This study focuses on pre-school education in Bohemia during the nineteenth century, in particular during its second half. It pays attention to the relevant educational structures, their development and the influence of foreign (German and French) education models. This contribution is especially concerned with the exchanges between Marie Riegrová – the founder of nursery schools in Prague – and Marie Pape-Carpantier, a major representative of French pre-school education. The objective of this study is to explain pre-school education strategies that were used to pursue Czech national interests, and to describe the use of models that Marie Pape-Carpantier upheld in her specialised publications. The study deals with the translation of one of this French author’s work, the Conseils sur la direction des salles d’asiles, which was introduced to Czech readership by one of her Czech students in Prague. Last but not least, the article addresses the (rather limited) influence of other works by Carpantier on Czech pre-school education.