Froebel, like his mentor, Professor Christian Samuel Weist who constructed theories about nature's laws of crystallite formation, catagorized crystals according to their shape by observing systematic variations in their forms, planes, symmetries and growth. From this point, Froebel recognized and believed that all living things, but especially plant forms, spring from the same laws of growth as crystals do.
In short, Froebel found an answer to his view of nature as the handiwork of a higher power. From the unifying geometric patterns observed among diverse crystallite forms, Froebel discovered God. What seemed obvious to Froebel about living things could be seen and learned by anyone by examining common table salt and rock formations of the earth.
Unity transcended structure once Froebel discovered that the pencil and straightedge were instruments for transferring the essence of life onto paper and bound in books. Crystal forms, unlike leaves, flowers and shells could be copied using wood and cardboard and manipulated as though they were actually the mathematical formulas and expressions used to describe them.
Since crystals are combinations of triangles, tetrahedrons, squares and cubes, Froebel reasoned that handling and manipulating models of these naturally occurring geometrical forms would result in the growth of children, people and societies. His intense study of crystals as fundamental building blocks of life led to the creation of the world's first Kindergarten.
Reference: Inventing Kindergarten, Norman Brosterman, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1997.
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