Resources

Researching the Froebel materials can be a frustrating process. Most of what was written about the original Kindergarten materials was published 100 to 150 years ago. Many of the works in English are rehashes of what was already published, and practioners who wrote about their own work were taught by those who likely had never visited Froebel’s own schools.

That said, the most compelling instruction about the Gifts can be found by watching them in action. No purely Froebelian schools exist in the USA and many of those using the materials work in isolation. For those who wish to meet with other Froebelians and observe the materials in action, the Froebel USA® conferences are invaluable. All of the Froebel USA® conferences and Froebel® Gift play sessions have been documented on video, including a the Froebel 101 introduction video by Tiffeni Goesel. An ever expanding documentary series on Froebel Kindergarten is being produced now.

book covers

A number of useful books are currently in print:

Links for Further Reading

Google has scanned many of the original 19th c. books about using the Gifts into PDF format. Here are some of the ones we recommend, roughly in order of usefulness.