Play and Games – the play materials created by Jena-based designer Dr Fridlind Siebrecht

Fridlind Siebrecht is one of Thuringia’s leading toy designers and belongs to the group of Thuringian women who have made a significant contribution to toy design. The exhibition in Erfurt now features mainly the wooden toys she has designed, which are produced by the company FRIDLIN Holzspielzeug Döschnitz. What makes Siebrecht’s toys special is that each one presents its players (children up to early school age) with a specific task or challenge. Her toys are conceived purely in terms of play, focused entirely on the act of playing, and consistently designed with a purist approach to play. For her, play is still “a fascinating activity”. Her toys can also be used for therapeutic purposes.

Fridlind Siebrecht was born in 1941 in Bad Muskau, Saxony. She grew up in Jena, Thuringia. From 1960 to 1964, she studied the Arts and German at the Erfurt Institute of Education, the predecessor of the Erfurt University of Education and now the University of Erfurt. From 1966 to 1971, she studied toy design at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle (Saale). She taught and conducted research at Burg Giebichenstein and worked as a toy designer at VEB Kösener Spielzeug in Bad Kösen. In 1981, she defended her doctoral dissertation at the Erfurt University of Education. In 1995, she began her collaboration with the company FRIDLIN Holzspielzeug Döschnitz. This fruitful partnership with this toy manufacturer continues to this day.

With this exhibition, the educationalist and toy designer is now returning to her roots in Erfurt. The exhibition places Siebrecht’s extensive body of work in the context of the educational philosophy of Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852). For Fröbel, the Thuringian educator whose educational philosophy continues to be recognised internationally to this day, also inspired Dr Fridlind Siebrecht’s work.

Two publications have been released to accompany the exhibition:

• Schmid, Andrea Christine (ed.) u.a.: Fröbel - Wirkung – Spielgaben: die Spielmittel der Gestalterin Dr. Fridlind Siebrecht: catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same name, 19.10. bis 23.12.2026, at the Erfurt University Library, 1st edition (150 copies). [Erfurt]: Fröbel Research Centre, University of Erfurt; Erfurt: in collaboration with Edition tausend hold + immer schön. Texte zur Kunst, 2026. 199 pages: illustrations; 22 cm. ISBN 978-3-9823735-6-0 (Edition tausend hold + immer schön)
• Siebrecht, Fridlind: Systematische und grundlegende Gedanken zur Spielmittelgestaltung. 1st edition (150 copies). Erfurt: Edition tausend hold + immer schön. Texte zur Kunst, 2026. 104 pages: illustrations, portraits; 22 cm. ISBN 978-3-9823735-7-7