third gift

The cube of the second gift is the basis of the third gift. Eight cubes are presented to the child in the form of a single larger cube. As each cube is removed, different shapes emerge. The eight blocks can them be arranged to create:

• Knowledge Forms - mathematical and logical ideas such as number, proportion, equivalence and order. These ideas serve to define natural divisions of the gift and to suggest ways of rearranging or transforming these parts.
• Life Forms - represent things that can be seen in the outside world; buildings, house, table, sofa or tree.
• Beauty Forms - blocks arranged on a grid without stacking to have some kind of symmetry to form patterns viewed as ornament.

The importance of the grid on which the blocks were arranged is often overlooked. While many people have observed that the praire schools buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright look as if they were built with Froebel Blocks, the extensive use of grids in his buildings may be another influence from his experiences with his Froebel Blocks.

understanding block play

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