From the Editor

When I look at our kindergartens, I wonder sometimes whether the children are losing interest in us adults because we actually are not very interesting. The regular domestic activities—washing our small, cloth napkins; wiping the cubbies clean with a wet, soapy cloth—are good examples of caring for our environment, but small in scope and do not take much real effort of body and strength. Cooking is more engaging. Peeling and chopping vegetables for our weekly soup calls for more skill and intention in cutting with a knife, and stirring our bread dough takes determination when the batter gets stiff and courage is called forth to let hands get sticky with kneading. The delicious loaf at the end confirms that we have really done something. With cooking we can experience process more easily and see the result of our efforts. But still these alone do not seem to quell a restlessness the children display. If this question about the children’s interest in us has any validity, what can we do to extend a stronger invitation the children to come, out of their own will, toward what we do?

Download the article: "A Kitchen, Not a Parlor"

Many years ago in England, the summer before I began teaching my first kindergarten class, I had the good fortune to attend a seminar in Wynstones given by Margret Meyerkort. Although at the time I didn’t understand the full breadth and depth of all that she offered, her words resonated within me and I knew instinctively that I was on my intended path. Her enduring comment, “The kindergarten is above all a kitchen and not a parlor,” informed my study and practices over the subsequent years. It implied rhythmical activity, purposeful work, and warmth.

As I grew into my work I grappled with these principles and found that the more we, as adults, worked at our daily life-sustaining and nurturing needs, the more the children would play. Almost on a daily basis our large kitchen table was moved more fully into the room, always in full view of the entering children. One of us would be working, and more often than not, if our daily work was purposeful and earnest, some of the children would engage in their own work—which is play. All children were welcome to join us at our work; there was always room for more. We never asked if they wished to join us. It was a legitimate and perhaps an unconscious inner choice for each child to make for him- or herself. We hoped that our activity would inspire play or the golden words, “Can I help?”

Download the article: Practical Activities with the Young Child
This article was adapted from Steve’s book, Connecting with Young Children.

The task of the kindergarten teacher is to adjust the work taken from daily life so that it becomes suitable for the children’s play activities. The whole point... is to give young children the opportunity to imitate life in a simple and wholesome way. —Rudolf Steiner, April 1923

Imitation is the natural learning mode for the young child. Rudolf Steiner described it as a sort of bodily religion arising from a sense of joy and wonder with all experiences and sensations, the young child, so recently arrived into a physical body from the spiritual world, loves all he meets in the world, the adult, whether caregiver, kindergarten teacher, or parent, has therefore a huge responsibility since the child is molding himself out of his experiences, out of what and who is imitated, therefore it is incumbent on the adults to create an environment of objects, people and activities that we would be happy to have taken up in imitation by the child. An environment that nurtures the child includes crucial elements that create form and order in the developing child: rhythm in daily life activities, safe and healthy boundaries, and adults’ consistency in maintaining the boundaries and rhythm.

Young children naturally are most active in the doing, the willing realm of soul life, they are drawn to adults’ work activity, especially when the adult is truly engaged in meaningful working. I experience that when a chair breaks, or we are making lunch—meaningful work that needs to be done—then the older children in kindergarten are attracted to participating and helping, while the younger ones exactly imitate the activities in their play. Young children are drawn to the activities of real workers and craftspeople like the blacksmith, the carpenter, spinner, plumber, and so on. The experiencing of these activities is a bodybuilding experience for the child, as well as an example of focused adult will for the child’s will forces. A young child who experiences, and even does, various different types of real work is given a blessing of many images to incorporate into his or her development.

Download the article: Kindergarten on the Farm and in the Garden

Recently I came across the word biophilia. Meaning “a love of life and the living world; the affinity of human beings for other life forms,” it is a beautiful wish for good fairies to bestow upon children, and for early childhood teachers to help those wishes come true. Green Meadow Waldorf School’s “farm kindergarten,” located at the Fellowship Community (an inter-generational community centered around the care of the elderly), and surrounded by forest, field, stream, pond and farm, is nestled in an idyllic place for inviting the incarnating human being into earthly life through cultivating rich, reality-based experiences of the seasons, and nurturing a love of nature.

In the autumn, our main outdoor activity is harvesting on the farm. Our small-but-mighty crew helps the Fellowship farmers bring in crops to store in the root cellar, put up for winter, and sell at their shop, The Hand and Hoe. The farmers often generously gift us vegetables for celebrating the harvest at our snack time. Our favorite crops for harvesting are large, child-friendly potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and shiny peppers, the children enter the fields not knowing the task at hand, allowing the discovery to unfold with delight in the moment. Some children stay engaged with gusto in the treasure-hunt of harvest, while others have their interest captivated and carried away by earthworms, weed-flowers, and other ways to enter into the outdoor environment through their own inner activity.

Download the article: From our Gentlemen Colleagues

In anticipation of this issue, a request was sent out to some male kindergarten colleagues to describe activities they are bringing into their classes. Below are some “bits and pieces” that have come in response. They give a surprising and delightful glimpse into the range of what the “gents” are doing.

Lincoln Kinnicutt Kindergarten teacher
Potomac Crescent Waldorf School, Alexandria, VA
We had been doing Nancy Foster’s woodcutter circle, which I modified so  the woodcutter was using a two-person saw. This change was made in part because in the past when we had gestured using an axe, the children (boys) would quickly start chopping each other. We also have a large bow saw, which we use for cutting wood outside, and I wanted to use that familiar image. In circle the children would pair up and hold hands, sitting down with their feet together, and go back and forth “cutting.” When we started cutting wood outside, I realized that the sawhorse I had made was too small. So instead of standing to cut, we would have to sit just like in the circle, using the bow saw as a two-person saw.

Download the article: Working with Wood

The Carpenter pounds with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer
The Carpenter pounds with one hammer and then she pounds with two.
The Carpenter pounds with two hammers, two hammers, two hammers
The Carpenter pounds with two hammers and then she pounds with three...
—A traditional circle activity

Woodworking connects one with nature, and it is a magical process to use one’s hands and imagination to create something from what appears to be just a piece of wood. It is very exciting and empowering for adults as well as children. I feel it is important to share what we love, and I love wood: the beauty and function of trees, finding pieces of wood, feeling wood, seeing the different patterns and grains, repairing wooden toys, and more.

As early childhood educators, we are so good at doing practical work inside in order for the children to inwardly and outwardly imitate. But sometimes when we are outside, it is a little more difficult. Thus, I always have something in my pocket that needs sanding. In the beginning of the school year, there is always something to refurbish, such as the wooden plates, cups, play clips, and more. Since children learn from imitation, many often want to sand, as well, so they share in the work and develop a strong desire to transform something.

Download the article: A Rolling Pin's Journey Home

The daily joy of purposeful work in our early childhood classrooms is revealed in the eager bright eyes of our children as they enthusiastically engage in “real work.” It is most satisfying for child and teacher to work together, keeping rooms neat and clean, repairing broken toys and classroom items, preparing shared meals, setting and cleaning tables. We create our own world, our own “gardens” and “kingdoms.” Together we take responsibility and feel deep satisfaction and pride for work well done.

How can we make our work together ever more enriching, so that it envelops and nourishes our children beyond the classroom? This question becomes even more paramount in an urban environment where life for all can easily become disconnected. I would like to share a simple woodwork project that naturally flourished, weaving its way lovingly from the classroom into the home, enriching both.

Download the article: Potato Pogatcha Recipe

Here is a traditional Hungarian recipe to use with your rolling pins. It comes from the new WECAN publication For the Children of the World: Stories and Recipes from the International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education, and was submitted by Joli Kiss, the IASWECE Council representative for Hungary. Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit lASWECE’s work on behalf of children around the world.

Download the article: Three Russian Kindergartens

Around the World

The kindergartens our small group of four from ISIS Cultural Outreach International visited in central Russia this past summer started around 1989, when glasnost had opened Russia’s doors to the world in the midst of the chaos ensuing from perestroika.

At our first stop in Irkutsk in Siberia, near Lake Baikal and the border of Russia and Mongolia, German and Scandinavian Waldorf educators came and worked first with mothers of children with special needs and then with those wanting a Waldorf school, the kindergarten is in an old section of town with great charm but also many challenges, including drafty buildings, and until recently a dependence on a well on the street from which water had to be hauled to the kindergarten on a sled, even in bitter winter weather, the Anchorage Waldorf School will continue to help raise money to winterize another set of windows to hold the heat from the large, centrally located masonry stove in the nap room with its bunks for the children who stay all day.