Friedrich Froebel, the 'father of kindergarten', is one of the most influential pedagogues of the 19th century. However, relatively little is known about his life, his successes and failures, and his personal relationships. Based on many untranslated and unknown letters, this new biography presents Froebel as a brilliant but also flawed man. Beginning with his childhood and the early death of his mother, as well as his difficult relationship with his father and stepmother, we see the early seeds of Froebel's interest in children and the training of early childhood practitioners. While Froebel lacked basic academic knowledge due to his poor early education, he was able to overcome these deficits and found an educational institute, and develop ground-breaking educational theories about play and pedagogy. He authored multiple books, including his most famous work The Education of Man. The focus of this book, though, is not on Froebel's educational theories but on his complicated relationships with his family, the Keilhau community, and the mother of one of his pupils, Caroline von Holzhausen, whom he called the “rune of his life”. After many personal and professional disappointments, Froebel finally came up with the idea that made him famous until today: kindergarten. In the last decade of his life, he became a salesman of this new idea and worked tirelessly for the establishment of the kindergarten movement. However, when the Prussian government banned kindergarten shortly before his death, Froebel was broken – even if kindergarten lives until today.

Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852), the inventor of kindergarten, was one of the most influential educational thinkers of the 19th century. This book showcases the cutting-edge work being undertaken around the world inspired by this pioneer of early childhood education and shows the many ways in which Froebel's work has been applied and extended. It presents a wealth of Froebelian expertise on topics including pedagogy and curriculum, history, architecture, neuroscience, peace and religious education and links Froebel's theories to other thinkers including John Dewey, Michel Foucault, Paulo Freire, Aili Helenius and Chen Heqin. It highlights what Froebel means today in a variety of settings around the world and includes contributions from academics and practitioners based in North and South America, Europe, Australasia, Africa and Asia.

This work looks at the founder of the kindergarten and his profound influence on provision and practice for young children today. It looks at Froebel's theory of a garden for children and why he believed that play is central to young children's learning.