Wildflowers Waldorf Inspired Early Childhood

Our Curriculum

Holistic & Caring
Mindful & Respectful
Play & Nature Based

Our Curriculum is inspired by the early childhood development theories of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) as practiced in 1500+ Waldorf-based kindergartens and preschools worldwide.

Our atmosphere is simple and intimate with daily activities worthy of our children's unquestioning imitation and plenty of creative free-play indoors and out. Waldorf education can first be understood by observing the developmental stages in the life of human beings. The first stage is from pre-birth to age seven, and this is the stage with which we primarily work. 

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Wildflowers nurtures children’s healthy development. We do this primarily, by providing nourishing organic snacks, playthings and activities with a connection to the natural world. Indoors children play with cloths and handmade soft toys of wool, silk, and cotton, as well as wooden objects with different textures of smoothness and roughness. These playthings assist in the development of their sense of touch, in their learning about the different qualities inherent in those objects. Children also have many opportunities to move—for fun as well as for the development of their large and small motor skills and their sense of balance. We provide them with a protected, shaded yard containing sandboxes and toys, mud kitchens, swings, and logs for climbing up, jumping off or looking under.

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THE PLAY SPACE

The space created for the young child is very important. We believe that the room, in a Waldorf program, is the curriculum. We have artistically created spaces, in which young children can unfold their individualities—their gifts and uniqueness—and begin the long process of socialization. We offer an aesthetically pleasing environment where everything has a place. Although anything and everything can be moved around during playtime, there is order and calmness created for the children when the room is set up with their play in mind.

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Play is the child's self-education. Using natural materials and open-ended toys children create their world together. We are non-toxic, eco-friendly and sustainable in as many ways as possible. During the preschool years we seek to awaken and support the child’s creative and playful nature and to nurture their sense of wonder and gratitude.

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As part of Wildflowers children build community, develop relationships, and become comfortable expressing ideas and needs within a group and to the adults.

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CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Our Waldorf inspired curriculum is built around a daily rhythm of activities and routines designed to provide continuity, stability, and sound social, emotional, and cognitive growth. With the help of verses, songs, stories, and puppetry, children are guided through a daily and weekly routine of activities including baking bread, cooking soup, and tending the garden as well as artistic activities such as watercolor painting, beeswax and beeswax crayon coloring.  

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OUR NATURE TABLE 

A focal point of our space is the nature table, or seasonal tableau. This is a surface between our rooms where we bring something of the natural world inside—a reflection of what is happening in the life of Mother Nature. Characters, such as Prince Autumn, King Winter, Mrs. Thaw and Lady Spring are personified as felt or wool puppets, and all come in their time with little creatures, stones, nuts, leaves and flowers to help the children learn about the natural world in a developmentally appropriate way.

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RHYTHM

Wildflowers day has a rhythm all its own, formed by the developmental needs of the children in attendance. There will be a daily, a weekly, and a yearly rhythm, with birthday celebrations and family festivals along the way.

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REPETITION

Within our daily and weekly rhythms, there is repetition. There are lullabies for sleeping, songs during playtime and songs for tidying up. Seasonally, we sing simple songs and recite poetry and nursery rhymes in English and Spanish. As the children hear the songs and stories repeated over time they become more confident and comfortable in not only singing the songs with us or alone, but also in participating in the activities which the songs accompany. The table is set the same way each day. The same foods are usually served on each individual day of the week. The days come to be known as yellow day or bread day. The children delight in looking forward to what each day brings; the word, Wednesday, cannot in itself engender the same delighted feeling.

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REVERENCE

Reverence for nature, for our rooms and for each other is practiced by showing respect. We show respect for Mother Earth, for example, by raking, gardening, weeding and shoveling while playing outdoors. In our spaces Mother Earth, Prince Autumn, Lady Spring—to name but a few—are personified in stories and as wool figures on our nature table to welcome in each season. For the young child, any activity can be filled with reverence —in folding a cloth, in pouring water or in eating lunch with friends. We model this for them in our relations to you, their parents, through the stories we tell, and through how we treat the toys and the objects in our room.

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OUTDOORS  

Wildflowers is OUTSIDE everyday, rain or shine for as long as possible. Being outside in nature provides the children with fresh air, lots of sensory experiences, and a sense freedom. They can breathe in and live more slowly to the pace of Mother Earth and the seasons. 

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Wildflowers children freely play outdoors, as much as possible every day all year round with leaves, soil and sand, water, sticks, bugs, pinecones, seeds and whatever else they find. They become fully engaged which builds their powers of concentration, imagination, and friendship.

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CREATIVE FREE PLAY

Childhood is a time for learning through activity, for experiencing nature's wonders, for growing socially, for playing creatively and imaginatively, for singing, talking, quarreling and even for crying, for running, and for laughing.

Young children are naturally active because their rapidly growing bodies require activity for healthy development. One of Wildflowers' premises is that the children's play is the most important part of day and is their “work”. It is the way that they learn about life and its abundant wonders and struggles. They need to be left free to play in order to learn about sharing, taking risks, role modeling for each other and resolving conflict. When conflict does arise, we believe it is our role as their teachers to help to facilitate their play by providing each child with our understanding towards their personal situation and with imaginative pictures for how things might be resolved, rather than by our use of explicit guidance.

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CARE OF SENSES

The world is learned through our senses. Young children are total sense organs. Like little sponges, they soak up everything around them. It is because children are so open to sense impressions that they are so easily over- stimulated. Children need to have experiences that they can make sense of in order to build up capacities for discernment. When they are little, they are still learning where the world begins and they end. It is important for them to have both the experience of feeling united with the world and the experience of slowly and consciously separating from it. It is in precisely this way that they have the opportunity to become individuals while still remaining in a relationship to the world from which they are separating themselves.

Wildflowers offers opportunities in which the children can experience the world but still be protected from too much stimulation. We hope, in offering these things, to provide a way in which they can healthily develop boundaries for themselves. An important aspect of our program is the emphasis on bodily care: dressing; bathroom independence; hand washing and the importance of a good nap or deep rest!

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Read about 33 Reasons to Choose A Play-Based Preschool

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