aeolian harps and how to make them

      The simplest pattern of an Aeolian harp is that which fits into any ordinary window frame.

      A box of thin, straight-grained, well-planed pine is glued together, having a length equal to that of the width of the window for which it is destined, a depth of four or five inches, and a breadth of five or six inches. The wood of which it is made is carefully planed on both sides, and is not over an eighth of an inch in thickness, and the joints are as true and clean as it is possible to make them. The more carefully the box is made the better will be the tone of the instrument.

       The bridges in all Aeolian harps are of some hard wood, such as oak, box or elm, and are glued on to the face of the sounding case. They are about half an inch high and a quarter of an inch thick.

The strings are of catgut, tightened by pegs screwed into the edges of the case, which are occasionally strengthened for the purpose by a thin fillet of beech. The strings are tuned in unison.

      Three inches above them is placed a thin board, supported upon four pegs, one at each corner of the case.

      The harp is rested on the bottom of the window frame, and the sash is brought down upon the upper board. The air passes in and out between this board and the sounding box, the strings are set in vibration, and so give off that soft, melodious murmur which, in a more subdued tone, is heard near telegraph posts when the wires are shaken by the wind.

      This is the ordinary Aeolian harp, but there are many more complicated forms of the instrument in existence. The Aeolians of the four Strasburg Cathedral towers, for instance, are well known to tourists. 

      At the castle of Baden Baden also the harps are a great attraction, and we here give a sketch of one of the loudest of these celebrated instruments (Fig. 1).

      It is set well back in the gallery, and the window opening is gradually contracted by the curious shed, of which one side is removed to show the construction, the air passing out through the grating, which is only slightly wider than the harp.

      Of the harp itself we give the plan and section (Fig. 2), and to avoid frictions, we retain its original measurement in meters and centimeters--sixty-one centimeters being as nearly as possible two feet, and a meter being a hundred centimeters, or thirty-nine inches and three-eighths.

      It will be noticed that this pattern of the instrument has strings on both sides, and that the inner edge of the box is fitted with narrow sound holes. The front of the box is of thin wood steamed into shape, and fitted round the curved ends as carefully as the sides are built into the back and belly of a violin.

       In Kircher's harp (Fig. 3), the older form, the screen fits into a window, the instrument is hung on an iron rod, and has a great many strings stretched over broad sound holes. The case is freely perforated, and is hung so as to half overlap the aperture which gives admittance to the air. 

      Kircher for a long time had the credit of being the inventor of the Aeolian harp, but it is of much earlier date. It is, in truth, a very obvious contrivance, easily made, and not susceptible of much improvement.

      In out last figure, we give its latest form, which differs from the others only in the arrangement of the screens. These are devised to throw a strong draught on to the strings, without having to be fitted into a window frame; but in this, it requires a pretty strong breeze to bring out its full tone. by James Elverson.
 

Printable article about Aeolian Harps for teachers and artisans.

   More Related Links:

• Strasbourg Cathedral
• Baden-Baden: Schloss Hohenbaden (Altes Schloss)
• The Making of an Aeolian Harp
• Aeolian (wind) harps of a wooden variety.mov
• the Little Aeolian Harp Page by Arthur Robb
• The Chicago Art Institute's School two-tier roof installation [(scroll down, klik) http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesb1.html#anchor15286 http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYj.html hexagrams Baffin Island Canada [1] (interactive, fan-controlled wind in art school gallery controlled [2] http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYk.html details http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYp.html; tuned strand and remote TRAM http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYs.html, http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYt.html] [related Meadow Piano "instrument" http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYm.html http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYn.html http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesc1.html/#anchor33428] [3]; [Chord Draft Monitor http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYu.html] [Leif Brush curriculum vitae http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/emeritus.htm] [harp-like evolution: Terrain Instruments (defined) http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/terraininstruments.html]; original Terrain Instrument's 1975 site [4] Terrain Instrument audio documentation [5] [intersecting wires over a wintry strawberry field http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYf.html http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesYONYo.html http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbrush/lbarchivesb1.html#anchor186420];
• Stoney Cross 2 - an example piece of music made on an aeolian harp.
• windharfe.m3u - a livestream of an aeolian harp at the University of Ulm (Germany).
• A website featuring recordings and images of a variety of wooden Aeolian harps designed and built by Greg Joly. [6]
• AeolianHarps.com  

"I made this windharp and recorded it on a beach in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The sounds are created randomly by the wind vibrating the strings. This is a track from my CD Windharp and Wavesong. The album tracks can be heard and downloaded at http://nickpenny.bandcamp.com/album/w... or for the physical CD visit http://www.nickpenny.com/windharp-and... There's also a video of my Paraguayan harp singing in the wind at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08kBZ...

contour drawing lesson with anna stump

       "In this video lesson I demonstrate a continuous line contour drawing technique. Drawing a face from a life model, I start at the nose, and draw the entire face and neck without lifting the pen. Contour drawings should be slow and careful." Anna Stump. 

      Ms. Stump is a teacher who is both pleasant to watch and listen to at the same time. These are very important attributes to have when making video. Students pick up on sound and visuals more than some people think they do. For this reason alone it is a worthy pursuit to list excellent video makers appropriate to the art classroom.

      Because some of Anna Stump's videos are for adult art students only, educators will need to review her videos prior to showing them to minor aged students.

the competent teacher

      I am reminded of a remark made to me recently by a gentleman in middle life, a very excellent carpenter, whom I saw watching my boys, twenty-four of them, at work making their first weld in the forging shop. He seemed intensely interested as he watched one of the young men at work. I said: "You seem to like to see the boys work. Do you understand what they are doing?" "Yes, " said he, "I worked a year once in a blacksmith shop." "Well," said I, "then I suppose this operation of welding is a very simple matter to you." "Not at all," said he; "I never made a weld in my life. I never got a chance. I kindled the fire and blew the bellows, and I did some striking for other men; but they never let me try to make a weld." Then he added, with a good deal of feeling, "These boys learn more in one week about the really essential art of forging than I learned in half a year." And the secret of it is they have a thoroughly skilled workman who is competent both to teach and to demonstrate every principle involved.--Calvin M. Woodward

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• Teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills Using Real-World Problem Solving
• Practical Skill Sets vs. Traditional Academic Subject Matter 
• Educating the Next Steve Jobs
• School Stores Teach Lifelong Skills
• Teaching Strategies

"the singing tree"

      I just love this piece of sculpture! Sometimes I collect artifacts without even knowing just how I will use them in the future and this is certainly the case here. In the future, I am sure that this video will be shown in my classroom in order to inspire young, enthusastic artists.

egyptian funerary design lesson plan

(The above image license belongs to the St. Louis Art Museum. 
Interested parties may view these collections at http://www.slam.org/)

Type of Lesson Plan: Object-based Lesson Plan/Reading Comprehension (Integrated Studies) 

Topic: Egyptian Funerary Design – Learn to Draw With a Grid 

Objectives:

•  Students will be able to transfer an Egyptian tomb image by way of a “grid” drawing process.
• Students will be able to recognize the formal characteristics of Egyptian funerary art.
• Students will be able to fill out a graphic organizer after reading with a partner an article given to him or her in class. 

Missouri Show-Me Standards: FA 3, FA 1 

ST Standards - CA 2, 3, 1.5, 1.6, 3.5 

GLE’s:

Reading – Develop and apply skills and strategies to the reading process

H. Grade 6 – Apply post-reading skills to demonstrate comprehension of text:

• Draw conclusions
• Analyze text 

Strand III: Artistic Perceptions – Investigate the nature of art and discuss responses to artworks

A. Grade 6 – Discuss how different cultures have different concepts of beauty and explain how responses to artworks from various cultures are based on both personal experience and group beliefs

Strand I: Product/Performance – Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes

C. Grade 6 – Create an original artwork that communicates ideas about the following theme

• Functions of Art in Culture 

Grade Level Targeted: Middle School (7-9) 

Number of Class Periods: three 55 minute class periods

Facility & Equipment Requirements:

• Computer for power point presentation 

Resources needed for teaching lesson:

• Power point
• Egyptian cartoons or coloring pages depicting funerary arts from tomb walls 

Materials Per Student:

• Article and graphic organizer per every two to three students
• Pencils
• Egyptian cartoon or coloring page of tomb funerary art
• Tracing paper
• Ruler
• Larger white paper to transfer grid image to 

Vocabulary Terms:

1. Funerary Art – Art used to decorate tombs with in order that the dead be honored and cared for in the next life.
2. Masons – Masons build with stone and are also stone carvers in Egypt.
3. Cartoon – This is a beginning sketch an artist works from in order to develop a larger more elaborate work of art.
4. Grid – A map designed with exact calculations in order to transfer and enlarge correct proportions or a smaller image or cartoon
5. Plaster – Plaster in Egypt was a liquid substance made from chalks/powdered clays mixed with water and glue to make a fast drying sealer/surface for ancient artists to paint into and on top of.
6. Excavation – This is the meticulous process, conducted by archeologists, of “digging out” a site where there used to be a former city or tomb that has been buried over the passing of time.
7. Limestone – Limestone is an ordinary sedimentary rock used as a building material in ancient Egypt. 

Literacy and Studio Activities:

1. Students will be divided into small groups and will read together the article called “Preparation of a Painted Tomb-chapel—The Egyptian Artist and His Methods” by Dr. William C. Hayes.
2. Students will then fill out the graphic organizer included with their packet with their small group members.
3. Small groups will then rejoin the larger class and share with all of the students parts of their graphic organizers when called upon by the instructor.
4. Students will then view the Egyptian power point.
5.  On the second day students will learn to draw a Egyptian cartoon image, (I have included a ample supply of these burned to a CD with the power points,) with a “Grid System” similar to that method used by Ancient Egyptians and on the third they may color their image.

Step-by-step:

Preparing your Image: Choose a large, clear image. You may need to scan and print out a small photograph. 

• Decide on your grid size - small enough that there is a line close to major points of the drawing (eg. each pupil and the mouth, for a portrait image) but not so small that it becomes confusing. For an 8 x 10 portrait a grid size of around half an inch up to one inch would be fine.
• Draw the grid, making sure your lines are fine, straight and clear. Fine black marker works for lighter key images, but a dark tone may need a white gel pen. A valuable photo can be placed in a plastic sleeve or wrapped in cling film, with the grid drawn in OHP marker.
• Mark the center intersection on the grid as a reference point.

Gridding the Paper:

• Using a sharp, medium pencil, lightly draw a grid on your paper. A same-sized grid is the easiest, as no adjustments need to be made. You can enlarge or reduce the size, but don't do it mathematically. You are judging rough proportions by eye, not measuring distances.
•  Darken the intersection of the center lines on the grid as a reference point. 

To draw the image, you may wish to work methodically from one side of the image, or just begin with the most obvious features.

• Edges and strong changes of tone make clear shapes in the photograph. Where one of these shapes crosses a grid-line, count how many grid-lines from your reference point the grid-line is.
• Judge how far the shape is along the square, then count across and mark this at the same point on the grid-line in your drawing.
•  Do the same again, further along the same shape - for example, the line of the chin in this drawing. Mark the point where the shape meets another grid-line, then join the two, following any bumps or curves in the shape in the photograph.
• Where a key point is away from a grid-line, such as the mouth in this example, you will need to judge the relative distance from the nearest grid-lines. In the detail image, you can see that it is estimated to be two-thirds from the lower line, and about halfway across.
• Make sure you have drawn outlines for all the key parts of your drawing. Less defined areas, such as a patch of shade or highlight, may be roughly indicated too.
•  Carefully erase your grid lines, repairing outlines as you go. Now you are ready to start shading your drawing. Take your time, and make sure you use a full range of tone.

Tips:

• Make sure your pencils are sharp, and draw your outlines as lightly as possible. Don't use too hard a pencil, as they will make dents in the paper.
• If you find it confusing knowing which grid square you are on, try numbering or color-coding them, or cover half of your image and only work on a small section at a time.
• Use the same method to help draw a still-life, placing a grid drawn on a board behind your objects - but you'll need to close one eye when viewing to remove parallax (distortion caused by the different view from each eye).

Cleanup Time & Strategy: Allow for 5 minutes of clean up at the end of the second and third days 

Assessment:

1.) For the assessment of the literacy half of the lesson, students will be asked to transfer their graphic organizers to the chalkboard as a larger group. I will look and listen to confirm that all students have the opportunity to participate in the larger discussion and I will also collect the graphic organizers and grade them.

2.) The assessment of the art project is informal and I will look for the following things:

•  Students should accurately mark off a grid on top of their “Egyptian Cartoon”
•  Students should then accurately mark off a larger mathematically accurate version of the grid on their plain white drawing paper
• Students should then color in their image with pigments similar to those they viewed previously on the power point presentation
•  Projects should be turned in on time

Copyright: Donna Grimm, 2010

Method of Egyptian Draftsmanship.

lost wax casting

      Lost-wax casting (also called by its French name, cire perdue) is the process by which a metal (such as silver, gold, brass or bronze) sculpture is cast from an artist's sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method, primarily depending on the carver's skills. In industrial uses, the modern process is called investment casting. An ancient practice, the process today varies from foundry to foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze sculptures in a modern bronze foundry are generally quite standardized. The oldest archaeological and literary evidence of Lost-wax casting can be found in India, dating back nearly 5,000 years to the Harappan period.

      Other names for the process include "lost mould," which recognizes that other materials besides wax can be used, including tallow, resin, tar, and textile; and "waste wax process" or "waste mould casting", because the mould is destroyed to unveil the cast item. Other methods of casting include open casting, bivalve mould, and piece mould. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until 18th century, when a piece-mold process came to predominate. Read more . . . 

This is a short video showing how we make our jewelry using 

a technique called lost-wax casting.

 More Related Content:

• Andre Stead Sculpture - The Bronze Casting Process
• Metal Art of Bastar Photos
• "Flash animation of lost-wax casting process". James Peniston Sculpture. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
• National Museum of Wildlife Art's Virtual Foundry
• "Casting a Medal". Sculpture. Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
• Reconstructing the Bronze Age Trundholm Sun Chariot
• 10/15/1904;The " Cire-perdue " Process of Bronze Casting

woodcut print making

      Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.

      Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (where a different block is used for each color). The art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and "xylographic" are used in connection with blockbooks, which are small books containing text and images in the same block. Single-leaf woodcut is a term for a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration. Read more . . .

More Related Content:

• Ukiyo-e from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Woodcut in Europe from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Italian Renaissance Woodcut Book Illustration from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on woodcuts
• Museum of Modern Art information on printing techniques and examples of prints.
• Woodcut in early printed books (online exhibition from the Library of Congress)
• A collection of woodcuts images can be found at the University of Houston Digital Library
• In Relief Printing Techniques French printmaker Dominique Lecomte explains how to use the technique and shows some of his work.

a master potter

      The contemporary Greek potter, Nikos Ploumakis, has "mastered" his art form. What this means is that he is capable of completing a task to perfection without thinking about how it should be accomplished. When students become a master, their performance will appear "easy." This is not because the task is easy, it is because he or she has become a master at their craft/art. This is the last stage of Development in the arts.

comic from ancient thebes recently discovered

Gotta have this one for the art classroom folks.

every art educator should know about sir kenneth robinson

           Sir Kenneth Robinson (Liverpool, 4 March 1950) is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to education.

      Originally from a working-class Liverpool family, Robinson now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Marie-Therese and children James and Kate.

      Born in Liverpool to James and Ethel Robinson, Robinson is one of seven children from a working-class background. After an industrial accident, his father became quadriplegic. Robinson contracted polio at age four. He attended Liverpool Collegiate School (1961–1963), Wade Deacon Grammar School, Cheshire (1963–1968). He then studied English and drama (B.Ed.) at University of Leeds (1968–1972) and completed a PhD in 1981 at the University of London, researching drama and theatre in education.

      From 1985 to 1989, Robinson was Director of The Arts in Schools Project, an initiative to develop the arts education throughout England and Wales. The project worked with over 2,000 teachers, artists, and administrators in a network of over 300 initiatives and influenced the formulation of the National Curriculum in England. During this period, Robinson chaired Artswork, the UK’s national youth arts development agency, and worked as advisor to Hong Kong's Academy for Performing Arts.

      For twelve years, he was professor of education at the University of Warwick, and is now professor emeritus. He has received honorary degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design, Ringling College of Arts and Design, the Open University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Birmingham City University and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. He has been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the United States, the LEGO Prize for international achievement in education, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2005, he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s "Principal Voices". In 2003, he was made Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.

      In 1998, he led a UK commission on creativity, education, and the economy and his report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture, and Education was influential. The Times said of it: "This report raises some of the most important issues facing business in the 21st century. It should have every CEO and human resources director thumping the table and demanding action". Robinson is credited with creating a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, publishing Unlocking Creativity, a plan implemented across the region, and mentored the Oklahoma Creativity Project. In 1998, he chaired the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education.

      A popular speaker at TED conferences, Robinson has given two presentations on the role of creativity in education, viewed by millions. In 2005, Robinson was named as one of Principal Voices (A Time Magazine, Fortune, CNN joint initiative). In 2010, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce animated one of Robinson's speeches about changing "education paradigms". The video was viewed nearly half a million times in its first week on YouTube.

      Learning Through Drama: Report of The Schools Council Drama Teaching (1977) was the result of a three-year national development project for the UK Schools Council. Robinson was principal author of The Arts in Schools: Principles, Practice, and Provision (1982), now a key text on arts and education internationally. He edited The Arts and Higher Education, (1984), co-wrote The Arts in Further Education (1986), Arts Education in Europe, and Facing the Future: The Arts and Education in Hong Kong,.

      Robinson's 2001 book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (Wiley-Capstone), was described by Director magazine as "a truly mind-opening analysis of why we don’t get the best out of people at a time of punishing change." John Cleese said of it: ‘Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored in Western culture and especially in our educational systems.’

      The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, was published in January 2009 by Penguin. The element refers to the experience of personal talent meeting personal passion. He argues that in this encounter, we feel most ourselves, most inspired, and achieve to our highest level. The book draws on the stories of creative artists such as Paul McCartney, 'Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, Meg Ryan, and physicist Richard Feynman to investigate this paradigm of success. (Wikipedia)

• Sir Ken Robinson's website
• Ken Robinson (educationalist) on Twitter
• Bring on the Learning Revolution!TED Conference Talk, 2010
• Why schools kill creativity-The case for an education system that nurtures creativity: TED Conference talk, Monterey, California, 2006
• In-depth interview on creativity
• Sir Ken Robinson interviewed on Conversations from Penn State
• IMNO Open Source Mentoring interview with Robinson
• Liverpool pupils interview Robinson, 2008
• London students interview Robinson, London International Music Show, 2008
• Podcast interview with DK from MediaSnackers, 2007
• "Changing (Education) Paradigms" by Sir Ken Robinson - video adapted by the Royal Society of Arts
• RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigm
• A New View of Human Capacity at Los Angeles Public Library, January 2009
• The Element discussion at The Aspen Institute, July 2008

Who Was Friedrich Fröbel?

Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel.

       Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel (or Froebel)  April 21, 1782 – June 21, 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. He created the concept of the “kindergarten” and also coined the word now used in German and English. He also developed the educational toys known as Froebel Gifts.  

      Friedrich Fröbel was born at Oberweißbach in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in Thuringia. His father, who died in 1802, was the pastor of the orthodox Lutheran (alt-lutherisch) parish there. The church and Lutheran Christian faith were pillars in Fröbel's own early education. Oberweißbach was a wealthy village in the Thuringian Forest and had been known centuries long for its natural herb remedies, tinctures, bitters, soaps and salves. Families had their own inherited areas of the forest where herbs and roots were grown and harvested. Each family prepared, bottled, and produced their individual products which were taken throughout Europe on trade routes passed from father to son, who were affectionately called "Buckelapotheker" or Rucksack Pharmacists. They adorned the church with art acquired from their travels, many pieces of which can still be seen in the renovated structure. The pulpit from which Fröbel heard his father preach is the largest in all Europe and can fit a pastor and 12 men, a direct reference to Christ's apostles.

      Shortly after Fröbel's birth, his mother's health began to fail. She died when he was nine months old, profoundly influencing his life. In 1792, Fröbel went to live in the small town of Stadt-Ilm with his uncle, a gentle and affectionate man. At the age of 15 Fröbel, who loved nature, became the apprentice to a forester. In 1799, he decided to leave his apprenticeship and study mathematics and botany in Jena. From 1802 to 1805, he worked as a land surveyor.

      On 11 September 1818, Fröbel wed Wilhelmine Henriette Hoffmeister (b. 1780) in Berlin. The union was childless. Wilhelmine died in 1839, and Fröbel married again in 1851. His second wife was Louise Levin. 

      He began as an educator in 1805 at the Musterschule (a secondary school) in Frankfurt, where he learnt about Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s ideas. He later worked with Pestalozzi in Switzerland where his ideas further developed. From 1806 Fröbel was the live-in teacher for a Frankfurt noble family’s three sons. He lived with the three children from 1808 to 1810 at Pestalozzi’s institute in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland.

      In 1811, Fröbel once again went back to school in Göttingen and Berlin, eventually leaving without earning a certificate. He became a teacher at the Plamannsche Schule in Berlin, a boarding school for boys, and at that time also a pedagogical and patriotic centre.

      During his service in the Lützow Free Corps in 1813 and 1814 – when he was involved in two campaigns against Napoleon – Fröbel befriended Wilhelm Middendorf, a theologian and fellow pedagogue, and Heinrich Langethal, also a pedagogue. After Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna, Fröbel found himself a civilian once again and became an assistant at the Museum of Mineralogy under Christian Samuel Weiss. This did not, however, last very long, and by 1816 he had quit and founded the Allgemeine Deutsche Erziehungsanstalt (“German General Education Institute”) in Griesheim near Arnstadt in Thuringia. A year later he moved this to Keilhau near (now in) Rudolstadt. In 1831, work was continued there by the other cofounders Wilhelm Middendorf and Heinrich Langethal.

      In 1820, Fröbel published the first of his five Keilhau pamphlets, An unser deutsches Volk (“To Our German People”). The other four were published between then and 1823.

      In 1826 he published his main literary work, Die Menschenerziehung (“The Education of Man”) and founded the weekly publication Die erziehenden Familien (“The Educating Families”). In 1828 and 1829 he pursued plans for a people’s education institute (Volkserziehungsanstalt) in Helba (nowadays a constituent community of Meiningen), but they were never realized.

      From 1831 to 1836, Fröbel once again lived in Switzerland. In 1831 he founded an educational institute in Wartensee (Lucerne). In 1833 he moved this to Willisau, and from 1835 to 1836, he headed the orphanage in Burgdorf (Berne), where he also published the magazine Grundzüge der Menschenerziehung (“Features of Human Education”). In 1836 appeared his work Erneuerung des Lebens erfordert das neue Jahr 1836 (“The New Year 1836 Calls For the Renewal of Life”).

He returned to Germany, dedicated himself almost exclusively to preschool child education and began manufacturing playing materials in Bad Blankenburg. In 1837 he founded a care, playing and activity institute for small children in Bad Blankenburg. From 1838 to 1840 he also published the magazine Ein Sonntagsblatt für Gleichgesinnte (“A Sunday Paper for the Like-Minded”).

In 1840 he coined the word kindergarten for the Play and Activity Institute he had founded in 1837 at Bad Blankenburg for young children, together with Wilhelm Middendorf and Heinrich Langethal. These two men were Fröbel’s most faithful colleagues when his ideas were also transplanted to Keilhau near Rudolstadt.

      He designed the educational play materials known as Froebel Gifts, or Fröbelgaben, which included geometric building blocks and pattern activity blocks. A book entitled Inventing Kindergarten, by Norman Brosterman, examines the influence of Friedrich Fröbel on Frank Lloyd Wright and modern art.

      Friedrich Fröbel's great insight was to recognise the importance of the activity of the child in learning. He introduced the concept of “free work” (Freiarbeit) into pedagogy and established the “game” as the typical form that life took in childhood, and also the game’s educational worth. Activities in the first kindergarten included singing, dancing, gardening and self-directed play with the Froebel Gifts. Fröbel intended, with his Mutter- und Koselieder – a songbook that he published – to introduce the young child into the adult world.

      These ideas about childhood development and education were introduced to academic and royal circles through the tireless efforts of his greatest proponent, the Baroness (Freiherrin) Bertha Marie von Marenholtz-Bülow. Through her Fröbel made the acquaintance of the Royal House of the Netherlands, various Thuringian dukes and duchesses, including the Romanov wife of the Grand Duke von Sachsen-Weimar. Baroness von Marenholtz-Bülow, Duke von Meiningen and Fröbel gathered donations to support art education for children in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Goethe. The Duke of Meiningen granted the use of his hunting lodge, called Marienthal (the Vale of Mary) in the resort town of Bad Liebenstein for Fröbel to train the first women as Kindergarten teachers (called Kindergärtnerinnen).

      Fröbel died on 21 June 1852 in Marienthal, now a constituent community of Schweina. His grave can still be found in the cemetery at Schweina, where his widow, who died in Hamburg, was also buried on 10 January 1900.

      Fröbel’s idea of the kindergarten found appeal, but its spread in Germany was thwarted by the Prussian government, whose education ministry banned it on 7 August 1851 as “atheistic and demagogic” for its alleged “destructive tendencies in the areas of religion and politics”. Other states followed suit. The reason for the ban, however, seems to have been a confusion of names. Fröbel’s nephew Karl Fröbel had written and published Weibliche Hochschulen und Kindergärten (“Female Colleges and Kindergartens”), which apparently met with some disapproval. To quote Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, “The stupid minister von Raumer has decreed a ban on kindergartens, basing himself on a book by Karl Fröbel. He is confusing Friedrich and Karl Fröbel.”

      Fröbel’s student Margarethe Schurz founded the first kindergarten in the United States at Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856, and she also inspired Elizabeth Peabody, who went on to found the first English-speaking kindergarten in the United States – the language at Schurz’s kindergarten had been German, to serve an immigrant community – in Boston in 1860. This paved the way for the concept’s spread in the USA. The German émigré Adolph Douai had also founded a kindergarten in Boston in 1859, but was obliged to close it after only a year. By 1866, however, he was founding others in New York City.

      The pedagogue August Köhler was the initiator and cofounder in 1863 of the Deutscher Fröbelverein (“German Fröbel Association”), first for Thuringia, out of which grew the Allgemeiner Fröbelverein (“General Fröbel Association”) in 1872, and a year later the Deutscher Fröbelverband (“German Fröbel Federation”). August Köhler critically analyzed and evaluated Fröbel theory, adopted fundamental notions into his own kindergarten pedagogy and expanded on these, developing an independent “Köhler Kindergarten Pedagogy”. He first trained kindergarten teachers in Gotha in 1857. In the beginning, Köhler had thought to engage male educators exclusively, but far too few applied.

      Thekla Naveau founded in October 1853 the first kindergarten in Sondershausen and on 1 April 1867 the first kindergarten after the Prussian ban was lifted in Nordhausen.

      Angelika Hartmann founded in 1864 the first kindergarten after Fröbel’s model in Köthen, Anhalt.

In 1908 and 1911, kindergarten teacher training was recognized in Germany through state regulatory laws.

      In the meantime, there are many kindergartens in Germany named after Fröbel that continue his pedagogy. Many of them have sprung from parental or other private initiatives. The biggest Fröbel association, Fröbel e.V., today runs more than 100 kindergartens and other early childhood institutions throughout the country through the Fröbel-Gruppe.

      Committed to Fröbel’s legacy is also the Neuer Thüringer Fröbelverein (NTFV; “New Thuringian Fröbel Association”), and in particular to protecting the legacy’s business receipts. As well, the Association runs a school museum and the Fröbel Archive in Keilhau. Furthermore it engages itself in Fröbel institutions worldwide (United States, United Kingdom, Japan). Through this network, the NTFV further continues one of the most prominent lines of modern pedagogy from the authentic “Fröbel town” of Keilhau. The Fröbel Diploma, now conferred by the Fröbel Academy in Rudolstadt, can also be traced back to the NTFV. All this ensures that Fröbel’s ideas will live on into the future.

      Fröbel’s building forms and movement games are also forerunners of abstract art as well as a source of inspiration to the Bauhaus movement. In Fröbel’s honor, Walter Gropius designed the Friedrich Fröbel Haus.

      In 1892 followers of Fröbel established a college of teacher education in South West London to continue his traditions. Froebel College is now a constituent college of Roehampton University and is home to the university's department of education. The University of Roehampton Library is also home to the Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies, a collection of books, archives, photographs, objects and multi-media materials, centring on Friedrich Fröbel’s educational legacy, early years and elementary education. The Demonstration School, originally located at Colet Court, Kensington, has evolved into Ibstock Place School, Roehampton.

• Froebel College, Roehampton University, London
• Friedrich Fröbel website
• Friedrich Froebel Memorial
• The Means and Ways of Occupation in The Kindergarten

introducing preschoolers to play dough

The Seven Playdough Activities That Develop Learning Are: 

1. A playdough treasure hunt helps little ones identify surface differences and is a sensory activity developing coordination that encourages inspection and observation.
2. Practice cutting playdough with scissors in order to develop small motor skills and eye-hand coordination.
3. Building with playdough, the most obvious of learning activities, teaches spacial relationships and self-confidence.
4. Cutting shapes and recognizing colors prepares them for reading.
5. Calling out shapes, numbers and words for your child to sculpt, helps them practice what they have learned.
6. Making playdough helps children to learn measurements, take direction, and cooperate in a group.
7. Guessing scents helps them make sensory connections.

      All of the activities above not only support the development of art skills but also promote those skills connected to reading, math, and physical education. So much of what preschoolers and kindergarteners learn in art is directly connected to those learning skills needed to excel in different fields of study.
      This is true for older students as well, but, much more difficult for a few administrators and many politicians to accept. Art is the subject most frequently cut from public school curriculum when budgets are tight. It is seldom included in state examinations for this reason. Public schools want the ability to cut art out of their schools should the money become sparse. So, they refuse to include art in the student's testing. No tests, no need to keep art teachers employed . . . capeash?

• Click here for more edible playdough recipes.
• Creative Teaching. Making play dough
• 10 Benefits of Playing with Playdough

where is the organ grinder's monkey?

The organ grinder's monkey is hiding; where has he gone?

Where is the lady's suitor?

Find the lovely lady's suitor in this puzzle picture.

Where is Huckleberry Finn?

Find Huckleberry Finn in this portrait of Mark Twain.

Here is Huckleberry; he is resting the back of his head on Mr. Twain's shoulder. He has a hat on and his torso is bent forward. I have a bunch of these puzzles to put up yet. My youngest found him pretty quick. As I said, it helps to print these puzzles out and spin them around. Good luck with the next one!

Old Pinkie Primar Cartoon

Old Pinkie Primar Cartoon about pur r r r fect grades.

Tragedies of Childhood

When teacher intercepted the love note you tried to pass to your little sweetheart and made you read it aloud to the whole school. Wasn't it simply fierce?

Inquisitive Clarence in Sunday School

Inquisitive Clarence asks his Sunday School teacher to further explain Noah's Ark.

Decoratin' The Board

"Wilbor if you could only spell as well as you can draw, I would have more hopes for you."

Investigations concerning school boys

"Frank E. Lakey, a teacher in the English high school, has just announced the results of his investigation of boys. He says that boys are at their best at 10 a.m. and at their worst at 4 in the afternoon."

murals painted by young students

      I took the following photographs of the student murals in the elementary school where I work. I am not yet sure about when the murals were painted. I work with kids here in an after school program and have yet to speak with someone who knows the original history of the murals. I thought my readers might be interested in them, however. These are so bright and cheerful. Perhaps some of you may be thinking about doing a similar project with your young students?