Early Childhood

When a child steps into a Waldorf preschool or kindergarten, he or she enters a place of beauty and a place of adventure. Wooden furniture and toys, hewn from natural materials, await the child as do walls with the warm colors of dawn. One side of the room holds large tables for the children to work on and have their snacks. The other side of the room is a carpet-covered play area where many forms of imaginative play blossom.

With a wonderful openness to all that surrounds them, young children live in a world of wonder and imagination.  To begin academic study at this age would only rush through the period of life when the proper, most effective method of learning is through imaginative play. In the Waldorf kindergarten, the children’s days are filled with both structured and unstructured activities that stimulate and exercise the powers of imagination.

Watercolor painting, drawing, handcrafts, beeswax modeling, cooking, baking, puppet shows and other artistic activities reveal the wonders of creativity to the children, while circle games, movement and outdoor play increase physical strength, agility and grace. A feeling of security is nurtured in the shaded, graceful beauty of the kindergarten surroundings, allowing the children to reach out to explore their environment, let their curiosity develop and begin a lifelong process of learning and engagement with the world.