Features

EYFS Best Practice - Learning from Froebel… the Gifts

In part one of their new series, Professor Tina Bruce explores ‘the Gifts’ and the theory behind them, while Jane Dyke reveals how this is being absorbed into the practice at her group, Yellow Dot Nurseries

ABOUT THIS SERIES

This six-part series aims to:

Co-written by Froebelian expert Professor Tina Bruce and Yellow Dot founder and owner, Jane Dyke, the six articles will cover:

Linked to the series is a set of posters produced in association with Community Playthings (www.communityplaythings.co.uk), which will be taking part in this year’s bicentenary celebrations of the founding of Froebel’s school in Keilhau, Germany.

By Professor Tina Bruce

Much of Froebel’s philosophy of education can appear arcane and anachronistic to today’s early years practitioners, but its influence permeates the EYFS. That is true of his Gifts, six sets of cubes, spheres and cylinders, which are not widely used today but ‘live on’ in the hollow and unit blocks that are a staple of early childhood provision.

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