Category Archives: Homeschooling

More Books for Children Under 7

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As for books……

Some Favorite Books to Read Aloud for the Under 7 Age Group: (no order)

As always, please preview, pre-read and see if you think it is right for your child and your family:

Any Elsa Beskow books

The Chicken Who Wanted to Fly, Dora Duck and the Juicy Pears, Am I Really Different – Evelien van Dort

Any Room for Me? And The Pancake That Ran Away – Loek Koopmans

The Apple Cake – Nienke Van Hitchum

Pico the Gnome – Martina Muller

The Mouse and the Potato and Stan Bolivan and the Dragon – Thomas Berger

The Story of the Root Children and The Princess in the Forest – Sibylle von Offers

Peter William Butterblow – CJ Moore (poems)

When the Sun Rose, Grandfather Twilight – Barbara Helen Berger

The Snowy Day, Whistle for Willie, Peter’s Chair – Ezra Jack Keats

The Tomten, The Tomten and the Fox – Astrid Lindgren 

Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, Time of Wonder, One Morning in Maine – Robert McCloskey

Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer – Gerda Muller (no words, just pictures)

Tales of Tiptoes Lightly (series)- Reg Down – great for six and seven year olds

Teddy Robinson  – a favorite, favorite, favorite for the five and a half to seven year olds.

Milly Molly Mandy Stories (series) – for six year olds and seven year olds.

Just a few thoughts from my little corner of the world.

The Importance of Fairy Tales

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Waldorf education considers fairy tales the foundation for children under the age of 7.  Typically these tales are told orally, not read.  So, this leads to several questions:  Why should we consider oral storytelling in our homes?  Shouldn’t we be reading books so our children can see the importance of books and want to read?  Why should we use fairy tales?  What about the violence in fairy tales?

Some of these quotes may get you thinking about this subject:

“The human soul has an inextinguishable need to have the substance of fairy tales flow through its veins, just as the body needs to have nourishing substances circulate through it.” -Rudolf Steiner

“We can interpret the fairy tales-to return to these-as answers to the ultimate questions about our outer and inner needs.” -An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten, page 48.

 

“Children who are ready for fairy tales instinctively know that these stories are not literally true on the physical plane, but are true pictures of inner events and circumstances, of inner challenges and forces which must be faced and overcome. Thus, they sense that beauty and ugliness refer to inner qualities, not external appearance.” -In A Nutshell: Dialogues with Parents At Acorn Hill, Nancy Foster, page 47.

“In regard to the issue of violence and evil, it is a reality that children, and all of us, do encounter challenges and bad or frightening experiences in life. The fairy tales, in which such experiences are redeemed in various ways according to the particular story, help to give children the trust that challenges can be overcome and that we are not powerless.” -In A Nutshell: Dialogues With Parents At Acorn Hill, Nancy Foster, page 48.

“That is the strength of fairy tales. They are filled with promise. The weak can be strong; evil can be turned to good; the ugly can become beautiful; Cinderella can become a princess, the frog a prince. Every human being can rise to his true stature. Even the smallest child can realize this and rejoice at future victories.” –An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten, page 54.

So, in short, we tell stories orally because once we, the parent,  pick a story and are with the story for three days before we tell it, we put ourselves into it when we tell it to our children. That warmth from us is there, and there is no book that can create that.   The children then create the pictures of these archtypal images in their heads.  They realize truth and beauty and goodness come from people and life, not just in books.  This sets the stage for the parent being an Authority in life, a Keeper of Knowledge, not just that knowledge comes from books.  The oral storytelling provides a rich context for language and rhyme that is important in later reading. 

The images within the fairy tale tell the story of all people, of all generations and of all times.  It fulfills essential qualities within the child’s soul.  Fairy tales are also a vital part of the moral education of a child.  For more interesting insights into fairy tales and the role they fulfill for all of us, please do read Bruno Bettelhem’s “The Uses of Enchantment:  The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales.”

I love what Mr. Bettelham says on page 45 of his book: “Myths and fairy tales both answer the eternal questions:  What is the world really like?  How am I to live my life in it?  How can I truly be myself?  The answers given by myths are definite, while the fairy tale is suggestive.”  He goes on to say on page 47,” The child asks himself: “Who am I?  Where did I come from?  How did the world come into being?  Who created man and all the animals? What is the purpose of life?  True, he ponders these vital questions not in the abstract, but mainly as they pertain to him.  He worries not whether there is justice for individual man, but whether he will be treated justly.  He  wonders who or what projects him into adversity, and what can prevent this from happening to him.  Are there benevolent powers in addition to his parents?  Are his parents benevolent powers?  How should he form himself, and why?  ….Fairy tales provide answers to these pressing questions, many of which the child becomes aware of only as he follows these stories.”

Mr. Bettelhem also says in his book, “From an adult point of view and in terms of modern science, the answers which fairy tales offer are fantastic rather than true.  As a matter of fact, these solutions seem so incorrect to many adults – who have become estranged from the ways in which young people experience the world – that they object to  exposing children to such “false” information.  However, realistic explanations are usually incomprehensible to children, because they lack the abstract understanding required to make sense of them.  While giving a scientifically correct answer makes adults think they have clarified things for the child, such explanations leave the young child confused, overpowered and intellectually defeated.”

I hope I have at least put a brief thought in your head to consider telling your four, five, six and seven year olds some fairy tales!  If you would like to do this, please read on for some suggestions to assist you!

Some Points to Consider In Preparing Tales to Tell:

-It is important for the storyteller to be familiar with the story, and to enjoy it.

-It is important for the storyteller to tell it in a matter-of-fact, non-dramatized way so the child may digest it without the adult feelings and intellectualization added in.

-If you do not like a certain fairy tale or it makes you uncomfortable, then it will not be good for your child – work with the fairy tales that resonate with you!

-Choose authentic versions of the fairy tale – the most authentic versions of the Grimm’s fairy tales can be found in the Pantheon edition edited by Padraic Colum. The stories by Hans Christian Anderson, Oscar Wilde (single authors, not handed down stories) are more suitable for older children than the under 7 bunch. Folktales and fables are covered in Second Grade, so save those until then.

-Pick very simple and repetitive stories for children under 5. As your child heads toward 6, pick stories where there are more complex plots and the hero needs to overcome more.

How to Prepare:

-Read the same story to yourself for three nights in a row.  Marsha Johnson advocates this in her lesson planning notes (see Yahoo!Groups waldorfhomeeducators for her group).   (My note:  Yes, this is the three- day rhythm of the Waldorf grades as applied to adults. Waldorf uses sleep as an aid to learning!)

-Don’t be afraid to use props –props can really enliven the story. One of my favorite resources for this is to use puppetry.  Please do see Suzanne Down’s wonderful website Juniper Tree Puppets.  She has a seasonal newsletter you can sign up for that often has a story and a suggestion for a puppetry activity to go with the story.  My favorite book on this subject is “Making Magical  Fairy-Tale Puppets” by Christel Dhom, Rudolf Steiner College Press.

-Get into the rhythmic qualities of a fairy tale if it has those qualities – think of The Pancake or The Turnip.  Very rhythmical and repetitive and comforting to young ones!

Fairy Tales – Which Ones to Choose for Oral Storytelling?  These are just some suggestions.  These are tales I have seen  recommended for this age group in multiple Waldorf sources or ones we have personally done at that age.

Three and Four Year Olds –

Sweet Porridge (Grimm 103)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Little Louse and Little Flea (Spindrift, Let Us Form A Ring)

The Giant Turnip (Russian)

The Mitten (Russian)

The Gingerbread Man

The Bun (cannot remember where The Bun originated for sure, I believe Russia)

The Johnny Cake (English)

The Hungry Cat (Plays for Puppets)

The Old Woman and Her Pig (English)

The Cat and the Mouse (English)

Little Red Hen

The City Mouse and The Country Mouse

Any fairy tale that has repetitive elements and a very simple story line would do!

Four and Five Year Olds:

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Little Pigs

The Pancake Mill (Let Us Form A Ring)

Mashenka and the Bear (Russian, Spindrift)

The Elves (Grimm 39)

Star Money (Grimm 153)  – I would say more for 5 year olds or even a six year old than a four year old, but that is just my own opinion.

Five and Six Year Olds:

The Frog Prince (Grimm 1)

Mother Holle (Grimm 24)

Little Red Cap (Grimm 25)

The Bremen Town Musicians (Grimm 27)

The Spindle, Shuttle and the Needle (Grimm 188)

The Hut in the Forest (Grimm 169)

The Queen Bee (Grimm 62)

The Seven Ravens (Grimm 25) – I didn’t tell this one until first grade

Snow White and Rose Red (Grimm 161) – we also used this one in first grade, but would be fine for a six year old in second year of Kindy.

The Princess in the Flaming Castle (Let Us Form A Ring)

Twiggy (Let Us Form A Ring)

The Donkey (Grimm 144)

Lazy Jack (English)

Tom-Tit-Tot (English)

Puss in Boots, sometimes also called The Master Cat

Necessary Resources:

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales – I like the Pantheon version. Look for Hunt and Stern as the editors.

Wynstones, Sprindrift books

Let Us Form A Ring

Plays for Puppets

The Pancake and Other Tales – available from Rudolf Steiner College Bookstore

Autumn Tales and Spring Tales by Suzanne Down

www.mainlesson.com has many suitable tales you can pre-read

Hope that helps someone, just a few thoughts from my little corner of the world.

Waldorf First Grade At Home

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Teaching a Waldorf-inspired first grade at home is so much fun!  For those of you who are new to Waldorf homeschooling, Waldorf first grade is for children who are close to the age of seven.  This works in conjunction with Steiner’s observations of child development according to seven year cycles, so yes, a six year old is still typically in their second year of kindergarten at a Waldorf school.   Academic work is not directly taught until the first grade.  At home especially, I encourage parents to view first grade as a bridge between the kindergarten years and the other grades to come (more about this in a minute).

The Waldorf grades work in conjunction with “blocks” where subjects are taught daily for a certain length of time – from three weeks to a month, for example.  This is called a “main lesson.”  The children have main lesson books that they draw summaries of their lessons into and try to showcase their best work.  Main lesson work is considered work of the HEAD and typically involves good morning verses (memorized), a seasonal circle time that is very active (also memorized verses and songs and may include playing a recorder or pennywhistle), and then the main lesson on whatever subject the student is learning about.  The teacher memorizes the material presented and the students write summaries in their books, so there really are no textbooks or worksheets involved in this active learning method. 

The Main Lesson has a three part rhythm to it that involves the child using sleep as an aid to learning.  No other method of education uses sleep the way that Waldorf does, as a true help for memorizing and living into subjects.  For example, on Monday, a concept is introduced through a story that may involve puppetry or other props.  Tuesday may then  involve re-visiting the story and something such as art, drama, modeling, going outside to look for something in the story; essentially expounding on some part of the story that has been already been told.  Wednesday then involves a re-visiting of the story with the academic piece drawn into the main lesson book.  Some families, for first grade, do a three day rhythm for Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then do wet on wet watercolor painting on Thursdays.  Some families fit in two main stories a week with two three-day rhythms. 

The HEART portion of school may involve foreign language practice, being outside and playing organized games, eurythmy (something special to Waldorf education which has been called “visible speech”), or music.  The HANDS portion of the lesson may come in the afternoon and may include knitting for first graders, wet on wet watercolor painting, drawing, woodworking or other types of handwork.

In our home, I chose to do one block a month for first grade so our outline for main lessons for the year looks like this:  September –Form Drawing based off of Nature Stories, October – Language Arts, letters A-J based off of Fairy Tales, November – Qualities of Numbers block, December – Quantities of Numbers where all four math processes are introduced and a once a week form drawing block, January – another one week form drawing block and A Look at the Four Seasons and the Four Elements, February – Language Arts based off of Fairy Tales, letters K- Q, March- Math Block Number Three, April – Language Arts based off of Fairy Tales, letters R-Z with a review of AEIOU – (vowels are often taught separate from the consonants), May – two  weeks of a Backyard Nature Block with form drawing and two weeks of writing based off the Fairy Tales, one week of review in June and a show of all main lesson book work for family.  Many families also will do form drawing on one day of the week during other blocks of subjects. 

Our daily rhythm looks essentially like this – A walk in the morning through our neighborhood with our dog, morning verses and the lighting of a candle, finger plays and a story for my Kindergartner, circle time and bean bag games and rope jumping rhymes for both children but more geared to my older child, main lesson work for my First Grader.  The HEART portion of our daily rhythm looks like this – Mondays, German tutor comes to our home; Tuesdays, practice Spanish or go hiking with a local group; Wednesday, Spanish tutor comes to our home, Thursdays, practice German; Fridays, special songs for whatever festival is upcoming.  After we have lunch, reading books aloud and quiet time, we have the HANDS portion of our day.  This part of our rhythm looks like this – Mondays, wet on wet watercolor painting; Tuesdays, bread baking and modeling while waiting for bread; Wednesdays, handwork/knitting; Thursdays, gardening or drawing and Fridays, housekeeping.

Many parents consider learning the letters and sounds of the alphabet and perhaps starting to read a very important part of first grade, along with an introduction to the four math processes.  Master Waldorf Teacher Eugene Schwartz (www.millennialchild.com)  contends that the most essential part of first grade is really form drawing and math.  For many reasons, I agree with Mr. Schwartz.

(For those of you who are not familiar with form drawing, form drawing is a way of working with lines and curves that Rudolf Steiner outlined in three of his lectures as a way of working with children of different temperaments (in Waldorf education there are four temperaments identified).  Form drawing is a precursor to handwriting, geometry and also observation of nature for future scientists).

Important and necessary parts of first grade besides the above really do include knitting and other types of handwork, wet on wet watercolor painting and its polar opposite of  modeling, drawing and coloring with block crayons and beginning to learn to play a recorder, pentatonic flute or pennywhistle.  I personally would also include foreign languages as a necessary part of the first grade but we are a very  foreign-language oriented family.  Fairy tales and nature stories are the soul nourishment of this age and it is a beautiful year.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that first grade can be viewed as a bridge from kindergarten and the other grades.  This means that while first grade is indeed important with lots to learn and do, it also important in the home environment for first grade to be fun, to know when to take the day off and head to the park and to be sure to allow lots of time for free play and outside play along with time for preparation for festivals. In mind’s eye, the child in the early grades is forming association with subjects through experiences.  Everything in first grade should be active, rhythmical, musical, artistic and inter-related.  The Waldorf curriculum keeps building and building and growing more and more in its intensity; there is no reason to make yourself or your child insane with heavy, dull work in the early years!

Having a Waldorf-inspired homeschool means the ability to really create and choose stories that speak to your child’s temperament and experiences, to work indirectly through the curriculum with the things that are challenging to that child, and to be able to provide the child with a lot of time to be outside and dream! Homeschooling is an excellent way for siblings to connect and be together and for families to leave peacefully together. Waldorf within the home is a beautiful sigh of wonder.

Just a few thoughts from my little corner of the world.

Great Read-Alouds for Waldorf At Home First Grade

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For those of you who have ever looked at a “pre-packaged” curriculum for homeschooling, there is usually a package of read-alouds that correspond to the grade level your child is in.  Waldorf homeschooling automatically  has many stories built into the curriculum, but doesn’t always have an automatic stack of read-alouds to accompany each grade.  There are some books that have suggestions for books though! One wonderful book is entitled, “Waldorf Student Reading List” by Pamela Johnson Fenner and Karen L Rivers.  Donna Simmons also has suggestions for read-alouds within her “Living Language” book, available through her website at www.christopherushomeschool.org.

From a Waldorf perspective, the most important thing to remember when choosing books and stories for the child under 9 is that the child is still one with the world and all things in it. Therefore, most appropriate are not the books and stories where one empathetically identifies with the protagonist, but ones where the archetypal images still prevail. 

Therefore, fairy tales are a wonderful basis for read-alouds. Here is a list of read-alouds we have enjoyed so far this school year or are planning on reading this year:

Grimms’ Fairy Tales

Russian Fairy Tales – we used a copy from Dover Books

Japanese Fairy Tales – we used a copy from Dover Books

All of the books by Virginia Haviland “Favorite Fairy Tales Told in (Poland, Russia, Norway, etc)”  There are quite a few of them and you can find them quite cheaply used on Amazon or possibly at your local library.

Andrew Lang’s “The Red Fairy Book” – most of the tales seem about right, some of the books in these series are best left until your child is much older!

The Junior Classics Volume One “Fairy Tales and Fables”, published in 1938 – we have read the fairy tales and are saving the fables for next year.  This volume really has especially wonderful tales from Czechoslovakia that we adore.

Isabel Wyatt’s The Seven Year Old Wonder Book – always nice to read leading up to your child’s seventh birthday, a Waldorf tradition

The Tiptoes Lightly series by Reg Down

Any and all Elsa Beskow books (picture books)

Any and all Jack Prelutsky books (poetry)

The Book of Fairy Poetry by Michael Hague (poetry)

Here are some that don’t especially fit the fairy tale mode but your child may enjoy, depending on their attention span:

Any and all of Edward Ardizzone’s Little Tim series – picture books, rather droll, where Tim goes out to sea on many adventures and everything works out well in the end.  Pre-read for sensitive readers because there are bad guys, shipwrecks, etc.  Boys especially may like these, but my girls like them as well.

Twig and Big Susan, both by Elizabeth Orton Jones

The Racketty Packetty House

And all Thornton Burgess books, although some parents leave these till second grade.

The Paddington Series of books by Michael Bond

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by R. and F. Atwater

Winnie the Pooh and other works by AA Milne

Okay, and three where you will identify with the protagonist, so not the Waldorf ideal per se,  but still lovable –

B is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood, published in 1940.  Betsy goes to the first grade – innocent, sweet and for the adults, totally points out what is wrong with First Grade today (uh, did that political commentary slip out??!!)

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder – save the other ones in the series till later.

and somehow my eldest found the hardback classic Heidi amongst my things so we read it last year in early December and we will read it this year as well.  Not really appropriate for a first grader, but it really speaks to my little girl.  Heidi does show an ideal rhythm though, doesn’t it?  Fresh air, goat-herding, delayed academics …..heeheeheehee. 🙂

There are other favorites I could go on about from Kindergarten, but those are probably best saved till another post.  🙂

Two  last thoughts:  Please tell stories before bedtime, don’t read!  We started with reading and I have found it so difficult to get my kids to accept storytelling in place of reading.  Start early with your storytelling, it will serve you and your children well.  Many families do reading after lunch before quiet time and tell stories before bedtime.  The best stories you tell are the ones you make up yourself!!

The second thought is this: for voracious readers, like my eldest, do not feel you have to get them new reading material all the time.  We re-read, and re-read and re-read.  First grade (and Kindergarten) should still be about being in the body.  Reading books and having to have a new book all the time can be a form of stimulation just like wanting constant entertainment, so if your little one wants to sit and read or thumb through books for hours on end, consider your rhythm and what times of the day reading is okay.

I feel another post coming on…..

Just a few thoughts from my little corner of the world.

Wonderful Waldorf

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People who know my husband and I in “real life” were somewhat surprised to hear we had chosen a Waldorf-inspired path for the home education of our two children.  Most people who know a little about Waldorf say, “Isn’t that the method where children do not learn to read until they are nine?”  Other parents we knew who had actually visited a Waldorf school usually only visited a Waldorf Kindergarten, and  the “pink bubble” of the Kindergarten did not impress them as setting the stage for an academically rigorous education.  These are a few of the common but pervasive myths surrounding Waldorf education that I would like to bust today in this post.

I would like to list for you all the 10 most wonderful things I have found about Waldorf education, why I consider it the best way to educate a child, and why you truly should consider it for your own family.

1.  No other curriculum I have found takes on the task of educating the entire child – body, mind, soul and spirit – and also takes into account what the adult who went through this kind of  educational process will be like as a result.  In Waldorf Education, what kind of adult the child will be in thirty or forty years really matters.  The health of the child and the future adult the child will become is of utmost importance.

The “con” to this is that Rudolf Steiner based this upon his way of seeing the child, which may or may not be in agreement with your religious or spiritual views.  Some people would say they cannot work with Waldorf at all because the curriculum is based upon that.  I feel the curriculum is well coordinated with Piaget, Gesell and often does things that are done in European education, irrespective of Steiner’s spiritual base.  I leave that to you to decide and wade through.

2.  Waldorf education respects the stages of childhood development.  This is why formal academics are delayed until the first grade, why a nine year old in the third grade studies house building and farming, why a fifth grader studies the Greeks and Ancient History.  I appreciate the fact that nothing is random within the curriculum, and that the curriculum is built upon what will feed the child’s soul at each and every age.

3.  I am glad to see a high emphasis placed upon the arts and teaching through the arts throughout the grades.  This resonates within me that we as human beings should be close to the wonderful and beautiful things that we can create – art, music, handwork.

4.  Waldorf is one of the only methods I know that looks at what Steiner termed “soul economy.”  Steiner’s thought was this, as written in the lecture “The Waldorf School“ in the lectures compiled in Soul Economy:  “The aim of Waldorf education is to arrange all of the teaching so that in the shortest possible time the maximum amount of material can be  presented to students by the simplest means possible.”  He goes on to say:  “This helps children retain an overall view of their subjects – not so much intellectually, but very much in their feeling life.”  Some may read this last statement as evidence that Steiner did not mean for Waldorf education to be academically rigorous.  I view this as evidence that Waldorf education is more than just the rampant “Factoid-ization” that is occurring within our educational system today and causing the United States to be behind in nearly all educational standards by the time our children graduate from high school.  Memorizing facts does not equate to knowledge and the ability to problem –solve.  Waldorf education does require a lot of memorization – verses, songs, rhymes, multiplication tables, addition tables, scientific facts – but it also looks at the memorization of these facts within a bigger picture of understanding and knowledge.

5.  The beauty of music resonates throughout the kindergarten years with the pentatonic scales and rich singing through the use of a blowing instrument in the early grades leading up to use of a stringed instrument in the third grade and going through a History of Music in high school.  Music has important ties to math and should hold a high place within educational standards.

6.  The way Waldorf education approaches reading makes perfect sense to me.  Oral storytelling, verses and singing within the Kindergarten years provide that deep, rich basis for language.  Waiting until a child is likely to have the attention, handwriting skills and visual tracking abilities to successfully  read also makes perfect sense.  In Waldorf schools, children learn to read by reading what they themselves have written and drawn in a main lesson book.  Waldorf education traces the letters through how people long ago may have started to devise symbols for things and how that translates into the alphabet.  The pictures of stories of the letters really stick in the children’s minds, as opposed to them just trying to remember which way a “g” goes and how is that different than a “j”? 

There probably are always children within a Waldorf Kindergarten who have taught themselves to read, and that is fine and much different than having phonics lessons shoved down your child’s throat.  Many of the children who have taught themselves to read literally go from reading nothing to being able to read whatever they want.  It is innate and inborn, and guess what?  They still enjoy hearing the stories of the letters in first grade just as much as the other children!  Waldorf education focuses on not just the academic education needed for life, but the stories that build a child’s soul for where they are.  First Grade is still just the bridge between Kindergarten and the more rigorous work to come.

7.  Waldorf’s approach to science focuses on moving from whole to parts and involves more than giving a child a hypothesis to prove with an experiment.  For more information regarding the Gothean approach to science that Waldorf utilizes, please see the following website:  www.natureinstitute.org

8.  Throughout all of the school years, Waldorf education places utmost importance upon the child developing into a moral human.  In this day and age, how can anything be more important than that?  This is to me what schools try to approach through “character development” classes but far misses the mark compared to the beauty and morality that rings throughout all of Waldorf education in EVERY subject – including math and science! 

9.  Waldorf education takes the tiny, delicate wings of a child’s imagination and makes them fly and soar like an eagle.  The world our children will inherit will be even more fast-paced than today most likely.  The adults who will succeed in this world will be the ones who will be imaginative, creative, out-of the box problem solvers.  Will your child be one of those adults?

10.  Waldorf education, through the use of its shared values, celebration of festivals and rites of passage within the curriculum, promotes a wonderful and close knit community that families are glad and proud to be a part of!

If you would like more information regarding Waldorf Education, please visit one of the following websites:

For use of Waldorf within the home environment, please see the following:

David Darcy:  www.ddarcy.com

Barbara Dewey:  www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com

Marsha Johnson’s Yahoo! Group

Melisa Nielsen’s website (she is also a reader of this blog!) (she also has a Yahoo! Group):  http://www.alittlegardenflower.com/

Eugene Schwartz:  www.millennialchild.org

Christopherus:  www.christopherushomeschool.org

For general information regarding Waldorf, please see the following:

http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/

http://www.waldorfearlychildhood.org/

Just a few thoughts from my little corner of the world.

More About Fostering Creative Play

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“I could go out in the yard and entertain myself for hours when I was a child!  With one stick!  With half a stick!”  you exclaim. “Yet, my child can’t entertain themselves for five minutes!”

Many parents feel this way and wonder what they are doing wrong, or what they can do to foster more imaginative, independent play.  There are several things to think about regarding the child under 7 and play.  To me, the child under age 7 is an imitative creature:  therefore,  it makes perfect sense  that a child under 7 is not developmentally ready to go off and initiate play for hours on end. 

However, there are several things you can do to help the process.

The first step is to consider that a child needs a play environment as discussed in the previous post, “Fostering Creative Play.”  Most of all, think about seriously streamlining the amount of toys available to your child at one time, make sure there are places and spaces for the toys to be placed neatly, and do make sure there are small places where like items can be grouped together for play.

The second step is to provide your child with something worthy to imitate.  Your child under the age of 5 is probably not going to follow you around the house peacefully while you “get your work done”, at least at first.   Being child-inclusive but not child-centered does not mean that you never play with your child, nor does it mean you never help your child get started with play.

With small children, you may only get fifteen minutes of work done at a time.  You  may, without any words, then be able to take down something for your child  to play with and start the play off and  then wander back to your work.  I say without any words because the moment you say, “Let’s play with the wooden kitchen now..” they will screech, “Nooooo!  I don’t want to play that!”  However, if you get engrossed in playing or setting something up  without words, they will watch you and start to do what you do.  Imitation at its finest.

One thing to consider is that in the decades before families had two cars, most mothers were home all day with their children – they had no car to go anywhere else!  There were tasks to be completed around the home and the children were there to see this.  Some families carry this tradition on today, and work hard at staying home and providing their children with real work.  For example, you could wash on Mondays and let your child help wash toys in the playroom or the linens from his room.  He could help fold napkins or washcloths from the laundry or hang things out on a small line to dry.  On Tuesdays, if you bake bread , your small child could help you put the ingredients in the bowl, assist with the mixing and the kneading and later with the shaping of the bread (and the eating, of course).  Cleaning up the kitchen could also be a part of this day while the bread is rising.  If you do handwork on Wednesdays, your child could also have a small basket with scraps of felt or yarn.  An older kindergartner could learn to finger knit.  Some families garden every day or at least once a week; small children can help plant or pick produce or pull weeds in between their investigations for bugs.  Fridays in many families is housekeeping day.  On this day, your small child could help polish wooden toys or help you clean.  Every family has a rhythm to the week that is unique to them and to their children; the above are just random examples for you to think about.  These everyday, mundane kinds of tasks come out in their play. Baking day can turn into the play of  cutting out homemade dough shapes to “cook” on a red play silk, for example.

The third step is to carefully and mindfully consider the amount of screen time your small child is viewing.  Many parents find that the problem with TV is that there are things that their children are not doing by watching TV.  In the book “Alternatives to TV Handbook” by Marie McClendon, she states, “Children now play about 2 hours less a day on average than they did 10 years ago.  Yet those who play more have richer vocabularies, better problem-solving skills, more curiosity, higher intelligence, longer attention spans and better abilities to see the perspectives of others.”  Regardless of what the content of the TV show is, the images are re-drawn or scanned about 60 times a second.  TV-induced alpha brain waves are considered by researchers as a non-learning mode of brain behavior.  If your child is showing such behaviors as poor school performance, poor attention span, lack of imaginative play and spontaneous play, aggressively talking back to adults, hitting or pushing other children or frequent nightmares, please consider the amount of media your child is watching.  

The fourth step is to consider the amount of time you spend outside every day; this is vitally important in your child’s creative play.  If you are outside, nature will provide the backdrop for the child’s indoor play.  Whether this is in the simple worms and pillbugs your child delights in, providing food for the birds, picking flowers or produce out of the garden, it will all show up in your child’s play and the songs they make up to sing.  I know families with three and four year olds who spend the vast majority of their day outside.

The fifth point to consider the overall rhythm to your day – it should not be just “play all day” for your child.  We have discussed involving your child in your work.  However, the rhythm to all of this is quite important as there should be times for in-breath and out-breath, times of expansive physical movement and play grounded with time for quietly listening to a story that mother is telling or for rest.  An example rhythm for small children under the age of 7  may be a period of playing outside, snack,  work focus for the day, lunch, quiet time/down time, storytelling , perhaps something involving art either inspired by the story or some sort of seasonally– based art, snack again, free play or outside play again, dinner preparation and dinner and then a bedtime routine.  Every family’s daily rhythm looks different, but if you take the time to meditate on it and think and yes, even plan, you may come up with a wonderful, peaceful day that enhances the quality of life for every member of the family.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Fostering Creative Play

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“If you constantly entertain your child, you will be giving her the false impression that the world exists for her own pleasure and that she is without resources of her own. This is bound to cause difficulties later. Furthermore, boredom is a wonderful impetus to creativity and resourcefulness. If a child is always provided with activities and play ideas she will not have a chance to be attuned to her own fantasy life, to play out her own inner world. This is a great loss, which will have later implications for her ability to think creatively and independently.”
-From the book In A Nutshell: Dialogues With Parents At Acorn Hill, page 63.

Play is the work of a small child.

Ways to Foster Creative Play

  • less toys!
  • think about how to arrange the toys you do have to make them inviting for play – scenarios, grouping similar toys in a basket, making sure every toy has a home
  • arrange little scenes for your child to play with
  • have areas of play in your home – a kitchen area, a workbench, a doll corner, an area for painting, coloring and crafts
  • have dress up clothes available
  • have baskets of natural objects available – rocks, shells, pinecones, walnuts, chestnuts
  • try making several stand up dolls (no arms or legs). You can find instructions in Toymaking With Children and The Children’s Year.  Have dolls and doll accessories – a soft cloth doll with limited facial features is lovely.  
  • Have knitted or felt animals available, preferably ones you make yourself
  • Think about outside play – sandbox, swing, slide, climbing dome, balancing board, hills, secret spots in the yard
  • Most of all, engage in meaningful activity the child can imitate.  If you are busy with things around your house in a purposeful way – baking, gardening, cleaning carefully, washing and ironing these are the things your child will demonstrate in play.