age, and during his first
four years of life his father was entirely engrossed with parish
duties, and the child had only occasional supervision from a
hard-worked servant. Thus it happened that he was frequently alone
long hours at a time in a dusky room overshadowed by the neighboring
church, and naturally strayed often to the window, from whence he
might look down upon the busy world outside. He recalls that he was
greatly interested at one time in some workmen who were repairing the
church, and that he constantly turned from his post of observation to
try and imitate their labors, but his only building material was the
furniture of the room, and chairs and tables clumsily resisted his
efforts to pile them up into suitable form. He tells us that this
strong desire for building and the bitter disappointment of his
repeated failures were still keenly remembered when he was a grown
man, and thus suggested to him that children ought to be provided with
materials for building among their playthings. He often noticed also,
in later years, that all children seem to have the building instinct,
corresponding to what Dr. Seguin calls "the building mania in the
infancy of peoples," and that "to make a house is the universal form
of unguided play."[37]

[37] "One of the greatest and most universal delights of
children is to construct for themselves a habitation of some
sort, either in the garden or indoors, where chairs have
generally to serve their purpose. Instinct leads them, as it
does all animals, to procure shelter and protection for their
persons, individual outward self-existence and
independence."--Bertha von Marenholtz-Buelow, _Child and Child
Nature_.

We now understand the meaning of the gift, the reason for its
importance in Froebel's plan, and its capabilities as a vehicle for
delightful instruction.

Classes of Forms.

There are three different classes of forms for dictation and
invention, variously named by kindergartners.

1. Life forms, or upright forms, which are seen in the child's daily
life, as a pair of boots, a chair, table, bed, or sofa. Froebel calls
them also object forms, or forms of things.

("The child demands that the object constructed stand in connection
with himself, his life, or somebody or something in his
life."--Froebel.)

2. Mathematical forms, or various combinations of the blocks, upright
and supine, for mathematical exercises. They correspond