Froebel in devising all these gifts 
 Froebei's was no * ^ seems hardly necessary to 
 say, to instruct the child in abstractions, 
 which do not properly belong to childhood, but to 
 lead him early in life to the practical knowledge 
 of things about him ; to inculcate the love of in- 
 dustry, helpfulness, independence of thought and 
 action, neatness, accuracy, economy, beauty, har- 
 mony, truth, and order. 
 
 The gifts and occupations are only means to a 
 great end, and if used in this sense will attain 
 their highest usefulness. 
 
 No dictation with any of the kindergarten ma- 
 terials, no study of lines, angles, oblongs, trian- 
 gles, and pentagons, no work with numbers either 
 concrete or abstract are fit employments for little 
 children, if not connected in every possible way 
 with their home pleasures and the natural objects 
 of their love. Only when thus connected do they 
 produce real interest, only thus can agreement 
 with the child's inner wants be secured. 
 
 Actual experiences in the child's life are its 
 most natural and potent teachers. We need con- 
 stantly to remember that the prime value of the 
 
FROEBEUS NINTH GIFT 173 
 
 kindergarten lies in its personal influence upon 
 individuals, and seek to develop each separate 
 member of our class according to his possibilities. 
 The objection has been made that the study and 
 practice with straight lines, angles, geo- An ob- 
 
 jection an- 
 
 metrical forms, cubes, and other rec- swered. 
 tangular solids would fit the child for later work 
 in the exact and mathematical sciences more than 
 for other branches of study. But yet it is diffi- 
 cult to see how, when the child's powers of obser- 
 vation are so carefully trained in every way ; when 
 he is constantly led to notice objects in nature 
 and reproduce them with clay, pencil, chalk, or 
 needle ; when these objects are so frequently pre- 
 sented for his critical inspection and comparison ; 
 when he is led to see in the flowers, plants, rocks, 
 and stars, the unity which holds together every- 
 thing in the universe ; when beauty and harmony, 
 mingled freely, constitute the atmosphere of the 
 ideal kindergarten, it is difficult indeed to see 
 how he can receive anything but benefit from the 
 gift plays, which present at first mainly the 
 straight line, seemingly deferring the curve to a 
 later period when it can be managed more suc- 
 cessfully. 
 
 READINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Paradise of Childhood. Edward Wiebe. Pages 45, 46. 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. 373-417. 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammer. 173-78. 
 The Kindergarten. Principles of Froebel's System. Emily 
 Shirreff. 17-20. 
 
174 FROEBEVS NINTH GIFT 
 
 Industrial Art in Schools. 1 Charles G. Leland. 
 Childhood's Poetry and Studies. With Diagrams. Emma 
 Marwedel. 
 
 The Grammar of Ornament. Owen Jones. 
 
 Art. Sir John Lubbock. 
 
 How to Judge a Picture. Van Dyke. 
 
 1 Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education, No. 
 
 4, 1882. 
 
FROEBEL'S TENTH GIFT 
 
 THE POINT 
 
 " The awakening mind of the child ... is led from the ma- 
 terial body and its regular division to the contemplation of the 
 surface, from this to the contemplation of the line and to the 
 point made visible." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. 
 
 "And it is precisely thus that the first artistic work of pri- 
 meval man occurs ; he begins by the forming of simple rows, as 
 strings of beads, or of shells, for instance." H. POESCHE. 
 
 " For the last step in this analysis the child receives small 
 lentil seeds or pebbles concrete points, so to speak with 
 which he constructs the most wonderful pictures." 
 
 W. N. HAILMANN. 
 
 1. THE point made concrete, which forms the 
 tenth and last of Froebel's gifts, is represented 
 by many natural objects, by beans, lentils, peb- 
 bles, shells, leaves, and buds of flowers, by seeds 
 of various kinds, as well as by tiny spheres of 
 clay and bits of wood and cork. 
 
 2. We have been moving by gradual analysis 
 from the solid through the divided solid, the 
 plane and the line, and thus have reached in logi- 
 cal sequence the point, into a series of which the 
 line may be resolved. 
 
 3. The point which was visible in the preced- 
 ing gifts, but inseparable from them, now in the 
 
176 FROEBEL'S TENTH GIFT 
 
 tenth gift has an existence of its own. Al- 
 though it is an imaginary quantity having neither 
 length, breadth, nor thickness, yet it is here illus- 
 trated by tangible objects which the child can 
 handle. By its very lack of individuality, it lends 
 itself to many charming plays and transforma- 
 tions. 
 
 4. By the use of the point the child learns 
 practically the composition of the line, that its 
 direction is determined by two points, that the 
 shortest distance between two points is a straight 
 line, and that a curved line is one which changes 
 its direction at every point. The gift closes the 
 series of objects obtained by analysis from the 
 solid, and prepares for the occupations which are 
 developed by synthesis from the point. 
 
 5. The outlines of all geometrical plane figures 
 both rectilinear and curvilinear may be illus- 
 trated with the point as well as straight and 
 curved lines and angles of every degree. 
 
 6. The law of mediation of contrasts is no 
 longer illustrated in the gift itself, but simply 
 governs the use of the material. All lines and 
 outlines of planes made with a series of dots show 
 its workings, and the symmetrical figures, as we 
 have noted from the first, owe to it their very 
 existence. 
 
FEOEBEUS TENTH GIFT 177 
 
 When we begin upon a consideration of the 
 tenth gift, the last link in the chain of Meetin g. 
 objects which Froebel devised to " pro- Gifted 
 duce an all-sided development of the 0ccu P ationfl - 
 child," we see at once that the meeting-place of 
 gift and occupation has been reached. The two 
 series are now in fact so nearly one that the 
 point is much more often used for occupation 
 work than as a gift. This convergence of the 
 series in regard to their practical use was first 
 noted in the tablets, and has grown more and 
 more marked with each succeeding object. 
 
 Though the point is in truth the last step 
 which the child takes in the sequence of gifts as 
 he journeys toward the abstract, yet we are met 
 at once in practice by the apparently inconsistent 
 fact that it is one of the first presented in the 
 kindergarten. This can only be explained by 
 the statement that it is in truth quite as much of 
 an occupation as a gift, and is used in the former 
 sense among the child's first work-materials as a 
 preparation for later point-making (perforating), 
 and as an exercise in eye-training and accuracy 
 of measurement. It is not an occupation, of 
 course, for the reason that permanent results 
 cannot be produced with it, and because no 
 transformation of its material is possible. 
 
 Before the child completes his kindergarten 
 course, however, he should certainly be led to 
 an intellectual perception of the interrelation 
 
178 FROEBEUS TENTH GIFT 
 
 of the gifts and their gradual development from 
 The Point as solid to point, f or their orderly progres- 
 sion according to law, though it be but 
 dimly apprehended, will be most useful and 
 strengthening to the mind. To discern the logi- 
 cal order of a single series of objects is a step 
 toward the comprehension of world -order in 
 mature life. 1 
 
 The mind in later childhood should be what 
 Froebel describes his own to have been. " I often 
 felt," he says, " as if my mind were a smooth, still 
 pool scarce a handbreadth over, or even a single 
 water-drop, in which surrounding things were 
 clearly mirrored, while the blue vault of the sky 
 was seen as well, reaching far away and above." 
 
 When the derivation of plane and of straight 
 and curved line and their place in the gifts are 
 clearly understood by the child, there will be no 
 difficulty in gaining an equally clear apprehension 
 of the point and its position in the series. This 
 may be done somewhat as follows. When the 
 children are playing with blocks on some occa- 
 sion, we may direct the conversation to the 
 essential characteristics of the cube, its faces, 
 edges, and corners. Do they remember which 
 
 1 "This coming-out of the child from the outer and super- 
 ficial and his entrance into the inner view of things, which, 
 because it is inner, leads to recognition, insight, and conscious- 
 ness, this coming-out of the child from the house-order to 
 the higher world-order makes the boy a scholar." Friedrich 
 Froebel, Education of Man, page 79. 
 
FROEBEUS TENTH GIFT 179 
 
 one of their playthings is like the face of the 
 cube ; do they remember cutting clay tablets from 
 the clay blocks ? 
 
 It is most unlikely that this experiment will 
 have been forgotten, but if it has been, it may be 
 easily repeated. Speak next of the edges of the 
 cube, and let the children recall the derivation 
 of the stick. That portion of the cube not yet 
 discussed will now be seized upon by the chil- 
 dren, and they will ask if any of their play- 
 things are like the cube's corners. Can they 
 think of anything; shall we not try to make 
 something ? 
 
 Now the clay appears, cubes are quickly fash- 
 ioned, and each child is allowed to cut off the 
 eight corners of his block. He has no sooner 
 done this than he sees the nearest approach we 
 can make to a point, and proceeds to make a 
 design from them while he recalls the beans, 
 shells, lentils, etc., he has used before in a 
 similar way. 
 
 It is well here to suggest making the bits of 
 clay into tiny oblate spheroids, and laying them 
 away to dry so that we may make a group work 
 invention of them to-morrow. Better still, how- 
 ever, is the instant introduction of sticks or wires 
 to connect with the clay points, and thus form 
 at once the skeleton of the solid, which will give 
 an ineffaceable impression of the relation of 
 point and line to each other. 
 
180 FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 
 
 The pleasure the child finds in point-laying 
 Pleasure of is not confined to the kindergarten, for 
 Point-tying playing with beads and pin-heads is an 
 
 and String- , . . . , , 
 
 ing. ordinary nursery occupation in all coun- 
 
 tries, and which of us cannot recall long happy 
 hours on the seashore, or by the brookside, when 
 we gathered and sorted shells and smooth glisten- 
 ing pebbles, and laid them in rows and patterns ? 
 The mere handling of a great store of these gave 
 a Midas-like delight, and what primitive artistic 
 pleasure we felt as we arranged them according 
 to the principle of repetition to border our gar- 
 den-beds or to inclose our miniature parks and 
 playgrounds. 
 
 The same joy is felt in plucking, arranging, 
 and stringing rose-hips, the seeds of the ailantus, 
 the nasturtium, the pumpkin, or the " cheeses " 
 of the mallow and wild geranium. 
 
 It will commonly be found that the child 
 enjoys tenfold more the objects for 
 
 3s. a point-work which he finds himself than 
 the more perfect school-materials. Imagine the 
 joy, for instance, of a bevy of kindergarten 
 children set free on Pescadero Beach (Califor- 
 nia), and allowed to ramble up and down its 
 shining sands to pick up the wonderful Pescadero 
 pebbles. What colors of dull red and amber, of 
 pink and palest green, what opaline lights, and 
 smooth, glimmering surfaces ! " Busy work " 
 with such materials would be worth while indeed, 
 
FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 181 
 
 yet easy to obtain as they are, they are almost 
 never seen in use. 
 
 Smooth, white pebbles, washed entirely clean 
 and sorted according to size, are not uncommonly 
 seen in the kindergartens, however, and are espe- 
 cially useful in the sand-table, and if these and 
 the shining cream-colored shells could be found 
 by the children themselves, their pleasure in them 
 would be immensely increased. That this is true 
 is proved by the experience of many teachers 
 with seed-work. One of our own brood of kin- 
 dergartners once had a birthday melon party for 
 one of her children. The melons were brought 
 to the kindergarten room and there divided, the 
 small host serving his guests himself. Great 
 interest was immediately shown in the jet-black 
 seeds of the water-melon in contrast with the 
 smaller light-colored seeds of the musk-melon, 
 and unanimous appeals were made to the kinder- 
 gartner that they might be saved and used for 
 inventions. This was done, and they were always 
 called for afterwards in point -work, rather than 
 the beans, or vegetable and wooden lentils. 
 
 In those kindergartens where the seeds of all 
 fruits are saved by the children at lunch hour, it 
 is also noted that the collection thus made is 
 always the object of universal interest and pref- 
 erence. 
 
 One of the first uses of the point may be in 
 following the outline of some form of life which 
 
182 FEOEBEL'S TENTH GIFT 
 
 the kindergartner has drawn in white or colored 
 Use of the chalk on the child's table. This is much 
 more fascinating work than the placing 
 of seeds one space apart, three in .a row, etc., for 
 the latter belongs to the " knowledge-acquiring 
 side of the game," which, as Froebel says, is the 
 " quickly tiring side, only to be given quite cas- 
 ually at first, and as chance may provide suitable 
 openings for it." 
 
 The forms drawn in chalk may very well be of 
 curving outlines of vegetables, fruits, leaves, and 
 flowers to connect with the study of the first 
 gift, and may include any other simple appro- 
 priate object which the kindergartner is capable 
 of drawing. 
 
 The more advanced child can of course make 
 his own Life forms without the aid of drawing, 
 and if he is given different sizes and kinds of 
 shells, seeds, or pebbles, often arranges them with 
 great ability to imitate the shading of the object. 
 
 The beginning of the forms of knowledge is in 
 placing the points in regular order on the squared 
 tables at the intersection of vertical and horizontal 
 lines. Next, the child lays one space vertical 
 lines, three points in a line, then two space lines 
 with five points, then horizontal lines, angles, par- 
 allelograms, borders, etc., following out the school 
 of linear drawing, and in this way progresses in 
 an orderly manner to the designing of symmetri- 
 cal forms. Curved lines of course are quite as 
 
FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 183 
 
 easily represented as the straight, and really 
 beautiful designs are often made by the children 
 with them. 
 
 Tiny circles and squares of colored paper cor- 
 responding to the wooden lentils are also Tenth Gift 
 to be had with this gift, and afford a Par i uetr y- 
 means of preserving the designs in permanent 
 form. They are so small, however, as to give oc- 
 casion for considerable patience in pasting them, 
 and are rather difficult to arrange with regularity 
 without first drawing the design. It is doubtful, 
 in our opinion, if they may be considered to be of 
 any particular educational benefit, if indeed they 
 are not a positive harm to the child in that they 
 require a too minute and long-sustained use of the 
 finer muscles. 
 
 These strictures on the tenth gift parquetry 
 bring us naturally to the criticisms lately objections 
 made by eminent authorities upon some fc 
 of the Froebel materials. The objection that 
 many of them require too minute handling and 
 too close attention on the part of children of the 
 kindergarten age seems, as far as the gifts are 
 concerned, to hold especial weight in regard to 
 point-work. 1 
 
 We need not consider here the physio-psycho- 
 
 1 The development of motor-ability in children and its fur- 
 therance or arrest by the kindergarten materials concerns the 
 occupations more particularly, and as such will receive full con- 
 sideration in a later volume. 
 
184 FROEBEISS TENTH GIFT 
 
 logical tests lately made of the early motor-abil- 
 ity of children and the results which these have 
 shown, but simply concern ourselves with what 
 we have seen and noted many times in daily kin- 
 dergarten practice. Is it not true that the laying 
 of beans and lentils one inch apart on the tables, 
 for instance, is an occupation which requires very 
 delicate handling on account of the smallness of 
 the object, its easy mobility, and the exactness re- 
 quired to place it precisely at the crossing-point 
 of vertical and horizontal lines ? Is it not true 
 that such work requires considerable effort from 
 the kindergartner to make it interesting to the 
 child ? Is it not true that there is a cramp of 
 the fingers, shown by a slight trembling, in get- 
 ting hold of the tiny object and placing it, a 
 cramp of the eye in foreseeing and following the 
 movement, and a cramp of the body accompa- 
 nying the tension of hand and arm ? If all these 
 observations are correct, or measurably so, if they 
 hold with a majority of children, then point-lay- 
 ing as an occupation clearly needs considerable 
 modification in the kindergarten. 
 
 "What are then the objections to the point as 
 illustrated in bean, coffee-berry, seed, and wooden 
 lentil? In a word, that when represented as 
 above, it becomes too small and too mobile. The 
 difficulty of using these materials is immensely 
 increased by the fact that a slight movement of 
 the child's table will send them all on the floor, 
 
FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 185 
 
 while even an ill-timed cough or sneeze, or puff of 
 wind, will blow them out of position. Point-lay- 
 ing is quite difficult enough for the child's small 
 powers under the best conditions, and need not be 
 made more so by undue mobility in the materials 
 with which it is carried on. This criticism would 
 not hold of course as against large shells or peb- 
 bles or as against Miss Marwedel's hemispheres 
 and ellipsoids. 
 
 The only good reason for using the small ma- 
 terials to which the preceding objections How these 
 have been made is a very good one, 2ay e be M 
 viz., that if we are to take any concrete obviated - 
 object to represent the point, it should be as 
 small as possible, since the point is in reality an 
 intangible something, having no one of the three 
 dimensions. This reasoning seems to be logical 
 enough, and it is surely equally so, to insist that 
 the child shall at some time derive his own points 
 from the cube and make them as small as pos- 
 sible, that he may the better understand their 
 relation to line, plane, and solid. When once 
 this relation is understood, however, and before it 
 is suggested to his mind, why may he not use the 
 larger materials, even though they do not illus- 
 trate the point as perfectly? Any lack in per- 
 fect representation would probably be more than 
 compensated by the removal of the strain on the 
 accessory muscles and the gain in artistic devel- 
 opment. This latter point, indeed, needs special 
 
186 FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 
 
 consideration, for there seems no doubt that the 
 continued use of such small objects for design 
 leads to accuracy and prettiness rather than 
 breadth and power. 
 
 If we throw out all the smaller materials used 
 defeated-" ^ or Pi nt -l av i n g> an ^ it seems advisable 
 als - so to do, we still have left smooth peb- 
 
 bles from one half to three fourths of an inch in 
 diameter, and shells of any univalve, such as the 
 "money-cowry" (cyprcea moneta). These should 
 be polished, as free from convolutions as possible, 
 and not less than half an inch in diameter. To 
 these we may add Miss Emma Marwedel's wooden 
 ellipsoids and hemispheres, already mentioned, 
 which are satisfactory in size, and add the delights 
 of color. 1 
 
 The hemispheres, which are about one half inch 
 in diameter, come in eight colors and also in the 
 natural wood, are pierced for stringing, and are 
 similar to ordinary button-moulds, having of course 
 one flat side. 
 
 The ellipsoids in the six rainbow hues, black 
 gray, brown, and wood colors, resemble elliptical 
 shells, having one flat side, are also pierced for 
 stringing, and vary in length from three fourths 
 of to something over an inch, being nearly an inch 
 wide, perhaps, and a half inch thick. 
 
 The children are invariably delighted with both 
 
 1 MarwedeVs Materials for Child-Culture. D. C. Heath & 
 Co. 
 
FROEBEVS TENTH GIFT 187 
 
 hemispheres and ellipsoids, and need no stimulus 
 from the kindergartner in their use. 
 
 In some of Miss Marwedel's pamphlets on the 
 use of these materials, she speaks of Mind . 
 the mind-pictures which can be made p 
 with them, and which are of course quite possible 
 with any of the other gifts. These mind -pic- 
 tures, showing form and number groups, are 
 drawn by the kindergartner on the blackboard, 
 where they are left a second and then erased. 
 They are then copied from memory, and the re- 
 sults compared, described, and criticised by the 
 children. This constitutes a valuable mental ex- 
 ercise, and if the tests are simple at first and 
 made gradually more difficult will be most valu- 
 able in increasing the memory-span as well as in 
 developing language power. 
 
 If some of the materials used in the kindergar- 
 ten are unwisely chosen, and if this ob- Abuse of the 
 jection applies in the gifts, especially to Glft ' 
 the point, then the kindergartner has been, and 
 still is, unnecessarily increasing her sum of error, 
 for no one of the connected series of objects (save 
 the stick) is commonly so forced upon the child. 
 It is somewhat unusual for this reason to find a 
 whole class of children really enjoying point-work, 
 though several conscientious and industrious mem- 
 bers of the group may be toiling away with praise- 
 worthy diligence. 
 
 Sometimes the children's feeling toward the 
 
188 FROEBEUS TENTH GIFT 
 
 gift goes beyond indifference and passes into ac- 
 tive dislike, but in either attitude of mind the 
 beans, lentils, etc., are likely to be mistreated. 
 
 It is not that the work with them is not in it- 
 self pleasing to the child, but that it has been 
 forced upon him ad nauseam, and that the kin- 
 dergartner has lacked interest in presenting it. 
 His own interest has in consequence gradually 
 died out, and when once the fire is cold, who shall 
 light it again ? 
 
 That there is no need of this abuse of the gift 
 is clear enough, and it can only come from entire 
 lack of originality in using Froebel's materials, or 
 from a mental or physical inertia on the part of 
 the kindergartner, which causes her to prefer giv- 
 ing out such work as needs neither preparation 
 nor previous thought. 
 
 HEADINGS FOR THE STUDENT. 
 
 Kindergarten Guide. Kraus-Boelte. Pages 439-53. 
 The Kindergarten. H. Goldammcr. 181-84. 
 A System of Child-Culture. Emma Marwedel 6-8. 
 Hints to Teachers. Emma Marwedel. 49. 
 Decorative Design. Frank S. Jackson. 
 Art in Education. Thos. Davidson. 
 Manual of Design. Richard Redgrave, R. A. 
 Exercices et Travaux pour les Enfants. Fanny Ch. Delon. 
 Manuel Pratique des Jardins d'Enfants. J. E. Jacobs and 
 Mme. von Marenholtz-B'dlow. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 As we close the series of talks upon Froebel's 
 gifts and look back over the ground that has 
 been covered, we see that a number of important 
 subjects have been only lightly touched upon, while 
 we have been altogether silent regarding others 
 equally as vital. This is doubtless inevitable in 
 any work upon the kindergarten which does not 
 aim to be encyclopaedic in character, but a few of 
 the more serious omissions may be supplied before 
 we close our consideration of the gifts and enter 
 upon that of the occupations. 
 
 First, then, a word on the subject of atten- 
 tion. 
 
 It is not uncommon, when discussing any exer- 
 cises with kindergarten materials which Difflculty of 
 require dictation or guidance, to hear cmlrS 
 complaints of the difficulty of holding the Attention - 
 children's attention. It may generally be said, 
 doubtless, that when little children fail to give 
 attention it is because they are not interested, 
 and if the teacher finds the majority of her pupils 
 listless, indifferent, and vagrant-minded, she may 
 reasonably conclude that something is amiss 
 either with the subject or with her presentation 
 
190 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 of it. The child is as yet too young to command 
 his mental powers and " drive himself on by his 
 own self-determination," and if we enforce an at- 
 tention which he gives through fear, we lose the 
 motive power of interest which Froebel sought 
 to utilize in the plays of the kindergarten. 
 
 Dr. George P. Brown in a late article on 
 " Metaphysics and Pedagogics " l says, " Every 
 one admits that there is much that must be done 
 by the child in his elementary education which is 
 a task, for the reason that his ideas of its worth 
 to himself cannot be sufficiently appreciated to 
 arouse a lively and impelling interest in the doing 
 of it," and he adds, " Garfield once complained 
 that he had done so long those things in which he 
 was interested that he was losing his power to do 
 that which did not interest him, which suggests 
 the danger of relying entirely upon interest as an 
 incentive to learn." 
 
 That there is a danger here cannot be denied, 
 but it is one which need hardly be considered at 
 the kindergarten age, when that interest which 
 comes from continued agreement between the 
 work in hand and the child's inner wants is 
 absolutely essential to the gaining of knowledge. 
 Mr. W. N. Hailmann puts the whole matter in a 
 nutshell when he says : "If the kindergartner 
 has the penetration to discover these inner wants, 
 and the skill to adapt the circumstances and her 
 
 1 Public School Journal, July, 1895. 
 
GENERAL EEMAEKS ON THE GIFTS 191 
 
 own purposes to these, she will find it easy to 
 secure and hold the child's attention. Without 
 this penetration and skill, all else is unavailing. 
 She may sing and cajole herself *into hoarseness, 
 she may smile and gesticulate herself into a mild 
 sort of tarantism, or freeze herself at one end of 
 the table into a statue of Suppressed Reproach, 
 if the instruction or dictation has no natural 
 connection with the purposes of the children, 
 these will remain uninterested or bored victims 
 of her ill-directed enthusiasm." 
 
 The plays with the gifts open wide avenues 
 for language teaching if conducted as j^g^e 
 Froebel intended. He says many wise Teachlll &- 
 things on this subject in his "Education of 
 Man," and the following is of absolute applica- 
 tion. 
 
 " Our children will attain," he says, " to a far 
 more fundamental insight into language, if we, 
 when teaching them, connect the words more 
 with the actual perception of the thing and the 
 object. . . . Our language would then again 
 become a true language of life, that is, born of 
 life and producing life ; while it threatens other- 
 wise, by merely outward consideration, to become 
 more and more dead." 1 
 
 From the first the child should be led to voice 
 his small observations on the gifts in clear lan- 
 guage and in approximately complete sentences, 
 
 1 Education of Man, page 145. 
 
192 GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 brief though they be. He can as easily say, " I 
 would like a blue ball, please," if asked what 
 color he prefers, as to jerk out a monosyllabic 
 " Blue ! " 
 
 After a little practice he will use a short sen- 
 tence when comparing two objects, for instance, 
 but as he naturally moves along the line of least 
 resistance it is hardly to be expected that he will 
 take the trouble to form complete sentences 
 unless gently stimulated to do so. The stimulus 
 must be gentle, however, and given at the right 
 time, for any feeling that his words are criticised 
 will lead him to self -repression, not expression. 
 
 In gift work, too, he explains to the kinder- 
 gartner what he is inventing, and for what pur- 
 pose ; he weaves gossamer threads of fancy about 
 the objects constructed, or describes the forms of 
 beauty and knowledge he has built by dictation. 
 
 There is and should be constant interchange of 
 conversation during the gift plays, and the kin- 
 dergartner who directs them like a drill-sergeant, 
 requiring her recruits only to be silent and obey, 
 has entirely misconceived Froebel's idea. 1 
 
 It is undeniably much easier for the teacher 
 to do all the talking, the children serving as audi- 
 ence, but the ideal to be reached is that she shall 
 
 1 It is a difficult thing to find the via media between com- 
 plete silence on the part of the children save when answering 
 questions and a confusion of tongues like that at the building 
 of Babel, but there is such a via media, and it can be found by 
 those who seek it diligently. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 193 
 
 be the audience herself, or rather the chairman of 
 the meeting, guiding the conversation, asking sug- 
 gestive questions, and making wise comments. 
 
 Our language teaching, however, is not confined 
 to the cultivation of greater powers of expression, 
 for there is a direct gain in the child's vocabu- 
 lary consequent upon his kindergarten experience. 
 He absorbs many new words from his teachers, 
 but many others he learns through his daily work 
 and play, and these are his absolute possession, 
 the thing and the word together. An interesting 
 series of experiments was once made in the San 
 Francisco free kindergartens relative to the num- 
 ber of new words which the child had mastered 
 and used easily and freely after three years in 
 the child-garden. These included terms of dicta- 
 tion, geometrical terms, names of tools, colors, 
 materials, plants, animals, buildings, and places, 
 new and poetic words of songs, games, and sto- 
 ries, etc., and the experiments established the fact 
 that the child's vocabulary was fully as great as 
 that of his parents and decidedly more choice. 
 
 It should be said here that there is great value 
 to the child in learning: to name thing's Relation of 
 
 5 t> Word to 
 
 correctly from the very beginning. If object. 
 the new word is a simple one, he can learn it with 
 perfect ease, and then the object is properly 
 labeled, so to speak, for future use. 1 Familiar 
 
 1 " At all stages of learning the mother tongue, the purely 
 verbal exercises are more or less accompanied with the occupa- 
 
194 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 names are sometimes used in the kindergarten 
 when the correct term would be quite as easy 
 to pronounce. This practice often arises from a 
 false conception of symbolism, and is continued 
 with an idea that it is pleasing to the child. 
 Sometimes the pseudonyms are absolutely mis- 
 leading, as in the frequent speaking of squares as 
 boxes, which must, of course, confuse the child as 
 to the real nature of a plane. There are many 
 cases where the geometrical name of a form can 
 easily be taught if it is given after the object is 
 clearly understood. 1 
 
 There is a distinction here as to age, which 
 should be noted. Though with babies of three 
 
 tion of the mind upon things. If we suppose the child to be- 
 come acquainted, in the fii*st instance, with a variety of objects, 
 the imparting of the names is a welcome operation, and the 
 mental fusion of each name and thing is rapidly brought about. 
 If the objects are in any way interesting, if they arouse or ex- 
 cite attention, their names are eagerly embraced. On the other 
 hand, if objects are but languidly cared for, or if they are in- 
 conspicuous or confused with other things, we are indifferent 
 both to the things themselves and to their designations." (Alex- 
 ander Bain.) 
 
 1 " Language is the necessary tool of thought used in the con- 
 duct of the analysis and synthesis of investigation." (W. T. 
 Harris.) 
 
 "What we are really seeking is the meaning and the word. 
 One is of no value without the other in the education of the 
 child. There is no such thing as a valuable observation and in- 
 vestigation of natural objects without language in which to 
 embody the results at every step." (Geo. P. Brown.) Report 
 on Correlation of Studies by Committee of Fifteen. .With annota- 
 tions by Geo. P. Brown. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 195 
 
 years it is not only delightful, but necessary, to 
 use objects symbolically, to give play-names to 
 the lines they make, etc., with older children who 
 are nearing the age of school instruction and 
 therefore passing away from the " sense relations 
 of things," it is just as essential to begin a more 
 scientific nomenclature. 
 
 One of the commonest errors in the kinder- 
 garten, as well as one of the most per- value of 
 
 .. , i r , ,i i'ii Knowledge 
 
 nicious, is that ot assisting the cnild gained by 
 
 , . ,, , . , rp,, . . Individual 
 
 too much in all his work. Ihis is per- Effort. 
 haps more universally true of the plays with 
 the occupations than with the gifts, but even in 
 the latter direction the practice is far too wide- 
 spread. 1 
 
 The kindergartner often forms his sentences 
 for the child, over-directs him when he is match- 
 ing colors, gives names to the objects he con- 
 structs without waiting for him to do so, moves 
 his blocks, sticks, tablets, rings into more accu- 
 rate position, changes his spacing when incorrect, 
 rearranges his inventions, selects the colors for 
 
 1 " Of course, there is great difference between the discipli- 
 nary value of that study in which the pupil solves his own 
 difficulties and that teaching- in which the teacher accompanies 
 the pupil, supplying 1 the needed information or suggestion at 
 every step of his progress. The latter is not worth much for 
 character building for the reason that it is not apt to become a 
 part of the organized self. . . . The school cannot afford to ex- 
 pend much energy in acquiring such knowledge." (Geo. P. 
 Brown.) Report on Correlation of Studies by Committee of 
 Fifteen. With annotations by Geo. P. Brown. 
 
196 GENERAL EEMAEKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 his parquetry work, and all for what reasons ? 
 Primarily, to produce a better effect, it is prob- 
 able, glorying in the consciousness that the work 
 on every child's table is exactly right, and blind 
 to the truth that uniformity must always be me- 
 chanical ; and secondarily, to quiet her own feel- 
 ing of impatience, which sometimes comes from 
 nervous exhaustion and sometimes from an over- 
 eagerness to get a quantity of work done regard- 
 less of the method by which it is obtained. 
 
 There is a thirdly, too, which is that the in- 
 accurate work, the awkward designs, the unfortu- 
 nate blending of colors which the little one inevi- 
 tably makes at first, so offend her artistic eye that 
 she trembles with eagerness to set them right, 
 forgetting that by so doing she is imposing her 
 superior taste upon the child and thereby failing 
 to develop his. We shall never see this matter 
 clearly, nor know how to bear with the crudity of 
 the child's work, until we learn that the crudity 
 is natural and therefore to be respected, and that 
 it is in a sense beautiful after all, for it is a stage 
 of being. 
 
 This vice, for it is a vice, of assisting the child 
 too much causes him to lose his own power of 
 bravely and persistently overcoming difficulties, 
 and makes him weak and dependent. It gives 
 occasion for teachers to say, and apparently with 
 justice, that kindergarten children need constant 
 assistance in their school work, that they are 
 
GENERAL EEMAEKS ON THE GIFTS 197 
 
 always crying out for help, and seem incapable of 
 taking a step alone. 
 
 That this is not true of all kindergarten chil- 
 dren we know, but that it should be true of any 
 is a disgrace to our interpretation of Froebel's 
 system, which is, in reality, a very treasure-house 
 of self-reliance, of self -development, and of inde- 
 pendence of thought and action. 
 
 One of the highest essentials of gift work is 
 
 that it should not be isolated from other Value of in- 
 terrelation 
 experiences of the child and concern it- in Kinder- 
 
 1 garten 
 
 self merely with first principles of math- Work - 
 ematics, with elements of construction, reproduc- 
 tion, and design, and with unrelated bits of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Froebel says in the motto to one of the poems 
 in the " Mutter-Spiel und Kose-Lieder," 
 
 " Whatever singly with a child you 've played, 
 Weave it together till a whole you 've made. 
 
 " Thus it will dawn upon his childish soul : 
 The smallest thing belongs to some great whole." 
 
 And again, 
 
 " Silently cherish your Baby's dim thought, 
 That Life in itself is as unity wrought." 
 
 Nothing is more evident in all his writings, in 
 his more formal works as well as in his autobi- 
 ography, his volumes of letters and his reminis- 
 cences, than that his lifelong struggle was for 
 unity in all things. He would have this unity 
 
198 GENERAL REMAKES ON THE GIFTS 
 
 expressed in simple concrete form in the kinder- 
 garten by a complete interrelation of all the ac- 
 tivities of the child ; and the gifts as " outward 
 representations of his internal mental world" may 
 be trusted to furnish us with an absolute test as 
 to how far we are carrying out this principle in 
 our teaching. 
 
 Whether or not the necessity of correlation 
 decreases as age increases we need not discuss 
 here, but that there is absolute need of it in the 
 kindergarten probably 110 one will deny. If a 
 single aim does not unify the kindergarten day, 
 (or month, or season), it will be a succession of 
 scrappy experiences, of surface impressions, no 
 one of which can be permanent, because it was 
 slight by itself and received no reinforcement 
 from others. Such instruction only serves to dis- 
 sipate the mind, to blot out the dim feeling of 
 unity inscribed there by its maker, and to render 
 the child incapable and undesirous of binding his 
 thoughts into a whole. 1 
 
 1 " In the broad view we are safe in affirming that all truth is 
 congruous, and that truth in one department of human know- 
 ledge will always reinforce truth in any other department. 
 There is a unity in all truth. While it is true, as Dr. Harris af- 
 firms in his Report on the Correlation of Studies, that the stu- 
 dent does not come into the full consciousness of this fact before 
 he attains the university, is it not also true that he can be so 
 taught that he will feel this unity before he can think it, and 
 that his feeling it will hasten the development of the power to 
 think it ? " Geo. P. Brown, " Congruence in Teaching," Public 
 School Journal, Sept., 1895. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 199 
 
 What the subjects should be, around which the 
 child's mental, physical, and spiritual activities 
 may crystallize, furnishes a fruitful field for dis- 
 cussion ; but, above all, they should be vital ones, 
 for, as Miss Blow says, " Serious injury may be 
 done the mind by developing concentric exer- 
 cises which belong not to the centre, but the cir- 
 cumference of thought." 
 
 It would be fruitless to suggest suitable sub- 
 jects here, for if they do not, on the one hand, 
 conform to the growing mind of the particular 
 child or class of children, they may either arrest 
 or overtax development, and if, on the other hand, 
 they do not proceed from the kindergartner's in- 
 sight into principle, it would be but " supersti- 
 tious imitation " for her to follow them out. No 
 manual, no guide-book, no treatise, no lecture, can 
 supply the want of fine intelligence and judgment 
 in all these matters, and not until the teacher 
 " comprehends the genesis of any principle from 
 deeper principles can she emancipate herself from 
 even the hypnotic suggestion of the principle it- 
 self, and convert external authority into inward 
 freedom." l 
 
 Although uninterested and uninitiated persons 
 doubtless regard the various gifts of Effect of 
 
 Froebel's 
 
 Froebel as very ordinary objects, made 
 from commonplace materials, yet that 
 this view of the matter is only a peep through a 
 
 1 W. T. Harris. 
 
200 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 pin-hole is abundantly proven by their effect on 
 the kindergartner. Those of us who have seen 
 successive groups of young women in training- 
 classes approach the first few gifts have noted 
 that interest is commonly mingled at first with a 
 slight surprise that the objects should be consid- 
 ered worthy of so much study, while underneath 
 lies a half -concealed amusement at the simple 
 forms produced. Yet this attitude of mind en- 
 dures but for a season, for as soon as the gifts 
 are studied and used practically, it is seen that 
 they contain possibilities of indefinite expansion. 
 When they are looked at through the glasses of 
 imagination, it is wonderful how large they ap- 
 pear, and when one has toiled long hours to invent 
 some sequence with them, one wonders at the 
 reality and fascination of the forms produced. 
 
 The outsider who glanced at the materials has- 
 tily would undoubtedly suppose them capable of 
 only a limited number of changes and combina- 
 tions, but the fact remains that every year kin- 
 dergarten students invent hundreds of new forms 
 with these simple, insignificant blocks and sticks 
 and beans. 
 
 How, then, does this change come about ? How 
 is it that the same student who once half-scorned 
 the gifts, now, upon the completion of her course 
 of training, looks upon them with affection, admi- 
 ration, and respect? It is that her eyes have 
 been opened, and whereas she was blind, now she 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 201 
 
 sees. Her imagination lias been awakened, her 
 literary instinct has been stirred, and she has 
 come to look at things in the child way, which is 
 always the poetic way. 
 
 The effect of Froebel's gifts upon the child 
 has been shown directly and indirectly Effectof 
 through the entire series of talks, and SSS^on 
 need not now be recapitulated. If they the Child ' 
 are wisely presented and wisely conducted, " in- 
 ward and outward, the limits of their influence 
 and scope lie in infinity." 
 
 Froebel says in one of his letters: "No one 
 would believe, without seeing it, how the child- 
 soul the child-life develops when treated as 
 a whole, and in the sense of forming a part of the 
 great connected life of the world, by some skilled 
 kindergartner, nay, even by one who is only 
 simple-hearted, thoughtful, and attentive ; nor 
 how it blooms into delicious harmonies like a 
 beautifully tinted flower. Oh, if I could only 
 shout aloud with ten thousand lung-power the 
 truth that I now tell you in silence. Then would 
 I make the ears of a hundred thousand men ring 
 with it! What keenness of sensation, what a 
 soul, what a mind, what force of will and active 
 energy, what dexterity and skill of muscular 
 movement and of perception, and what calm and 
 patience will not all these things call out in the 
 children." l 
 
 1 Froebel's Letters on the Kindergarten, page 145. 
 
202 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE GIFTS 
 
 It is not that we regard the connected series 
 of gifts as inspired, nor as incapable of improve- 
 ment, for it may be that as our psychological 
 observations of children grow wiser, more sym- 
 pathetic, and more subtle, we shall see cause to 
 make radical changes in the objects which are 
 Froebel's legacy to the kindergarten. This we 
 may do, but we can never improve upon the mo- 
 therly tenderness of spirit with which they were 
 devised by the great pioneer of child-study, nor 
 upon the philosophic insight which based them 
 on the universal instincts of childhood. 
 
F76