Opinions on Spielgaben please?

RosieCotton · August 26, 2013

Would love to get the opinions of this group on the Spielgaben educational set they are coming out with in December.

It looks like an amazing array of tools for ages 3-10.

Has anyone ever used this in classrooms and can share their experiences? I believe it was a classroom set and now they are either redesigning it or putting it out there to the parental/homeschool market.

I like the Montessori Approach but haven't done too much of it because of the organizational/storage issue it poses for me.

Hey if Einstein played with this early on maybe it's worth the investment ($325-425) lol. Could always resell it in a few years I guess.

There is a gigantic users guide that outlines different lessons and problems to solve.

Opening up for discussion. . . .

Oh a few homeschool bloggers have reviewed the set if you'd like to see more of it, I didn't want to use their blogs without permission here. :)

http://www.spielgaben.com/

ebrindam · August 26, 2013

I am on the waiting list for it, but I don't know much about it. It looks cool and I like shiny things. ;-)

Ecclecticmum · August 26, 2013

I already have the set, well one version anyway. I saw this new "version" and really disliked it.

My version has all the same pieces (including the digital sheets) but each "gift" comes in it own box (like its supposed to, more on that in a sec), and the boxes go into a toy chest with wheels. The whole thing is B-E-A-U-tiful.

Froebel (the creator of the "gifts") created each gift with a thought in mind. Its a very architecturally and shapes based explorative play. Most of the current toys from Zenga to marble runs all somehow revert back to Frobel and his "gifts" (which are not to be confused with "occupations" which are paper based and not included in the Spielgaben set).

The Word Kindergarten (whether you are in the field that it means "garden of children" or "childrens garden) actually came from Frobel, and most Kindergartens today were from him, he was the creator of Kindergarten. Sadly, Kinder has become a shadow of its once former self. Froebel injected reason and theory behind everything he did, including the circle time and special movement, todays Kinders do not cover it properly. Sandboxes, and sand & water tables were a Frobel invention.

rank Llloyd Wright is one of the more notable people (although there are a LOT of them) that went through Forbels Kindergarten. If you happen to visit the museum or his house (I can't exactly remember where, I'm in Australia not US) that was once his old house? there is a little table (childs size) Wright created that is in there, if you look closely the pattern etched into the top of the table is very froebelian.

Froebel was pre-Montessori. Montessori was actually partially inspired by Froebel, I believe I have one or two books from around 1912 on the comparison between Froebel and Montessori and another on the possibility of combining Froebel and Montessori (which was by the same person who did a foreword in one of Montessoris books, Alan? someone or other I think.)

I would highly suggest getting a hold of Inventing Kindergarten or reading my links I provided below.

The difference between "gifts" & "occupations" is that the occupations were something that could be changed (used/not be able to be returned as is) and the gifts were items that are unchanged (could be returned back to the box the same way).

The Spielgaben set I have is beautiful. The items can also be created yourself if you are crafty, one of the links I will paste will have info on each gift. The play guides are beautiful, but they are just that, play guides, not a curriculum, so I plead with you not to turn them into one. The set is gifts for self-exploration. Sometimes the child will need a nudge, but it will be a lot less than you think. So the play guides are beautiful, the digital stuff contains most you need to know (apart from looking at my links to get more of an idea about Froebel) the workbooks are 20 pages a book, and about 7-8 workbooks (I can't remember the exact amount) they are VERY coloured, so printing them would be a large pull on your printer, printing greyscale would look terrible, would wreck the usability of some pages, and its just plain better to have an ipad and something like notability or iannotate, then have the child draw on the digital workbook.

Other notable Froebelians:

Paul Klee

Prince Charles

Enid Blyton

Georges Cusenaire

Milton Bradley (they took over the creation of the "gifts" in America, so most of their toys from their on out were inspired by the gifts)

So its more "do I want to do a modern Kindergarten or the original?" and one can always do Froebel without purchasing commercialised versions. Froebel was all about sticks for straight, etc. I am coming into this late and wanted to use it quickly with my SN son as a way to hopefully snag his interest, otherwise I would of just built up the supplies to create my own gifts.

Links:

The Kindergarten (History): http://www.froebelweb.org/web7020.html

Froebel Gifts (dimensions and info): http://www.froebelweb.org/web7010.html

The Mothersongs (the original fingerplays and movements): http://www.froebelweb.org/web7004.html

Origins of Nursery Education: http://www.froebelweb.org/web7009.html

Inventing Kindergarten (Book): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810935260/froebelweb

Simple Version of Froebel Method: http://www.froebelgifts.com/method.htm

Resources: http://www.froebelgifts.com/resources.htm

Visual version of the Gifts: http://www.froebelgifts.com/gifts.htm

Learning to use Froebel Gifts and Occupations (simplified): http://froebeleducation.com/2011/learning-to-use-froebel-gifts-occupations/

Couple of mini articles on Froebels Occupations: http://www.froebeltoday.com/index.php/froebels-occupations

Montessori and Froebel: A Comparison (1912 ebook): http://archive.org/details/jstor-993588