Caring for babies and children under three: the contribution of Froebelian principles

This chapter is intended to offer an illustration of how Froebel’s ideas can be seen to underpin and inform much current early education practice from birth to three. In the chapter, we show this in five crucial areas of early years practice: • Observation; • Babies’ and young children’s special relationships in nursery; • The treasure basket and heuristic play; • How work with babies and under threes is understood and supported; • The contribution of songs and singing in nursery practice. The chapter draws on research that examined Froebel's original texts, which were used as pedagogical tools for the exploration in partnership with practitioners of contemporary policy and practice in early childhood settings.