cutting cubes...

Back in the days when Froebel was inventing Kindergarten, he was on a tight budget, but had been a forester's apprentice in an earlier day We have evidence that he whittled many of the "gifts" that he used to teach children. And so his participation in craftsmanship is undisputed.

If I were Freidrich Froebel, and had only hand tools and had access only to materials I could buy today at the local lumber yard, how would I make blocks? A common miter box is the best, along with a hand saw. The saw shown in the photo is similar to one that Froebel might have had. It can be kept sharp with a file and regular attention, and so a man with little money might become the inventor of Kindergarten, a task which would require the making of hundreds of small, regularly formed wooden blocks.

I used a spruce 2 x 4 for the needed materials. Froebel may have cut and squared his stock from lumber readily available in his own community just as I have done here. the quick video below shows the use of the fingers and thumb as calipers. As you rotate the ball in your hands, you feel high spots and note their locations. Then whittle.



Make, fix and create...