Color-enhanced portrait of Friedrich Wilhelm August Fr繹bel (April 21, 1782 - June 21, 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. In 1826 he published his main literary work, Die Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man) and founded the weekly publication Die erziehenden Familien (The Educating Families). He dedicated himself almost exclusively to preschool child education. In 1840 he coined the word kindergarten for the Play and Activity Institute he had founded in 1837. He designed the educational play materials known as Froebel Gifts, or Frobelgaben, which included geometric building blocks and pattern activity blocks. His great insight was to recognize the importance of the activity of the child in learning. He died in 1852 at the age of 70. His building forms and movement games are forerunners of abstract art as well as a source of inspiration to the Bauhaus movement. He died in 1852 at the age of 70.