First time visitors to a Waldorf early childhood classroom are often struck by its beauty, including the natural light and soft hues infused with love and warmth and the cozy play areas supplied with handmade dolls, silks, and toys made from natural materials. These students gain strength and independence through the balanced daily rhythm, free play, and learning that occurs through the purposeful work activities experienced in every Waldorf kindergarten.

Children ages 0-7 are developing intellectually, emotionally, and physically, but all three of these centers are best engaged through the physical body at this age. You can see this tendency in how young children love to mimic the actions of the adults around them (rather than following complex verbal instructions), how well they respond to games and songs with rhythm and gestures, and in the huge physical milestones they achieve in this stage of life (walking, talking, toilet-training, feeding themselves, fine motor skills, proprioception, etc).

Our curriculum for this age group therefore includes a reliable rhythm of inside and outside time, and of teacher-directed and child-led activities, which support natural development. Children need to have genuine sensory experiences of the natural world, access to open-ended toys (rather than toys with prescribed use), and time with peers to invent collaborative games and learn/practice social skills. They relax into routines held by the adults around them: for example, our program includes a mid-morning snack, often made with the children’s help, which is a specific menu for each day of the week—in this way, children start to feel the rhythm of the week through their senses rather than as an intellectual concept.

Another important theme in our Early Childhood classrooms is quite palpable: warmth. Our teachers take care to provide physical warmth, helping children learn to dress for the weather so their bodies are not needlessly stressed or made prone to illness. Perhaps more importantly, though, our teachers exude emotional warmth. Our classrooms are cozy, rosy, and homelike; teachers speak gently and softly, and embody empathy and calm; our disciplinary system attends to misbehavior as a sign of a need, which teachers address as needed before welcoming a child back into the community they love.