As you might have guessed, the word Kindergarten originated in Germany. Until the mid-19th century the education of children was generally seen as a solemn task. Friedrich Fröbel introduced the idea of activity and play, and children at the establishment he founded in Bad Blankenburg in Eastern Germany in 1837 were encouraged to pursue singing, dancing, gardening and playing. Three years later in 1840 Fröbel coined the word kindergarten. His colleague Bertha Ronge was responsible for the spread of kindergartens into the English-speaking world. Leaving Germany after the 1848 revolution she took Froebel’s ideas to England, founding a kindergarten in London in 1851, followed by others in Manchester and Leeds. And she was the guiding light behind the establishment of the first kindergarten in America. It was founded by her sister, Margarete Schurz, in Wisconsin in 1856.
22 Jul /13
