Kindergarten

There are some great articles by Johan Christoph Arnold over at plough.com. Included are excerpts from his forthcoming book Their Name is Today: Reclaiming Childhood in a Hostile World.

Here’s an excerpt from an article entitled “A Child’s Right to Play”.

Friedrich Froebel, who created the concept of the kindergarten, was a nineteenth-century German educator whose greatest gift was his ability to view life through a child’s eyes. That is why, almost two hundred years later, his educational philosophy makes sense to anyone who loves children. When he coined the name “kindergarten,” he meant it literally – “a garden of children” – where each child is nurtured with the same love and care given to a seedling. He knew that humans are essentially creative and compassionate beings, and that education must involve the development of these traits.

Froebel often spoke of the importance of children’s play: “A child who plays thoroughly and perseveringly, until physical fatigue forbids, will be a determined adult, capable of self-sacrifice both for his own welfare and that of others.”

Read the rest of this article here.

And keep playing! PlayFull believes that a healthy life is a playful life—and that includes adults, too.

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