Experts agree that high-quality early childhood education promotes the healthy cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of young children. Decades' worth of evidence shows that the highest quality early education is child-centred and play-based. And yet, in many places, early childhood education today is dominated by skills-based, academically-oriented, test-focused teaching.

We seek to change that.

As an organisation of educators, university-based researchers, and early years providers, the IFS provides an international forum for the development of the principles of child-centred and play-based educational theory and practice, especially but not exclusively those associated with the inventor of the Kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852).

Announcing The Kindergarten Heritage Collection of New Zealand

The Kindergarten Heritage Collection of New Zealand was launched in late 2016 and is a vibrant, ongoing history project of the country's national kindergarten organizations. The items selected for the launch are exemplars of the kind of material intended for p...

1817-2017: Two Centuries of ‘Froebel the Pedagogue’ in Keilhau

With the IFS as patron, The Thuringia (Germany) Froebel Association and JugendSozialwerk Nordhausen e. V. are hosting a number of events in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of Froebel's first educational institution, “Allgemeine Deutsche Er...

7th Biennial IFS Conference (June 2016): A rousing success!

Thanks to our conference organizers, especially Andrea Matheis and others at the Fröbelseminar in Kassel, and the many participants for making the IFS 7th Biennial Conference such a marvellously productive and enjoyable event! Watch this space for a ...

Academics vs. Play: The False Dilemma That Some Principals Face (NAEYC blog)

Researchers Shayna Cook and Abbie Lieberman report on the results of their investigations into whether and how US elementary school principals (primary school head teachers) understand play as learning. The news is not good! As Cook and Lieberman report, "the...