Theory
Froebel felt it was of paramount importance to allow children to draw their own conclusions rather than to be provided with answers. He disliked elaborate toys that discouraged creativity and discovery. For Froebel, less was more. Froebel's method allows children more freedom to experience and the chance to learn at their own pace at the time of their most rapid intellectual development. He favored bookless or "symbolic" learning through the handling of materials, in what he called objective play or play "with the thing in itself." Froebel saw that important learning was done through play and play is the engine for his whole educational system. Play is a child's work. And what child needs prompting to play?
Froebel materials are a method and a system of toys for achieving this goal. The Froebel Gifts are designed to stimulate all five senses (which are considered the doors to the child's inner world) while aiding understanding and language through discussion and song. Froebel wanted to "awaken the senses" to the "God-given structure" of the universe and to help children perceive the unity and interconnectedness of all creation. The ultimate idea is that all things - art (beauty), science (knowledge) and nature (the physical world) - are fundamentally related and interconnected.
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