Play Has Meaning in Life: Reflections on 100 Years of the “Inductive Curriculum” in Early Years Education

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Author Note:

I would like to thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing. This work was supported by the Froebel Trust under Grant [number RCH-AP-00271-2021-G].

All photos except that of Tokyo Station are courtesy of Ochanomizu University Kindergarten.

Disclosure Statement:

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The Subcommittee on Curriculum of the Bureau of Education Committee of the International Kindergarten Union. (1919). The Kindergarten Curriculum. Washington Government Printing Office.

2 Tsumori, M. (1979). 子ども学のはじまり. [The beginning of a child study]. Froebel-Kan.

3 Woods, A. (Ed.). (2017). Child-initiated play and learning: Planning for possibilities in the early years. Routledge.

4 Kurahashi, S. (1935). 幼稚園保育法真諦. [The essence of kindergarten practice]. Toyo Tosho.

5 Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. Solis Press. Reprinted 2014.

6 Nishi, R. (2023). 遊び・イメージ・関係性 (1) 誘導保育の原点に見るイメージの役割と意義. [Play, image, and relatedness (I) The role and significance of images in the origins of yudo-hoiku: The practice of a child-centered pedagogy in a Japanese kindergarten in the 1930s.] 幼児の教育, 122(1), 52-59.

7 Langs, R. (1976). The bipersonal field. Jason Aronson.