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Last updated 21/10/2025

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'The Kindergarten' by Dr Adolf Douai was published by E Steiger in New York in 1871. It is not a manual on the gifts and occupations as such. Most of the material in the book consists of songs and poetry (in both English and German). There is no specific chapter on paperfolding. However, in the chapter on 'The Play of Drawing according to Froebel's System', which is an exemplar of the way in which Froebel's occupations (or 'plays') should be used in the kindergarten, paperfolding is mentioned as an additional way of demonstrating some mathematical principles.

The more important element of the work as far as paperfolding history is concerned is that it is the earliest book to contain Steiger's Catalogue of kindergarten books and equipment which provides a list of 20 gifts (of which three relate to the folding of paper).

A full copy of the work can be found online here.

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Selected Pages from Steiger's catalogue

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The three paperfolding gifts are:

Ausschneiden und Aufkleben

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Verschnuren

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Falten

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