The Froebel Box
The Froebel box is a rental construction and creative learning set aimed mainly at early childhood education (ECEC) centers. The box contains original Froebel blocks as well as Giant-sized blocks and "You and Froebel" construction kit that are designed in collaboration with artist Alexander Reichstein and the Kindergarten Museum.
The Froebel box enables comprehensive work projects through different materials. Play, creativity and learning join naturally. The materials are based on activity pedagogue Friedrich Froebel's (1782–1852) ideas about learning through play and functionality.
The rental set can be used in the pedagogy of the entire ECEC center. The renting ECEC center can use the box to create joint projects, in which all children and adults can participate. The set also enables families to participate. Meaningful activity increases interaction between children and adults.
The box contains models of Froebel's first six gifts, ten pieces of 4th gift, and a construction and operation manuals. In addition, the package includes giant blocks and the You and Froebel construction suitcase. General instructions for using the box are included, as well as The Miraculous Ball book as a souvenir.
he box can be rented for four weeks at a time or by agreement. Rental price for a four-week period is 300 euros. It includes an introduction to the use of the box through a demo workshop aimed at adults, as well as transportation costs of the set to a nearby area (max. 20 kilometers from the Kindergarten Museum). If the renting ECEC center is located more than 20 km from the Kindergarten Museum, transport costs will be negotiated separately.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation has supported the designing and implementation process of the Froebel box.
Contact
Call 050 307 7399 / Curator of education Fredrika VisuriSend an email to ebeneser(at)ebeneser.fi
The contents of the Froebel box:
Original Froebel's blocks
The Froebel box contains the first six gifts designed by activity pedagogue Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), of which the last four are more familiarly called Froebel's blocks. Along with the box, ECEC centers will receive one model of each gift and ten pieces of the 4th gift for small groups' joint building moments.
Froebel thought that playing with the gifts helps a child to observe the environment and develops an understanding of mathematical relationships, geometric skills, and a sense of beauty. The charm of the gifts comes from their possibilities, a child uses the same balls or blocks each time, but each moment of play creates a new outcome.
Each gift develops from the previous one and combines with its properties, always containing something new. Their content consists of three main shapes: sphere, cylinder, and cube. The forms divide into parts in different ways. After construction and examination, a user puts the blocks back in the box, where a user can notice that together they form a basic shape again, the cube. You can read more about the possibilities of working with Froebel's blocks on the Kindergarten Museum's blog (written in Finnish).
Giant-sized blocks
Giant blocks are large-sized play equipment designed by artist Alexander Reichstein in collaboration with the Kindergarten Museum. The giant blocks take inspiration from Friedrich Froebel's gifts. The giant blocks are large, sturdy, and light enough that a small child can build a house out of them, where they can fit inside.
The giant block set of the Froebel box includes a total of 42 pieces of different shapes. The side length of one shape is 40 centimetres. The material of the blocks is safe for children. It is flexible and easily supports a person's weight. The package contains shapes from all of Froebel's six gifts. The giant blocks are in the same cube-shaped packaging as original Froebel blocks. The giant blocks form a cube with an edge length of 1.2 meters.
Unlike in the picture, the giant blocks included in the box are for indoor use only. The giant blocks are for the outdoor construction area at the Kindergarten Museum, where we organize separate paid construction workshops for children and adults.
"You and Froebel" construction kit
The construction kit, designed by artist Alexander Reichstein, is a play material that combines play, art, and craft, which increases interaction between children and adults. The play combines reading, drawing, storytelling, music, word art, photography, and other documentation tools.
The kit contains wooden blocks as basic shapes, balls, cubes, cylinders, and different parts of broken toys. Children can attach parts of toys to these basic wooden shapes with magnets. At the same time, the suitcase takes account recycling and ecology into account. The broken toy parts form incredible characters, worlds are born, and whole new stories!
You can supplement the construction kit with toy parts brought by children. The play changes and develops over time, as the toy parts gradually change, and a place changes as the kit travels from one ECEC center to another. Even the most incredible things can come true in the play.
The Miraculous Ball book
ECEC centers that rent the Froebel box will receive The Miraculous Ball, Cube, Cylinder and the Other Fun Shapes in the World book. The book is double-sided. The other side is ment for adults and introduces Friedrich Froebel, Froebel's gifts, and the Froebelian innovations implemented by the Kindergarten Museum in collaboration with artist Alexander Reichstein. The second half of the book is for children and explores the surrounding world from the perspective of shapes.
The book contains instructions for making your own "You and Froebel" construction kit, action tips, and different perspectives to use the tools of the Froebel box.
Reetta Niemelä, Alexander Reichstein and Taina Sillanpää are authors of The Miraculous Ball cube, cylinder and the other fun shapes in the world book. The book can also be purchased separately from the Kindergarten Museum's museum shop.