Friedrich Fröbel
German pedagogue, 1782-1852
"Fröbel was a student of the Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. He laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. In 1840 he coined the word kindergarten for the Play and Activity Institute he had founded in 1837 at Bad Blankenburg for young children. His term soon entered the English language as well. He also developed the educational toys known as Froebel gifts, or ""Fröbelgaben"", which included geometric building blocks and pattern activity blocks. The Duke of Meiningen granted the use of his hunting lodge in Bad Liebenstein for Fröbel to train the first women as Kindergarten teachers."
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