This stimulating book brings together contributions from distinguished practitioners, who demonstrate how they have used educational methods advocated by Froebel in contemporary settings. Stressing the importance of outdoor play, they explore the Froebelian principles of:

- Play

- Learning through firsthand experience

- Parent partnership and community in early childhood

- Practitioners supporting children's interests and learning

- Finger rhymes and action songs

- Movement

- The garden and forests

- Wooden blockplay

- Use of clay, paint, junk modelling, construction kits

The book emphasises how learning and the application of knowledge become possible through play. It contrasts the Froebel approach with the methods such as Montessori, Steiner and recent approaches to play such as post-Modern 'playfulness'. This book is relevant to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Early Childhood Education, as well as students following QTS and EYPS, PGCE, CPD and BEd courses.

Tina Bruce CBE is an Honorary Visiting Professor in Early Childhood at the University of Roehampton.