The days are getting longer and the blue skies are brightening our moods; the classroom door is propped ajar and the seedlings are growing. The Steiner classroom is brimming with life and energy and as I glance around I see joyful participation in truly imaginative un-self-conscious play; and I think…hurrah! We did it!
Steiner Waldorf educators invest their time facilitating emersion in imagination thus allowing the young children in their care to fully process their life experiences and the natural world surrounding them. At the SINGING TREE kindergarten in Falmer Village the lead teacher Jasmin operates a Friday Forest Day with her class. The children gather, climb, build, enjoy fire, homemade soup and warm tea whilst sharing stories and spending time with our Sussex wildlife. The trees and roots make furniture, gnarled shrubs become gateways and muddy boots go off in search of treasures for the classroom. Acorns, stones and leaves found in Stanmer Park on Friday become the perfect platform for re-invention indoors the following week (or a weekend adventure at home if you manage to sneak something into your pocket!)
Outdoor education has always been a cornerstone of the Steiner/Waldorf curriculum with over an hour every session spent devoted to time outdoors. Furthermore experiential education is on the rise across the board as increasingly all types of schools rate the benefits of hands-on approaches to learning, full-body engagement and drawing closer connections between the abstract and the real.
With this in consideration the experience of the Steiner kindergarten room embodies the gifts from the great outdoors; wooden planks for building, pine cones, felted wool puppets, log discs for stacking, conkers, shells and feathers. Natures gifts are ‘open-ended’ toys for our young children and their blossoming imaginations; have you ever tried shell-pie? Or had a ride on the log-express train? Or had a delicious cup of pine-cone tea?! Well…you haven’t lived! Go and try it today!
The Steiner Waldorf teacher provides a platform for explorative imagination and healthy development. The gross motor body skills are served and the fine motor skills develop under the teachers nurturing guidance; any teacher can borrow these skills and tools; and perhaps we can all take a leaf out of the Singing Tree Kindergartens’ book and devote an entire morning to commit our principles to practice and truly immerse ourselves in the GREAT outdoors.
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