Froebel's Gifts Part 14

[57] "It is through frequent return to a subject and intense activity upon it for short periods, that it 'soaks in' and becomes influential in the building of character. Especially is this true if the principles of apperception and concentration are not forgotten by the teacher in working upon the disciplinary subjects." (Geo. P. Brown.)

THE FIFTH GIFT B.

There is a supplemental box of blocks called in Germany the fifth gift B, which may be regarded as a combination of the second and fifth gifts, and whose place in the regular line of material is between the fifth and sixth. It was brought out in Berlin more than thirteen years ago, but has not so far been used to any extent in this country.

It is a three-inch wooden cube divided into twelve one-inch cubes, eight additional cubes from each of which one corner is removed and which correspond in size to a quarter of a cylinder, six one-inch cylinders divided in halves, and three one-inch cubes divided diagonally into quarters like those of the fifth gift.

Hermann Goldammer argues its necessity in his book "The Gifts of the Kindergarten" (Berlin, 1882), when he says that the curved line has been kept too much in the background by kindergartners, and that the new blocks will enable children to construct forms derived from the sphere and cylinder, as well as from the cube.

Goldammer's remark in regard to the curved line is undoubtedly true, but it would seem that he himself indicates that the place of the new blocks (or of some gift containing curved lines) should be supplemental to the third, rather than the fifth, as they would there carry out more strictly the logical order of development and amplify the suggestions of the sphere, cube, and cylinder.

It is possible that we need a third gift B and a fourth gift B, as well as some modifications of the one already existing, all of which should include forms dealing with the curve.

Goldammer says further: "In Froebel's building boxes there are two series of development intended to render a child by his own researches and personal activity familiar with the general properties of solid bodies and the special properties of the cube and forms derived from it. These two series. .h.i.therto had the sixth gift as their last stage, although Froebel himself wished to see them continued by two new boxes. He never constructed them, however, nor are the indications which he has left us with regard to those intended additions sufficiently clear to be followed by others."

The curved forms of the fifth gift B are, of course, of marked advantage in building, especially in constructing entrances, wells, vestibules, rose-windows, covered bridges, railroad stations, viaducts, steam and horse cars, house-boats, fountains, lighthouses, as well as familiar household furniture, such as pianos, tall clocks, bookshelves, cradles, etc.

Though one may perhaps consider the fifth gift B as not entirely well placed in point of sequence, and needing some modification of its present form, yet no one can fail to enjoy its practical use, or to recognize the validity of the arguments for its introduction.

READINGS FOR THE STUDENT.

Paradise of Childhood. _Edward Wiebe_. Pages 21-27.

Kindergarten Guide. _J._ and _B. Ronge_. 24-29.

Kindergarten Guide. _Kraus-Boelte._ 81-113.

Koehler's Kindergarten Practice. Tr. by _Mary Gurney_. 25-31.

Froebel and Education by Self-Activity. _H. Courthope Bowen_.

142, 143.

Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. _Fr. Froebel_. 201-236.

Art and the Formation of Taste. _Walter Crane_. 152, 197-242.

Seven Lamps of Architecture. _John Ruskin_.

The Kindergarten. _H. Goldammer_. 85-104, 111-116.

Kindergarten Toys. _H. Hoffmann_. 31-36.

FROEBEL'S SIXTH GIFT

"The artistically cultivated senses of the new generation will again restore pure, holy art." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL.

"Life brings to each his task, and whatever art you select, algebra, planting, architecture, poems, commerce, politics,--all are attainable, even to the miraculous triumphs, on the same terms, of selecting that for which you are apt; begin at the beginning, proceed in order, step by step." R. W. EMERSON.

"The sixth gift reveals the value of axial contrasts."

W. N. HAILMANN.

1. The sixth gift is a three-inch cube divided by various cuts into thirty-six pieces, eighteen of which are rectangular parallelopipeds, or bricks, the same size as those of the fourth gift, two inches long, one inch wide, and one half inch thick. Twelve additional pieces are formed by cutting six of these parallelopipeds or units of measure in halves breadthwise, giving blocks with two square and four oblong faces. The remaining six pieces are formed by cutting three parallelopipeds or units of measure in halves, lengthwise, giving square prisms, columns, or pillars.

2. The sixth is the last of the solid gifts, and is an extension of the fourth, from which it differs in size and number of parts. It deals with multiples of the number two and three also; with halves rather than with quarters or thirds, the "half" being treated in a new manner, i. e., by dividing the unit of measure both in its length and breadth, giving two solids, different in form but alike in cubical contents.

3. The most important characteristics of the gift are:--

_a._ Irregularity of division.

_b._ Introduction of column.

_c._ Extent of surface covered by symmetrical forms.

_d._ Greater inclosure of s.p.a.ce in symmetrical forms.

_e._ Introduction of distinct style of architecture.

_f._ Greater height of Life forms.

_g._ Severe simplicity of Life forms produced by the rectangular solids.

4. The sixth gift has no great increase of difficulty, and though new forms are presented there is little complexity in dictation. The building needs a somewhat more careful handling, inasmuch as the Life forms rise to considerable height and need the most exact balance.

The child sees solids whose faces are all either squares or oblongs, but of different sizes, viz., oblongs of three sizes, squares of two sizes.

This is the last of the Building Gifts; the child having received sufficient knowledge to be introduced step by step into the domain of the abstract, the first step being the planes of the seventh gift.

5. The geometrical forms ill.u.s.trated in this gift are:--

{ Rectangular parallelopipeds.

Solids. { Square prisms.

{ Cubes.

Planes. { Squares.

{ Oblongs.

6. The brick of the sixth gift is identical with that of the fourth, therefore it presents the same contrasts and mediations.

In number the different cla.s.ses of blocks stand to each other as 6:12:18.

We may add that the brick is the foundation form of the gift, and that we gain the remaining two forms, the square block and pillar, by dividing it in exactly opposite directions.

Introduction of the Gift.

The sixth gift is so evidently an enlarged and diversified fourth gift, that it is well to compare it on its introduction with the fourth, as well as with its immediate predecessor in the series. When the fourth is placed beside it, and the contents of the two boxes brought to view, it is evident at once to the child that a higher round in the ladder of evolution has been reached, and a new and highly specialized form developed. He is fired at once with creative activity, and his eager hands so quiver with impatience to investigate the possibilities of the new blocks that the wise kindergartner does not detain him long with comparisons, only a.s.suring herself that he notes the relation of the new gift to the former ones, that he compares the two new solids to the brick, or unit of measure, and to each other, and discovers how each has been produced.

Difficulties of the New Gift.