Imaginative Play

Playtime offers young children time to work together, to build structures, and to develop imaginative play themes. The teachers support the child’s development in leading play, as well as in following the play of others, and encourage  their problem-solving skills. We understand that play for the young child represents work, and when they come into our kindergarten it is both their world and their place of work. Children easily interpret the natural materials in the classroom as a means for creating, and during playtime the Waldorf classroom is a place where a piece of curled  cedar bark can become a spyglass in the hands of one child and an ancient scroll in the hands of another. It is a world where a pitted, dried-out log is a cash register in a shoe store stocked with stones of various sizes, until suddenly someone needs a baby, and the log is scooped up into the arms of a caring mother and the stone shoes become bowls of food.

Outdoor Play

Rain or shine, outdoor playtime provides ample opportunity for the children to have authentic experiences in nature.  Whether sledding in winter in the play yard garden, climbing on rocks in the rocky dell, balancing on a fallen tree in the fairy woods or digging up potatoes at the farm, the children are met with a variety of ways to develop strong, healthy bodies and an appreciation for nature’s varied gifts.

Circle Time

Circle time brings the joy of song and music to the children; it challenges them to move together as a group, while holding the form, reflecting both the world of nature and the seasonal festivals.  In addition, circle time affords rich learning experiences through music and rhyme, while developing motor skills through large and small gestures, and rhythmic movement.

Cooking and Snack Time

Bread dough is not only a natural modeling material, but the beginning stage of baking bread on bread day.  Snack preparation occurs with the children in the classroom, and often includes baking, chopping vegetables, grinding grains and making butter. Proper social behavior and manners are modeled at the snack table, and children are encouraged to abide by the standards set by the teacher.  Children enrolled for the full day are served a hot, homecooked vegetarian lunch.

Artistic and Handwork Activities

Our early childhood teachers understand that the young child makes a connection to the world through art, and thereby offers possibilities for the children to explore color, form, texture and so forth through different artistic expressions.  Painting, crayoning, beeswax modeling, wool felting, sewing, and finger knitting are a few examples of these opportunities.   The craft projects are designed to be practical, beautiful and connected to the seasons and carried out with as much independent activity by the children as possible. 

Story time

Story time and puppet plays feed the children’s developing capacity for imagination by encouraging them to develop mental images to accompany a narrative.  By practicing the art of oral storytelling, the teacher leaves the children free to create their own pictures.