Friedrich Froebel, German, invented
kindergarten. He was a teacher, author and toy maker. His experience
as an educator led him to the conclusion that playtime can be very
instructive; an essential part of a child’s education. He founded
the first kindergarten for this purpose in 1837 in Blankenburg,
Germany.
Froebel also invented of a series of toys designed to stimulate
learning. He called them gifts. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's
mother gave her son some of these gifts in the form of maple wood
blocks. Wright often spoke of the value the gifts had brought him
throughout his life.
The first public kindergarten in the U.S. was started by Conrad
Poppenhusen in College Point, Queens, New York in 1870.