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Article: Construction Toys
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Construction Toys
Construction toys have been popular with generations of children. The underlying principle is that construction is basically a matter of assembly: a series of basic components are provided, designed to allow children to create objects of their own design that can later be taken apart again and rebuilt as something different. Construction thus becomes creative, and the child is in control.
Toys have become an essential asset in the pedagogical repertoire. Among the first were Friedrich Froebel's "gifts," which were widely distributed in Europe and North America in the second half of the nineteenth century. Froebel was inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Romantic ...