Kindergarten
Play is the heart of the Waldorf kindergarten. Through imaginative free play children develop social skills and the capacity for creative thinking and problem solving. Free play is balanced with more structured activities such as watercolor painting, handwork, seasonal crafts, and movement. Weekly nature walks to Volunteer Park give children the opportunity to follow the changing seasons.
- Listening to stories and watching puppet plays cultivate the imagination and strengthen the child’s ability to concentrate.
- Songs and rhymes inspire a love of language and music.
- Counting games and rhythmic activities lay the foundation for math skills.
- Baking bread, preparing snacks together, and cleaning up encourage cooperation and a sense of responsibility.
- Skills for academic work are developed with daily activities such as beeswax modeling, finger knitting, participation in story circle time, and nature walks.
These activities enrich the early childhood experience in daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms that create a bridge between home and school.
Bright Water School offers two full-sized kindergartens for children ages 4 to 6. The two-year kindergarten program is for children who turn four years old by May 31st of the year of entry. Children in their first year of kindergarten may attend four or five days a week. Children entering first grade the following year attend five days a week. The kindergarten day is from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and after school care is available.
For a thorough look, including a daily schedule, please download our Kindergarten Handbook in pdf format.
“If young children have been able in their play to give up their whole loving beings to the world around them, they will be able in later life to devote themselves with confidence and power to the service of the world.” Rudolf Steiner
