Froebel's Gifts

by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin; Nora Archibald Smith

The fourth gift contains all that the three former gifts showed, and introduces differences of dimension and equilibrium only hinted at before. It also, as Froebel says, "throws into relief the perception of size by showing similarity of size with dissimilarity of dimension and position."

As to dimension, the child built the Shot-tower with the third gift, and knew that it was high, the Platform and that it was broad, the Well and that it was deep, the Wall and saw that it was thick, etc., so that he has a conception of height, length, breadth; but in the fourth gift he is shown these dimensions in a single block. He is thus led from the known to the unknown.[44] They are united and contrasted in one object, and therefore emphasized.

Equilibrium.

As to the law of equilibrium, it is very forcibly brought to the child's attention every time his forms fall to the table when constructed without due regard to its principles.

He soon sees its practical significance, takes care to follow its manifest expression, and to observe with more care the centre of gravity. Great liberties could be taken with the stolid little cubes and they seldom showed any resentment; they quietly settled down into their places and resisted sturdily all the earthquake shocks which are apt to visit a kindergarten table during the building hour. The bricks on the other hand have to be humored and treated with deference. The moment one is placed upon another, end to end, the struggle begins, and in any of the high Life forms, the utmost delicacy of touch is necessary as well as sure aim and steady hand.

Here comes in, too, a necessity of calculation not before required. The cubes could be placed on any side and always occupy the same space, but the building with the bricks will vary according as they are placed on the broad, the narrow, or the short face. They must also fit together and bear a certain relation to each other.

In the dictations it will be perceived that we now have to specify the position which the brick must take as well as the place which it is to occupy. We designate the three faces of the brick as the broad face, the narrow face, and the short face or end.

Fourth Gift Building.

The symmetrical forms are much more interesting than before and decidedly more artistic when viewed in comparison with the somewhat thick and clumsy designs made with the cubes. The fourth gift forms cover more space, approach nearer the surface, and the bricks slide gracefully from one position to another, and slip in and out of the different figures with a movement which seems like a swan's, compared with the goose-step of the stubby little cubes.

It is a noteworthy fact that "the buds," as Froebel calls them, of all the fourth gift Beauty forms were contained in those of the third gift, and have here opened into fuller bloom.