"I wish to find the right forms for awakening the higher
senses of the child: what symbol does my ball offer to him?
That of unity."
"The ball connects the child with nature as much as the
universe connects man with God." FRIEDRICH FROEBEL.
"Line in nature is not found, Unit and Universe are round."
"Nature centres into balls." R. W. EMERSON.
"From thy hand
The worlds were cast; yet every leaflet claims
From that same hand its little shining sphere
Of starlit dew." O. W. HOLMES.
"The Small, a sphere as perfect as the Great
To the soul's absoluteness." ROBERT BROWNING.
1. The first gift consists of six soft woolen balls colored in the six
standard colors derived from the spectrum, namely, red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, and violet.
The balls should be provided with strings for use in the various
motions.[1]
[1] "The string unites the ball, symbol of the outer world,
with the child, and is the means by which it can act upon his
inner nature." (E. G. Seymour.)
2. Froebel chose the ball as the first gift because it is the simplest
shape, and the one from which all others may subsequently be derived;
the shape most easily grasped by the hand as well as by the mind. It
is an object which attracts by its pleasing color, and one which,
viewed from all directions, ever makes the same impression.[2]
[2] "The Egyptians and the Greeks hung geometrical forms over
their cradles, so as to strike the eyes of the child with
lawful relations. Froebel introduces colored balls for the
same purpose, which, considering the psychological and
emotional condition of the child, leads to the joyful
conception of motion, color, and life." (Emma Marwedel.)
3. The most important characteristics of the gift are Unity, Activity,
Color.
The various colors serve to distinguish these several playmates of the
child by special characteristics, and enable him to make his first
clear analyses or abstractions, since the color is the only point
wherein the objects differ. This contrast in color results in the
abstraction of color from form.
4. Since the ball is the most mobile of inanimate shapes, it may be
considered as the "opposite equal" of the living organism. The
quickness and ease of its motion as well as its elasticity cause the
child to regard it as instinct with life, while its softness renders
him able to grasp and handle it readily.
Its material is also of great advantage in that it lessens the
possibility of startling noises which would distract the child from
the contemplation of its qualities. By its use, he is first led to
observation, and then to self-expression. As the simplest type-form
as well as the most universal, it offers a satisfactory basis for the
classification of objects in general; while its indefiniteness and
adaptability make it a useful medium for the expression of the child's
vague ideas. With the ball we give first impressions of _Unity_,
_Form_, _Color_, _Material_, _Mobility_, _Motion_, _Direction_, and
_Position_. The ball songs and plays are used as the first exercises
in language, singing, and rhythm.
5. As the kindergarten gifts are designed to serve as an alphabet of
form, by whose use the child may learn to read all material objects,
it follows that they must form an organically connected sequence,
moving in logical order from an object which contains all qualities,
but directly emphasizes none, to objects more specialized in nature,
and therefore more definitely suggestive as to use.
"Each successive gift in the series must not only be implicit in, but
demanded by, its predecessor;" so Froebel selects the ball, with its
simplicity but great adaptability, for the starting-point of his
series.
6. Connected contrasts of Motion, Direction, and Position are shown in
the first gift. By the use of pigments, the so-called secondary
colors, purple, orange, and green, may be produced from the opposite
hues, red and blue, red and yellow, and blue and yellow.
"The mind is aroused to attention and led to comparison by contrasts;
on the groundwork of comparison, it is enabled to do the work of
classification, of clear abstraction, of the formation of definite
ideas by the connection of these contrasts."[3]
[3] "Suppose, e. g., that the child, by dint of repeated and
varied playing with the blue ball of the first gift, has
succeeded in getting a tolerably clear notion of the blue
ball. If then you bring the yellow ball to his notice, his
mind will be led to examine more closely and to compare the
two playthings, resembling each other so fully in every
respect, yet differing so widely in color. The other balls of
the gift are introduced in judicious succession, offering new
yet milder contrasts: these reconcile, combine, the contrasts
first offered; they are aided in this by the colors of
surrounding objects. The child begins to feel that these
color impressions, however widely they differ, have a similar
source; he is connecting the contrasts, and as he succeeds in
this, he succeeds, too, in separating, abstracting, the
_ball_ from its _color_." (W. N. Hailmann.)
* * * * *
The Ball a Universal Plaything.
"The presentiment of truth always goes before the recognition of it,"
says Froebel; and it would seem, indeed, as it, in selecting the first
gift, he looked far back into the past of humanity, and there sought
the thread which from the beginning connects all times and leads to
the farthest future.
"The ball is the last plaything of men, as well as the first with
children." In Kreutzer's "Symbolik" we read that the educators of the
young god Bacchus gave him golden balls to play with, and also that
the youthful princes of Persia played with them, and alone had this
privilege.
It is a significant fact that we find balls even among the remains of
the Lake Dwellers of Northern Italy and Switzerland, while small,
round balls, resembling marbles, have been found in the early Egyptian
tombs. The Teutons made ball-plays national, and built houses in which
to indulge in these exercises in all sections of Germany, as late as
the close of the sixteenth century. The ancient Aztecs used the game
of ball as a training in warfare for the young men of the nation; and
that it was considered of great importance is evident from the fact
that the tribute exacted by a certain Aztec monarch from some of the
cities conquered by him consisted of balls, and amounted to sixteen
thousand annually.
The ball entered into many of the favorite games alike of the Greeks
and the Romans, the former having a special place in their gymnasiums
and a special master for it. It may be noted also that nearly all our
modern sports are based upon the effort to get possession of a ball.
Froebel's Ideas of First Gift.
Froebel considered the ball as an external counterpart of the child in
the first stages of his development, its undivided unity corresponding
to his mental condition, and its movableness to his instinctive
activity. Through its recognition he is led to separate himself from
the external world, and the external world from himself.[4]
[4] "But as he grows he gathers much,
And learns the use of 'I' and 'me,'
And finds 'I am not that I see,
And other than the things I touch.'
"So rounds he to a separate mind
From whence clear memory may begin,
As through the frame that binds him in
His isolation grows defined."
Tennyson's _In Memoriam_.
Froebel's intention was that the first gift should be used in the
nursery,[5] but as this is for the most part neglected, or imperfectly
and unwisely done, we begin the series of kindergarten play-lessons
with it, illustrating its qualities and asking questions concerning
them, always diversifying the exercises with rhymes, games, and songs.
We must remember that to the young child, as to primitive man, the
activity of an object is more pleasing than its qualities, and we
should therefore devise a series of games with the fascinating
plaything which will lead the child to learn these qualities by
practical experience.
[5] Many suggestions for the use of the ball in the nursery
may be found in Froebel's _Pedagogics of the Kindergarten_,
translated by Josephine Jarvis.
Manner of Introduction.
Before beginning any exercise we should fully decide in our own minds
the main point or points to be brought out,--Color, Form, or
Direction, for example; then, and only then, will the child gain a
clear, definite impression, and have a distinct remembrance of what we
have been trying to teach. By way of diversion, every song or rhyme in
which the ball can play a symbolic part in action, and illustrate the
point we wish to make, is of use in the lessons.[6]
[6] See _Kindergarten Chimes_ (Kate D. Wiggin), pages 22-32,
Oliver Ditson Publishing Co.
With this dainty colored plaything we begin our first bit of
education,--not instruction, mere pouring in, but true education,
drawing out, developing. The balls should be kept in a pretty basket,
as the beautiful should be cultivated in every way in the true
kindergarten; and when they are given to the class, it should be with
some little song sung by the kindergartner or one of the older
children. At the close of the lesson, as the basket is passed, each
child may gently drop his ball into it, saying simply, "Thank you for
my ball," or naming its color. At other times they may be called by
the names of fruits or flowers, the child saying, "I will give you a
cherry," or, "I will give you a violet."
Method of Introduction.
The qualities of the ball must of course be brought before the child's
observation in some more or less definite order, and it will be
profitable to consider the relative claims of Form and Color to the
first place.
We might say, correctly, that to illustrate the ball, we should begin
with its essential qualities.[7] The essential quality is Unity. Unity
depends on Form, and the ball's form never changes; therefore we might
conclude that this should be the first subject under consideration,
since we always treat of the universal properties of objects before
special ones, proceeding from homogeneous to heterogeneous. This view
of the subject is supported by Ratich's important maxim, "First the
thing, and then its properties."
[8] "The infant begins to examine forms from the commencement
of his existence; for without this knowledge it is doubtful
if he could distinguish one object from another, or even be
aware of an external world. Gradually he begins to know
objects apart and to recognize them, and in time discerns
resemblances which cause him to classify them."--W. W.
Speer's _Form Lessons_.
Conrad Diehl.
On the other hand, Conrad Diehl says: "Color is the first sensation of
which an infant is capable. With the first ray of light that enters
the retina of the eye, the presence of color forces itself on the
mind.... When light is present, color is present. The first impression
which the eye receives of an object is its color; its form is revealed
by the action of light upon its surfaces. We recognize at a distance
the color of a leaf, an apple, a flower or berry, long before we are
able distinctly to make out their forms. In the absence of light,
neither the color nor the form of an object can be seen."[8]
[8] Conrad Diehl's _Elements of Ornamentation and Color_.
Herbert Spencer.
Spencer says:[9] "The earliest impressions which the mind can
assimilate are those given to it by the undecomposable sensations,
resistance, light, sound, etc. Manifestly decomposable states of
consciousness cannot exist before the states of consciousness out of
which they are composed. There can be no idea of form until some
familiarity with light in its gradations and qualities, or resistance
in its different intensities, has been acquired; for, as has long been
known, we recognize visible form by means of varieties of light, and
tangible form by means of varieties of resistance. Similarly, no
articulate sound is cognizable until the inarticulate sounds which go
to make it up have been learned. And thus must it be in every other
case."[10]
[9] _Education_, page 130.
[10] "That priority of color to form which, as already
pointed out, has a psychological basis, and in virtue of
which psychological basis arises this strong preference in
the child, should be recognized from the very
beginning."--Spencer's _Education_.
Froebel.
The balance of authority seems to be, on the whole, upon the side of
presenting color first to the young child, as we appeal to the
emotions at this age rather than to the intellect; and while the
senses revel in color, form follows more the law of use. Let us hear,
however, what the "great pioneer of child study" says upon this point.
Froebel says, as distinct and different as color and form may be in
themselves, they are to the young child indivisible, as inseparable as
body and life. Nay, the idea of color seems to come to the child, as
perhaps to mankind in general, through the forms; so, on the other
hand, the forms gain prominence and impressiveness by the colors.
Hence ideas of colors must at first be coupled with ideas of form, and
_vice versa_; color and form are in the beginning an undivided
unity.[11]
[11] "A person born blind, and suddenly enabled to see, would
at first have no conception of _in_ or _out_ (of eye), and
would be conscious of colors only, not of objects; when by
his sense of touch he became acquainted with objects, and had
time to associate mentally the objects he touched with the
colors he saw, then, and not till then, would he begin to see
objects."--Preyer's _Mind of the Child_, page 58.
"Color cannot be abstracted from that which gives it
vitality,--i. e., Form,--from which it cannot be abstracted
without rendering the color flat and meaningless." (Geo. L.
Schreiber.)
The color and form of the ball being indissolubly blended in the
child's eyes, we can scarcely teach them separately at first. We may,
however, consider each by itself, in order to present the subject more
clearly.