Froebel teaching handiwork...

Froebel's second and first gifts.

The Paradise of Childhood told of Froebel's second wife's relationship with the Froebel family. She was only 18 months old when she first met Froebel and he was already an adult at the time. As a five year old she remembered her brothers going to visit one of Froebel's early schools and her story  includes the following:

"... her brothers were allowed an outing at Keilhau, and on their return they were constantly talking about the happy life of the boys who were at school there, and of the kindness of "Uncle Froebel," meaning Friedrich, to them. They also brought back with them many things which the pupils there had given them as samples of their own handiwork, models of toys, furniture and machines, cut out from wood or cardboard and pasted together."

As you can see, even in the early days of Froebel's school, students were busy crafting objects of interest to their learning. The multicolored gift balls in the photo above were made in Nepal and available from Etsy. Felting offers a simpler approach to making a ball than crochet, and if a person chooses not to create on his own, buying objects crafted by others is the next best thing.

On a completely different subject, the Arkansas Public Service Commission has given itself until Monday to make a ruling in AEP/SWEPCO' Shipe Road to Kings River  extra high voltage power line application. Their decision in favor of this project would give the power company the right to use eminent domain to take and destroy property across the Eureka Springs area for a power line of enormous proportions, and with a vast clear cut right of way, making the place ugly for the millions of visitors that come here for beauty. My fingers are crossed that all our opposition and sound argument against the stupidity of SWEPCO's project will sway the commission and stop the power company from building it.

Make, fix and create...