Friedrich Froebel, an educational theorist, opened the first kindergarten in 1837 in Germany for children aged 3-6. He believed that young children learn best through creative and imaginative play and he established routines that included times for play in his classrooms.
We couldn’t agree more!
We believe that early learning should involve routines of less seated paper and pencil work and include more fun hands-on and active learning! More time should be made for children to listen to fanciful stories, make up silly rhymes, and practice storytelling by inventing and presenting their own imaginative stories. Kindergarten is a time of creative play, puppet show retellings, educational game playing, and getting up and using movement while learning. Kindergarten should be a time of stepping away from the desk, exploring, wondering and gathering experiences that will create memories that will last a lifetime. Young children are by nature, creative storytellers. It should be our goal as parents to not squash this creativity, but instead- celebrate it!
We would love to hear from you! Tell us about your home school routine- what works for your family? Do you ease into your day, or do you start at a specific time each morning? What do you do to encourage play and creativity during your daily routine?
Children are like tiny flowers: They are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers. Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul. – Friedrich Froebel