[37] “The Play of Man,” p. 400.
[38] “The Play of Man,” p. 382.
[40] In another place Froebel does say that, “Only on condition that the genuine spirit of play—i.e. the true spirit of life—lives in the teacher, can he call it forth in the child.”
[41] See [Appendix II].
[42] See [pp. 93, 94].
[44] Froebel goes on to say: “I believe, that after progressing through the vast orbit of almost two generations (he was nearly fifty-nine) I have been carried round to the point of commencement, to the fountain head of the education of mankind, but with the significant addition of a full consciousness of my task.”
[45] The material can of course be used at any age provided it conveys suitable ideas in a suitable manner. Some of it is even now found useful in helping senior classes to realize problems in area and in volume.
[46] Many years ago, a young teacher came to me for help. She had been told to give her class number lessons, for a whole term, from Gift III, which consists of eight little cubes, and the children had long since grasped 4 + 4, 6 + 2, 5 + 3, and 8 - 4, 8 - 2, etc. I suggested that she should leave the number out and let the children play with the blocks. “Oh! I mayn’t do that,” was the answer, “they have building with Gift IV.”