Course: Early Childhood Education"Waldorf Education is not a pedagogical system but an art - the art of awakening what is actually there within the human being." ~ Rudolf Steiner
The Waldorf early childhood educator works with the young child by creating a warm, beautiful and loving home-like environment, which is protective and secure, and where things happen in a predictable, rhythmic manner. Here she responds to the developing child in two basic ways: First, she engages in domestic, practical, and artistic activities the children can readily imitate (for example, baking, painting, gardening, and handicrafts), adapting the work to the changing seasons and festivals of the year. Secondly, the Waldorf kindergarten teacher nurtures the children’s power of imagination by telling carefully selected stories and by encouraging free play. This free or fantasy play, in which children act out scenarios of their own creation, helps them to experience many aspects of life more deeply. When toys are used, they are made of natural materials. Wood, cotton, wool, silk, shells, stones, pine cones and objects from nature that the children themselves have collected are used in play and to beautify the room. Sensory integration, eye-hand coordination, appreciating the beauty of language, sequencing, and other basic skills necessary for the foundation of academic learning are fostered in the kindergarten. In this truly loving, natural and creative environment, children are provided with a range of activities to prepare them for later learning and for life itself. |
Course Outline
Early Childhood Education 1
Lesson 1: You Are Your Child's First Teacher Lesson 2: Home Life as the Basis for All Learning Lesson 3: Birth to Three: Growing Down and Waking Up Lesson 4: Helping Your Baby's Development Lesson 5: Helping Your Toddler's Development Lesson 6: Rhythm in Home Life Lesson 7: Discipline and Other Parenting Issues Lesson 8: Reflection and Final Paper/Early Childhood Education 1 Early Childhood Education 2
Lesson 1: Nourishing Your Child's Imagination and Creative Play Lesson 2: Developing Your Child's Artistic Ability Lesson 3: Encouraging your Child's Musical Ability Lesson 4: Cognitive Development and Early Childhood Education Lesson 5: Common Parenting Question: From Television to Immunizations Lesson 6: Help for the Journey Lesson 7: Reflection and Final Paper/Early Childhood Education 2 
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What Makes Waldorf Early Childhood Education “Waldorf”?
Is there a Waldorf early childhood curriculum? Are there specific activities—puppet plays, circle games, watercolor painting, for example—that are essential to a Waldorf program? Are there certain materials and furnishings—lazured, soft-colored walls, handmade dolls, beeswax crayons, silk and other natural materials—that are necessary ingredients in a Waldorf setting? What makes Waldorf early childhood education “Waldorf”?
Rudolf Steiner spoke on a number of occasions about the experiences that are essential for the healthy development of the young child. These include:
• love and warmth
• an environment that nourishes the senses
• creative and artistic experiences
• meaningful adult activity to be imitated
• free, imaginative play
• protection of the forces of childhood
• gratitude, reverence, and wonder
• joy, humor, and happiness
• adult caregivers pursuing a path of inner development
Love and Warmth
Children who live in an atmosphere of love and warmth, and who have around them truly good examples to imitate, are living in their proper element. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Love and emotional warmth, rather than any particular early childhood program, create the basis for the child’s healthy development. These qualities should live between the adult caregiver and the child, in the children’s behavior toward one another, and among the adults in the early childhood center. When Rudolf Steiner visited the classes of the first Waldorf school, he often asked the children, “Do you love your teacher?” Children are also served if this love and warmth exist in the relationships between the teachers and the parents, between the early childhood teachers and the rest of the school, and in the surrounding community.
An Environment that Nourishes the Senses
The essential task of the kindergarten teacher is to create the proper physical environment around the children. “Physical environment” must be understood in the widest sense imaginable. It includes not just what happens around the children in the material sense, but everything that occurs in their environment, everything that can be perceived by their senses, that can work on the inner powers of the children from the surrounding physical space. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Early learning is profoundly connected to the child’s own physical body and sensory experience. Everything the young child sees, hears, and touches has an effect. Thus a clean, orderly, beautiful, quiet setting is essential. The physical environment, both indoors and outdoors, should provide varied and nourishing opportunities for self-education—experiences in touch, balance, lively and joyful movement, and also inward listening. The children should experience large-group, small-group, and solitary activities. The teacher, in integrating diverse elements into a harmonious and meaningful environment, provides surroundings that are accessible to the child’s understanding, feeling, and active will. The care, love, and intention expressed through the outer materials and furnishings of the classes are experienced unconsciously by the child. The child experiences the immediate environment as ensouled and nurturing. The adult shapes the temporal environment as well as the spatial. Through a rhythmic schedule, in which the same thing happens at the same time on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, the child gains a sense of security and confidence in the world. Also, the different activities of the day should take place in a comfortable flow with smooth transitions.
Creative, Artistic Experience
In order to become true educators, we must be able to see the truly aesthetic element in the work, to bring an artistic quality into our tasks. . . . [I]f we bring this aesthetic element, then we begin to come closer to what the child wills out of its own nature. —Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education
In the early childhood class, the art of education is the art of living. The teacher is an artist in how she perceives and relates to the children and to the activities of daily life. She orchestrates and choreographs the rhythms of each day, each week, and each season in such a way that the children can breathe freely in a living structure. In addition, the teacher offers the children opportunities for artistic experiences in singing and music, in movement and gesture—through eurythmy and rhythmic games—and in creative speech and language—through verses, poetry, and stories. The children model with beeswax, draw, and do watercolor painting. Puppet and marionette shows put on by the teacher are an important element in the life of the kindergarten.
Meaningful Adult Activity as Examples for the Child’s Imitation
The task of the kindergarten teacher is to adapt the practical activities of daily life so that they are suitable for the child’s imitation through play. . . . The activities of children in kindergarten must be derived directly from life itself rather than being “thought out” by the intellectualized culture of adults. In the kindergarten, the most important thing is to give children the opportunity to directly imitate life itself. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
Children do not learn through instruction or admonition but though imitation. Good sight will develop if the environment has the proper conditions of light and color, while in the brain and blood circulation, the physical foundations will be laid for a healthy sense of morality if children witness moral actions in their surroundings. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Real, meaningful work with a purpose, adjusted to the needs of the child, is in accordance with the child’s natural and inborn need for movement, and is an enormously significant educational activity. The teacher focuses on the meaningful activities that nurture life in the in the classroom “home,” such as cooking and baking, gardening, doing laundry and cleaning, creating and caring for the materials in the immediate environment, and taking care of the bodily needs of the children. This directed attention of the teacher creates an atmosphere of freedom in which the individuality of each child can be active. It is not intended just that the children copy the outer movements and actions of the adult, but that they experience also the inner attitude—the devotion, care, sense of purpose, focus, and creative spirit of the adult.
Free, Imaginative Play
In the child’s play activity, we can only provide the conditions for education. What is gained through play, through everything that cannot be determined by fixed rules, stems fundamentally from the self-activity of the child, The real educational value of play lives in the fact that we ignore our rules and regulations, our educational theory, and allow the child free rein. —Rudolf Steiner, Self Education in the Light of Anthroposophy
In a seemingly contradictory indication, Rudolf Steiner also said: Giving direction and guidance to play is one of the essential tasks of sensible education, which is to say an art of education that is right for humanity. . . . The early childhood educator must school her observation in order to develop an artistic eye, to detect the individual quality of each child’s play. —Rudolf Steiner, Lecture of February 24, 1921 in Utrecht, The Netherlands
Little children learn through play. They approach play in an entirely individual way, out of their entirely individual ways, out of their unique configuration of soul and spirit, and out of their unique experiences of the world in which they live. The manner in which a child plays may offer a picture of how he will take up his destiny as an adult. The task of the teacher is to create an environment that supports the possibility of healthy play. This environment includes the physical surroundings, furnishings, and play materials; the social environment of activities and social interactions; and the inner/spiritual environment of thoughts, intentions, and imaginations held by the adults.
Protection for the Forces of Childhood
Although it is highly necessary that each person should be fully awake in later life, the child must be allowed to remain as long as possible in the peaceful, dreamlike condition of pictorial imagination in which his early years of life are passed. For if we allow his organism to grow strong in this nonintellectual way, he will rightly develop in later life the intellectuality needed in the world today. —Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education
The lively, waking dream of the little child’s consciousness must be allowed to thrive in the early childhood group. This means that the teacher refrains as much as possible from verbal instruction. Instead, her gestures and actions provide a model for the child’s imitation. Familiar daily rhythms and activities provide a context where the need for verbal instruction is reduced. Simple, archetypal imagery in stories, songs, and games provides experiences that the children can internalize but that do not require intellectual or critical reflection or explanation.
An Atmosphere of Gratitude, Reverence, and Wonder
An atmosphere of gratitude should grow naturally in children through merely witnessing the gratitude the adults feel as they receive what is freely given by others, and in how they express this gratitude. If a child says “thank you” very naturally—not in response to the urging of others, but simply through imitating— something has been done that will greatly benefit the child’s whole life. Out of this an all-embracing gratitude will develop toward the whole world. This cultivation of gratitude is of paramount importance. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
Out of these early, all-pervading experiences of gratitude, the first tender capacity for love, which is deeply embedded in each and every child, begins to sprout in earthly life.
If, during the first period of life, we create an atmosphere of gratitude around the children, then out of this gratitude toward the world, toward the entire universe, and also out of thankfulness for being able to be in this world, a profound and warm sense of devotion will arise . . . upright, honest, and true. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
This is the basis for what will become a capacity for deep, intimate love and commitment in later life, for dedication and loyalty, for true admiration of others, for fervent spiritual or religious devotion, and for placing oneself wholeheartedly in the service of the world.
Joy, Humor, and Happiness
The joy of children in and with their environment must therefore be counted among the forces that build and shape the physical organs. They need teachers who look and act with happiness and, most of all, with honest, unaffected love. Such a love that streams, as it were, with warmth through the physical environment of the children may be said to literally “hatch out” the forms of the physical organs. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
If you make a surly face so that a child gets the impression you are a grumpy person, this harms the child for the rest of his life. What kind of school plan you make is neither here nor there; what matters is what sort of person you are. —Rudolf Steiner The Kingdom of Childhood
The teacher’s earnestness about her work and her serious striving must be balanced with humor and a demeanor that bespeaks happiness. There must be moments of humor and delight in the classroom every day.
Adult Caregivers on a Path of Inner Development
For the small child before the change of teeth, the most important thing in education is the teacher’s own being. —Rudolf Steiner, Essentials of Education
Just think what feelings arise in the soul of the early childhood educator who realizes: What I accomplish with this child, I accomplish for the grown-up person in his twenties. What matters is not so much a knowledge of abstract educational principles or pedagogical rules. . . . [W]hat does matter is that a deep sense of responsibility develops in [the teacher’s heart and mind] and that this affects her or his worldview and the way she or he stands in life. —Rudolf Steiner, Education in the Face of the Present-Day World Situation, Lecture of June 10, 1920
Here we come to the spiritual environment of the early childhood setting: the thoughts, attitudes, and imaginations living in the adult who cares for the children. This invisible realm that lies behind the outer actions of the teacher has a profound influence on the child’s development. The spiritual environment includes recognition of the child as a threefold being—of body, soul, and spirit—on a path of evolutionary development through repeated Earth lives. This recognition provides a foundation for the daily activities in the kindergarten, and for the relationship between adult and child. Such an understanding of the nature and destiny of the human comes out of the inner life of the adult, the life of the individual Ego. This is a realm that is largely hidden, and hence is difficult to observe directly and to evaluate objectively. Yet ultimately this realm may affect the development of the children most profoundly. It is not merely our outer activity that influence the growing child. What lies behind and is expressed through this outer activity also is crucial. Ultimately, the most profound influence on the child is who we are as human beings—and who we are becoming and how.
Conclusion
The “essentials” described here are qualitative in nature. For the most part, they are not part of a body of concrete “best practices.” Instead, they concern inner qualities and attributes of the teacher that foster healthy development in young children. These qualities can come to expression in a wide variety of ways, according to
• the age range of the children in the group and their individual characteristics;
• the nature of the particular program—a kindergarten, playgroup, or extended care program; and
• the environment and surroundings—urban or rural, home or school or child care center.
Many practices that have come to be associated with Waldorf/Steiner early childhood education—certain daily rhythms and rituals, play materials, songs, stories, even the colors of the walls, the dress of the adults, and the menu for snack—may be mistakenly taken as essentials. The results of such assumptions can be surprising, even disturbing—a “King Winter” nature table appearing in a tropical climate in “wintertime,” or dolls with pink skin and yellow hair in a kindergarten where all the children are brown-skinned and black-haired. Such practices may express a tendency toward a doctrinal or dogmatic approach that is out of touch with the realities of the immediate situation and instead imposes something from “outside.” There is a parallel concern at the other end of the spectrum from the doctrinal or dogmatic. The freedom that Waldorf Education offers each individual teacher to determine the practices of her early childhood program can be misinterpreted to mean that “anything goes,” according to personal preference and style. Here too, there is the danger that the developmental realities and needs of the children are not sufficiently taken into consideration. Each of these one-sided approaches may be injurious to the development of the children. As Waldorf early childhood educators, we are constantly seeking a middle, universally human path between polarities. Rudolf Steiner’s advice to the first Waldorf kindergarten teacher, Elizabeth Grunelius, in the early 1920s, can be paraphrased as follows: "Observe the children. Actively meditate. Follow your intuitions. Work so that all your actions are worthy of imitation." Today, those of us who work with young children in a Waldorf environment are challenged to engage in a constant process of renewal. We must actively observe the children in our care, carry them in our meditations, and seek to work consciously and artistically to create the experiences that will serve their development. Our devotion to this task awakens us to the importance of self-education and transformation in the context of community. Our ongoing study of child and human development, our own artistic and meditative practices, and our work with Anthroposophy, independently and together with others, become essential elements for the practice of Waldorf early childhood education. Here we can come to experience that we are not alone on this journey. We are supported through our encounters with one another other and with our sharing of insights, experience, and knowledge. We are helped also by those beings spiritual beings who are committed to our continued development and to the renewal of culture that Waldorf Education seeks to serve.
Rudolf Steiner spoke on a number of occasions about the experiences that are essential for the healthy development of the young child. These include:
• love and warmth
• an environment that nourishes the senses
• creative and artistic experiences
• meaningful adult activity to be imitated
• free, imaginative play
• protection of the forces of childhood
• gratitude, reverence, and wonder
• joy, humor, and happiness
• adult caregivers pursuing a path of inner development
Love and Warmth
Children who live in an atmosphere of love and warmth, and who have around them truly good examples to imitate, are living in their proper element. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Love and emotional warmth, rather than any particular early childhood program, create the basis for the child’s healthy development. These qualities should live between the adult caregiver and the child, in the children’s behavior toward one another, and among the adults in the early childhood center. When Rudolf Steiner visited the classes of the first Waldorf school, he often asked the children, “Do you love your teacher?” Children are also served if this love and warmth exist in the relationships between the teachers and the parents, between the early childhood teachers and the rest of the school, and in the surrounding community.
An Environment that Nourishes the Senses
The essential task of the kindergarten teacher is to create the proper physical environment around the children. “Physical environment” must be understood in the widest sense imaginable. It includes not just what happens around the children in the material sense, but everything that occurs in their environment, everything that can be perceived by their senses, that can work on the inner powers of the children from the surrounding physical space. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Early learning is profoundly connected to the child’s own physical body and sensory experience. Everything the young child sees, hears, and touches has an effect. Thus a clean, orderly, beautiful, quiet setting is essential. The physical environment, both indoors and outdoors, should provide varied and nourishing opportunities for self-education—experiences in touch, balance, lively and joyful movement, and also inward listening. The children should experience large-group, small-group, and solitary activities. The teacher, in integrating diverse elements into a harmonious and meaningful environment, provides surroundings that are accessible to the child’s understanding, feeling, and active will. The care, love, and intention expressed through the outer materials and furnishings of the classes are experienced unconsciously by the child. The child experiences the immediate environment as ensouled and nurturing. The adult shapes the temporal environment as well as the spatial. Through a rhythmic schedule, in which the same thing happens at the same time on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, the child gains a sense of security and confidence in the world. Also, the different activities of the day should take place in a comfortable flow with smooth transitions.
Creative, Artistic Experience
In order to become true educators, we must be able to see the truly aesthetic element in the work, to bring an artistic quality into our tasks. . . . [I]f we bring this aesthetic element, then we begin to come closer to what the child wills out of its own nature. —Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education
In the early childhood class, the art of education is the art of living. The teacher is an artist in how she perceives and relates to the children and to the activities of daily life. She orchestrates and choreographs the rhythms of each day, each week, and each season in such a way that the children can breathe freely in a living structure. In addition, the teacher offers the children opportunities for artistic experiences in singing and music, in movement and gesture—through eurythmy and rhythmic games—and in creative speech and language—through verses, poetry, and stories. The children model with beeswax, draw, and do watercolor painting. Puppet and marionette shows put on by the teacher are an important element in the life of the kindergarten.
Meaningful Adult Activity as Examples for the Child’s Imitation
The task of the kindergarten teacher is to adapt the practical activities of daily life so that they are suitable for the child’s imitation through play. . . . The activities of children in kindergarten must be derived directly from life itself rather than being “thought out” by the intellectualized culture of adults. In the kindergarten, the most important thing is to give children the opportunity to directly imitate life itself. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
Children do not learn through instruction or admonition but though imitation. Good sight will develop if the environment has the proper conditions of light and color, while in the brain and blood circulation, the physical foundations will be laid for a healthy sense of morality if children witness moral actions in their surroundings. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
Real, meaningful work with a purpose, adjusted to the needs of the child, is in accordance with the child’s natural and inborn need for movement, and is an enormously significant educational activity. The teacher focuses on the meaningful activities that nurture life in the in the classroom “home,” such as cooking and baking, gardening, doing laundry and cleaning, creating and caring for the materials in the immediate environment, and taking care of the bodily needs of the children. This directed attention of the teacher creates an atmosphere of freedom in which the individuality of each child can be active. It is not intended just that the children copy the outer movements and actions of the adult, but that they experience also the inner attitude—the devotion, care, sense of purpose, focus, and creative spirit of the adult.
Free, Imaginative Play
In the child’s play activity, we can only provide the conditions for education. What is gained through play, through everything that cannot be determined by fixed rules, stems fundamentally from the self-activity of the child, The real educational value of play lives in the fact that we ignore our rules and regulations, our educational theory, and allow the child free rein. —Rudolf Steiner, Self Education in the Light of Anthroposophy
In a seemingly contradictory indication, Rudolf Steiner also said: Giving direction and guidance to play is one of the essential tasks of sensible education, which is to say an art of education that is right for humanity. . . . The early childhood educator must school her observation in order to develop an artistic eye, to detect the individual quality of each child’s play. —Rudolf Steiner, Lecture of February 24, 1921 in Utrecht, The Netherlands
Little children learn through play. They approach play in an entirely individual way, out of their entirely individual ways, out of their unique configuration of soul and spirit, and out of their unique experiences of the world in which they live. The manner in which a child plays may offer a picture of how he will take up his destiny as an adult. The task of the teacher is to create an environment that supports the possibility of healthy play. This environment includes the physical surroundings, furnishings, and play materials; the social environment of activities and social interactions; and the inner/spiritual environment of thoughts, intentions, and imaginations held by the adults.
Protection for the Forces of Childhood
Although it is highly necessary that each person should be fully awake in later life, the child must be allowed to remain as long as possible in the peaceful, dreamlike condition of pictorial imagination in which his early years of life are passed. For if we allow his organism to grow strong in this nonintellectual way, he will rightly develop in later life the intellectuality needed in the world today. —Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education
The lively, waking dream of the little child’s consciousness must be allowed to thrive in the early childhood group. This means that the teacher refrains as much as possible from verbal instruction. Instead, her gestures and actions provide a model for the child’s imitation. Familiar daily rhythms and activities provide a context where the need for verbal instruction is reduced. Simple, archetypal imagery in stories, songs, and games provides experiences that the children can internalize but that do not require intellectual or critical reflection or explanation.
An Atmosphere of Gratitude, Reverence, and Wonder
An atmosphere of gratitude should grow naturally in children through merely witnessing the gratitude the adults feel as they receive what is freely given by others, and in how they express this gratitude. If a child says “thank you” very naturally—not in response to the urging of others, but simply through imitating— something has been done that will greatly benefit the child’s whole life. Out of this an all-embracing gratitude will develop toward the whole world. This cultivation of gratitude is of paramount importance. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
Out of these early, all-pervading experiences of gratitude, the first tender capacity for love, which is deeply embedded in each and every child, begins to sprout in earthly life.
If, during the first period of life, we create an atmosphere of gratitude around the children, then out of this gratitude toward the world, toward the entire universe, and also out of thankfulness for being able to be in this world, a profound and warm sense of devotion will arise . . . upright, honest, and true. —Rudolf Steiner, The Child’s Changing Consciousness
This is the basis for what will become a capacity for deep, intimate love and commitment in later life, for dedication and loyalty, for true admiration of others, for fervent spiritual or religious devotion, and for placing oneself wholeheartedly in the service of the world.
Joy, Humor, and Happiness
The joy of children in and with their environment must therefore be counted among the forces that build and shape the physical organs. They need teachers who look and act with happiness and, most of all, with honest, unaffected love. Such a love that streams, as it were, with warmth through the physical environment of the children may be said to literally “hatch out” the forms of the physical organs. —Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child
If you make a surly face so that a child gets the impression you are a grumpy person, this harms the child for the rest of his life. What kind of school plan you make is neither here nor there; what matters is what sort of person you are. —Rudolf Steiner The Kingdom of Childhood
The teacher’s earnestness about her work and her serious striving must be balanced with humor and a demeanor that bespeaks happiness. There must be moments of humor and delight in the classroom every day.
Adult Caregivers on a Path of Inner Development
For the small child before the change of teeth, the most important thing in education is the teacher’s own being. —Rudolf Steiner, Essentials of Education
Just think what feelings arise in the soul of the early childhood educator who realizes: What I accomplish with this child, I accomplish for the grown-up person in his twenties. What matters is not so much a knowledge of abstract educational principles or pedagogical rules. . . . [W]hat does matter is that a deep sense of responsibility develops in [the teacher’s heart and mind] and that this affects her or his worldview and the way she or he stands in life. —Rudolf Steiner, Education in the Face of the Present-Day World Situation, Lecture of June 10, 1920
Here we come to the spiritual environment of the early childhood setting: the thoughts, attitudes, and imaginations living in the adult who cares for the children. This invisible realm that lies behind the outer actions of the teacher has a profound influence on the child’s development. The spiritual environment includes recognition of the child as a threefold being—of body, soul, and spirit—on a path of evolutionary development through repeated Earth lives. This recognition provides a foundation for the daily activities in the kindergarten, and for the relationship between adult and child. Such an understanding of the nature and destiny of the human comes out of the inner life of the adult, the life of the individual Ego. This is a realm that is largely hidden, and hence is difficult to observe directly and to evaluate objectively. Yet ultimately this realm may affect the development of the children most profoundly. It is not merely our outer activity that influence the growing child. What lies behind and is expressed through this outer activity also is crucial. Ultimately, the most profound influence on the child is who we are as human beings—and who we are becoming and how.
Conclusion
The “essentials” described here are qualitative in nature. For the most part, they are not part of a body of concrete “best practices.” Instead, they concern inner qualities and attributes of the teacher that foster healthy development in young children. These qualities can come to expression in a wide variety of ways, according to
• the age range of the children in the group and their individual characteristics;
• the nature of the particular program—a kindergarten, playgroup, or extended care program; and
• the environment and surroundings—urban or rural, home or school or child care center.
Many practices that have come to be associated with Waldorf/Steiner early childhood education—certain daily rhythms and rituals, play materials, songs, stories, even the colors of the walls, the dress of the adults, and the menu for snack—may be mistakenly taken as essentials. The results of such assumptions can be surprising, even disturbing—a “King Winter” nature table appearing in a tropical climate in “wintertime,” or dolls with pink skin and yellow hair in a kindergarten where all the children are brown-skinned and black-haired. Such practices may express a tendency toward a doctrinal or dogmatic approach that is out of touch with the realities of the immediate situation and instead imposes something from “outside.” There is a parallel concern at the other end of the spectrum from the doctrinal or dogmatic. The freedom that Waldorf Education offers each individual teacher to determine the practices of her early childhood program can be misinterpreted to mean that “anything goes,” according to personal preference and style. Here too, there is the danger that the developmental realities and needs of the children are not sufficiently taken into consideration. Each of these one-sided approaches may be injurious to the development of the children. As Waldorf early childhood educators, we are constantly seeking a middle, universally human path between polarities. Rudolf Steiner’s advice to the first Waldorf kindergarten teacher, Elizabeth Grunelius, in the early 1920s, can be paraphrased as follows: "Observe the children. Actively meditate. Follow your intuitions. Work so that all your actions are worthy of imitation." Today, those of us who work with young children in a Waldorf environment are challenged to engage in a constant process of renewal. We must actively observe the children in our care, carry them in our meditations, and seek to work consciously and artistically to create the experiences that will serve their development. Our devotion to this task awakens us to the importance of self-education and transformation in the context of community. Our ongoing study of child and human development, our own artistic and meditative practices, and our work with Anthroposophy, independently and together with others, become essential elements for the practice of Waldorf early childhood education. Here we can come to experience that we are not alone on this journey. We are supported through our encounters with one another other and with our sharing of insights, experience, and knowledge. We are helped also by those beings spiritual beings who are committed to our continued development and to the renewal of culture that Waldorf Education seeks to serve.
Early Childhood Education 1 - Lesson 5
Tasks and Assignments for Early Childhood Education 1 - Lesson 5
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Please study the study material/chapters indicated below. Feel free to use additional resources as wanted and needed. Once you feel you are sufficiently acquainted with the subject please complete the following:
1. Please reflect on the toddler years. What do you understand to be a balanced development? 2. Describe activities that address and encourage the development of language and understanding both in the home environment and the preschool/kindergarten setting. 3. Describe and discuss toys appropriate for toddlers. Submit the completed assignment via the submission form or via email. 
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Study Material for Early Childhood Education 1 - Lesson 5
You Are Your Child's First TeacherCΗΑΡΤΕR 5 - Helping Your Toddler's Development
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ENCOURAGING BALANCED DEVELOPMENT
Between the ages of one and two, your toddler is improving physical mastery of her body and also developing facility with language. With the development of language, you will start to see your child use ideas and images in her mind rather than use physical actions to solve problems. This growth of thinking and memory interact with her behavior, so that a two-year-old is a highly complex social being. This aspect of development is marked by the emergence of individuality and personal power, the growing sense of I.
The main task of parents as first teachers during the time from twelve to twenty-four months is to encourage a balanced development. Physical development involves the freedom to practice new motor skills; emotional development centers around her relationship with her mother, father, or other primary caregivers; intellectual development comes primarily through exploring the world around her.
Your toddler's natural inquisitiveness is best met by letting it unfold naturally in a baby-proofed home, free from restraints. Much of her time will be spent exploring objects and mastering skills, such as taking things apart, stacking them up, and knocking them down. Hinged doors, stairs, and climbing up on a chair to look out the window are favorite activities. The toilet bowl is a favorite source of play, so be sure to keep the bathroom inaccessible Outdoor play is encouraged because there are so many things to explore. Children in this age range love to swing and to play in the sandbox.
Because everything she explores still goes into her mouth and will be swallowed if possible, make sure that toxic items are stored out of reach in locked cupboards (toddlers love to climb). We wonder how children can swallow gasoline or cleaning fluid, but their curiosity is stronger than bad tastes or smells, and these children may swallow just about anything. Take time to recheck your home for safety when your child is between one and two years of age!
In terms of social development, a child in the second year will be focused primarily on her parents, not going very long without checking back in with them for nurturing, advice, assistance, or just making sure they are there. By being available when your child wants you and letting her explore without you, you are teaching your child both independence and security. And your encouragement and interaction when she brings you something to look at fosters her natural curiosity, showing that you value both inquisitiveness and learning.
Positive social interaction among two-year-olds is not very common. Their unconscious need to imitate means that one toddler wants whatever interesting thing the other has, and they usually lack the social skills to play together. Play will be more side-by-side than interactive, and a child of this age will need to be closely supervised to learn to touch with gentle hands and to wait when another child has a toy. Sharing is not a concept that comes naturally, but learning to wait until another child is finished can be an appropriate first step. LifeWays and some other home-based programs address the special needs of toddlers by caring for children of mixed ages. In this situation, toddlers can learn both social skills and imaginative play by imitating the older children, and thus learn them sooner than if they were around only their peers!
In terms of motor skills, you will find that your baby from the age of fourteen months is able not only to walk but also to climb. Running will also start to develop. Your eighteen-month-old will probably like sturdy toys that she can straddle while she walks. The ability to operate a tricycle usually isn't present until after the age of two, and such toys are best delayed until the child is older.
The best way to keep a balance in these areas of exploration, movement, and social interaction is to provide an environment where the child can explore by herself (with adult awareness of safety but not always with adult interaction). This will usually be your home, made safe and equipped with a few simple toys in addition to common household items.
Aids to Learning
Because of the natural impulse to want to provide the best opportunities for their children, many parents are turning to classes to help their eighteen-month-old learn to swim, read, become a gymnast, or whatever. Programs to teach infants to swim were very popular several years ago and have since drawn a great deal of criticism. Most parents' experiences were that early gains were lost, and their children's experiences were often heartrending. Trust yourself and don't do anything you don't feel good about. Putting your child into a frightening situation is not worthwhile. No classes are necessary for optimal or even enhanced development. If you do participate in any kind of group, make sure that you stay with your child, that the activity is appropriate for her age, and that the environment is not overwhelming on a sensory level. As mentioned before, a baby gymnastics class can be fun as a social experience for parents with cabin fever, but such classes can push children beyond their developmental stage. The toddler knows best which muscles to exercise to develop optimally. An excellent summary of reasons parents want their children to be in classes and why it is better to avoid them is contained in Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk by David Elkind. (1)
Even a playgroup is more helpful for stay-at-home parents than for a child of this age; an ideal format might be a parents' support group during which one or two parents take turns watching the children while the others meet to talk. (They can also meet at night while the other parent watches the children!) Many Waldorf schools and LifeWays providers offer parent-toddler groups, as do many churches and service organizations such as the "Y."
Similarly, any kind of emphasis on intellectual development that takes time away from physical movement can lead to imbalance. There's a saying, "Don't push the river." Your baby is developing according to his or her own inner clock. Tampering with the mechanism by trying to speed up one area can lead to problems in other areas.
Some parents wonder whether their child will be missing out if she doesn't watch Sesame Street or other programs designed to promote early language skills. However, children learn how to use "before" and "after" in their speech perfectly well from hearing you speak—they don't need Grover to give a lesson on it! One study, cited above, showed that only language from living sources, not television, boosted children's vocabulary and knowledge of syntax. (2) Burton White corroborates this, saying, "Rest assured that if he never sees a single television program he can still learn language through you in an absolutely magnificent manner." (3)
The medium of television is totally inappropriate for the infant or toddler, who needs to be moving and actively exploring. Up until now, young children have been unable to sit long enough to watch the screen; if they did so with older siblings, it was more in an imitative and social way than because they were paying attention to what was being presented. Unfortunately, television producers have now studied what attracts toddlers and are offering programming designed to capture their attention. Videos such as the "Little Einstein" series marketed by Disney have been discredited for claiming benefits for young children. Don't buy their consumer arguments! A more detailed discussion of how the two-dimensional, flickering sensory stimulation from television is not what a young child needs can be found in chapter 12. In the meantime, it would be best for your child if you moved your television into a room where adults and older children could watch it without the images and sounds cluttering the environment of your baby or toddler.
As your child's first teacher, you have primary responsibility for him or her in the first years of life. One of the most important things you can do is to pay attention to all that surrounds your child. This includes the food, clothing, images, toys, sunshine, sand, and water. It also includes the less tangible "nourishment" that comes from your warmth and love and the emotions that surround your child. To help your toddler develop, work on yourself, which means cultivating patience and firmness and getting rid of blame and guilt when you are not the ideal parent. No one is, but it is the striving and the effort to grow inwardly that speak most strongly to children, who are so involved with their own physical and emotional growth. Our children come to see our faults and forgive us; our orientation toward inner growth through parenting fosters change within ourselves and is a great gift to our children.
If you understand your child's development, you will be less likely to do things that impede it, such as boring him by restraining him in an infant seat or high chair for hours every day. You will also avoid unrealistic expectations of your child, such as expecting her to remember that certain things aren't allowed or trying to reason with her. Remember the principles of imitation and movement when you correct her actions! This will make you better able to provide the correction and guidance that are needed, and to avoid the annoyance that can lead to you telling your child she is "bad" for exploring things you want her to stay out of.
DEALING WITH NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR
One of the challenges of living with the child from eighteen to thirty-six months is dealing with the negativism that he or she manifests. If you can recognize your child's emerging sense of self and power as something positive, you won't fall into the trap of thinking that you have done something wrong ("If only we hadn't moved," or "He must be selfish because I have a short temper"). You can take the adult and parental perspective of enjoying your child's development while providing the guidance and boundaries she needs.
Most first children suffer from too much adult attention, whether it is the result of love, insecurity, or mistaken ideals. With a second or third child, there just isn't the time to indulge her every whim, and life has to become more rhythmical and orderly or the parent won't survive. With my first child, I fell into the philosophical pit of not wanting to be authoritarian, and chaos reigned until I realized that I could (and should) insist on right behavior. This needs to be done with calmness and joy rather than anger, but with absolute conviction that the child will eventually learn what is expected. It is appropriate that parents be guardians and guides (less charged words than "authorities") and help children in the process of becoming pleasant as well as bright three-year-olds! Your children unconsciously trust you to know more about becoming adults than they do. Because they are just learning impulse control and the social graces, you must provide appropriate boundaries for them.
In observing families where parents had already produced "outstanding children," White found that "the effective parents we have studied have always been loving but firm with their children from early infancy on. The principal problem that average families run into in this area is allowing the child to infringe on their own rights too much."( 4) This means, for example, that you set up your house so that the child has maximum freedom and requires a minimum of "no's," but then you are firm about what is not allowed. It is wonderful for your child to be curious, but he doesn't have to play with your makeup, which can be met with a stern "no," removing the child from the scene, and then putting the makeup in a less accessible place. There is no need to punish the child, because a toddler is unable to understand what he has done or to remember the next time.
Preventing your child from running your home becomes more of an issue when he starts to assert himself by saying "no" to you. One very useful tip for getting around the almost reflexive negativism of a two-year-old is to stop asking questions while cultivating an appreciation for the power of moving. Young children tend to be very verbal, leading parents to fall into the trap of relating to them on a rational level. Asking your two-year-old, "Do you want to . . ." invites a negative answer from a child of this age. Instead, positive and neutral statements such as, "It's time to brush your teeth for bed" can be very effective when combined with the absolute certainty that there is no other choice. Adding a bit of fantasy, movement, or song while going upstairs can also engage a child and circumvent negativity.
Keeping things the same as much as possible can also avoid problems with toddlers. Many two-year-olds hate change and fall apart during transitions between activities. Everything has to be a certain way or pandemonium breaks loose. This doesn't mean that you need to give in each time or put up with whiny behavior, but understanding the two-year-old's attachment to order can help you avoid problems. It is a phase that will ease in intensity as your child matures. You'll most likely find he's not attached to order as an adolescent!
However, sometimes your child will just be negative, and he may astonish you with the force of his refusal. When this happens, it is good first to acknowledge what it is that your child wants: "I can see that you really want to keep playing in the park. You have tears and are saying, 'No, mommy! No go home!" This in itself may get your child's attention, and everyone appreciates being understood. After this heartfelt acknowledgment, however, you follow up with a statement of what needs to happen: "But it's time to go so we can make dinner for daddy. You can help me with the carrots when we get home." Again, presenting something imaginative can often help ("Let's hop to the car like that little bunny we saw. I wonder who will get there the quickest, mamma bunny or baby bunny?"). You might also provide a choice, either of which still accomplishes your aim, to help avoid a showdown ("Do you want to fly to the bedroom or hop like a bunny?").
If your child resorts to full-blown whining or screaming after you have acknowledged his feelings, it's important not to indicate that he can sometimes get what he wants by throwing a fit. You might physically remove the child from his location, either sitting and holding him, if that seems appropriate, or standing there with him like a big, boring lump while reassuring him that as soon as he's ready, the activities of life will go on again. While taking a few deep breaths yourself, you could ask yourself whether there is anything going on. Is he overtired or possibly coming down with a cold? Or there may be no apparent explanation. Sometimes one or two minutes of your leaving the room will calm a child right down. What's the point in having a tantrum when no one is watching? At other times singing a song or starting a favorite finger-play can put the child in a better mood. Regardless of what method you use, you then need to lovingly and firmly follow through by insisting on the action that caused the meltdown. What doesn't work is becoming angry, hitting or belittling the child, or giving in and reinforcing that this behavior often gets results. Remember that intermittent rewards have been shown to encourage learned behavior more effectively than a reward that is given every time, so it's important to be consistent.
Knowing that you can set boundaries and correct behavior helps you maintain your patience and keeps you from allowing a child to run the household and then resenting it. Correction always occurs in the present moment, where the child lives. You can't expect your two-year-old to remember not to do that again, which is why time-outs or other punishment will not work. If you have an especially willful child, you may need to set the limits again and again during this period, but persistence pays off. Setting firm and consistent limits throughout the second year will usually prevent temper tantrums after the child turns two. Temper tantrums and the "terrible twos" are common, but they are not inevitable. White encourages parents to teach the child that he is terribly important, that his needs and interests are special, but that he is no more important than any other person in the world, especially his parents. (5) If a child moves into the third year without it having been made clear that he doesn't run the home and that you really mean it when you forbid something, you are in for trouble. Discipline and the importance of rhythm in home life in preventing behavior problems will be discussed further in later chapters.
ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Because we cannot really be certain what a child experiences when she contemplates an object, it is best to leave the toddler in peace until there is a natural break in her activities or she comes to you with something. Because of our lack of awareness and our desire to take advantage of teaching situations, we are constantly interrupting children to tell them the names of things when they are happily engrossed in an object. Instead, we can observe them and let them explore the world. In The Young Child, Daniel Udo de Haes makes the valuable suggestion that you do your teaching when you give the child an object, not when he or she is playing with it. (6) For example, you might say, "Water . . . water," when you give your daughter a bowl full of water and some measuring cups to play with, perhaps even picking up some of the water in your hand while you say the words. Then let her play by herself. Similarly, if she has discovered something fascinating in the yard, don't rush over to teach her about it. Wait until she wants you and then be there to comment on what she has found ("Bug. What a big bugl").
If we are conscious of the "silent language" of objects, then we can let our human language interact with it harmoniously. For example, after the child hears the wind rustling in the trees we might say "rustling," letting the child hear in these sounds something of what the rustling tree has first spoken to him. In this way it is possible for the child to experience through our words an inner connection between the language of things and the human language. (7)
With the toddler it is best not to speak about things but to let the things speak for themselves whenever possible. In other words, there is nothing harmful, and even something beneficial, in letting the doll say, "Good morning!" to the child or in personifying or animating objects and letting them speak for themselves. For the young child, all the world is alive, and everything does speak; the ability to distinguish reality from imagination lies in the future and will come naturally. As adults we tend to offer far too many intellectual explanations to our young children, having forgotten how to experience the world in movement and in pictures. If the personification of objects is done in a natural and responsible manner, it can strengthen an inward listening in the child. (8)
Around the second half of the second year, your child will become more interested in the pictures in books than with turning the pages. There is a value in bringing before the child a picture of what she has experienced in nature. Just as an artist can help us see everything, so a picture book can help the child recognize that others share her visions and experiences. With this in mind, pictures of everyday objects, far from being trivial, have great value in bringing before the child the most fundamental aspects of life on earth, and have the recognition value of mirroring the child's own experience. In this sense, a picture of baby's cup might be more valuable than an elephant, which the child won't yet have experienced! Thus pictures of the simplest objects, with no story thread, are satisfying for the child before the age of three.
Because the child is trying to experience the world and gain a picture of life as it is, it is helpful to put before her appropriate and accurate pictures of life rather than caricatures of a rabbit wearing clothes or cartoon depictions of characters. The young child does not have the sophistication to laugh at cartoon renditions of absurd events, which imply that the observer, like the artist, is placing himself over and against it in judgment and laughter. A picture book has value for the toddler when he finds in it a portrayal, created by adults with dedication and respect, of everything that has resonated in his inner being. (9)
Very few good books for toddlers exist, but if we understand the value of sharing the same book over and over (even several times in the same day), then very few are needed! It is beneficial to read only one book at a sitting because each book has its own atmosphere, and mixing them can clutter the child's experience, especially at bedtime. Similarly, too many pictures give the child no time to digest them and destroy the quiet intimacy that belongs with each picture. Children may bring another book to you and want more, but being clear that one story is enough will not only help your child live fully with those images but will also help convey the value of the individual experience in contrast to always having more of something.
It is also very valuable for your child if you draw your own picture book for her, preferably with her watching. Most adults think they can't draw, usually as a result of their own experiences in childhood. But the child is not concerned with our artistic ability. Rather, the magical quality appears when our attempts, which she invests with her own imagination, call forth her own inner recognition of experiences. By so doing, we show the child that her quest for the earthly world is understood. (10)
Another activity for toddlers is showing her a storybook whose pictures meet the above criteria but without reading the story. Simply comment on the pictures using simple language, such as "There is Mother Hen with all of her chicks. Peep. Peep. Peep." Then when we turn the page (or the child does), we can let him look at the picture for a while before adding our simple words. At first the child may turn the pages at random. Later he will want you to read or tell the story with the same words each time and will be nourished by their familiarity. As the years go by, stories can gradually be made more complicated, or you can begin conversations about a story, so that a good picture book can last from toddlerhood through the preschool years.
THE BEGINNINGS OF IMAGINATIVE PLAY
A young child's earliest play involves movement for the pure joy of it. Running, jumping, whirling, and standing on tiptoe are enjoyable in themselves. The imaginative element will start to enter in when your son or daughter hops like a bunny or rides a stick horse. In the second year you may have glimpses of imaginative play as your child begins to pretend she is eating or drinking or talking on the phone. Through imagination, the child is able to unite herself with the world at the same time that memory and thinking are separating her from it. Fantasy and play are like complementary opposites to memory and thinking. The creative power of imaginative play continues to develop throughout early childhood, blossoming between ages three and six.
For the young toddler, pretending first begins as imitation and is carried out as actions rather than words, like pretending to drink something from a real or an imaginary cup. As children approach the age of two, their growing facility with language enables their pretending to be more conversational and interactive. Simple toys further your child's imagination. For example, having a toy plate leads to talking about what is on it. This soon develops into preparing food, which can easily be done as a chair is turned into a stove top with an oven underneath.
A block can be used as a toy telephone and lead to conversational play, but your hand can do just as well. Many times, messages delivered this way can make the next set of activities into a game.
Mother (with hand to ear): Ring. Ring. Heather, your phone is ringing.
Heather: Hello.
Mother: This is Mommy. I need to buy some eggs. Get your shoes on and you can come to the store with me.
Heather: Okay!
Mother: Bye.
A bit of fantasy goes a long way in circumventing your child's negativism. For example, if you hold a washcloth like a puppet who is talking, the child may soon be convinced to rub noses with this talking friend. Or suggesting that all the little mice pick up the crumbs (scraps of paper) will immediately result in a "little mouse" helping you clean up the mess.
PROVIDING A RICH ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR TODDLER
You don't have to spend a lot of money on fancy toys to provide a rich environment for your toddler. Making accessible the items in your home, plus a few free or inexpensive items, such as a ball and a cardboard box, will provide your child with hours of valuable exploration. Your toddler will want to touch and explore everything in your home, seeing what it feels like, whether she can carry, empty, or fill it, and whether it comes apart. The toddler age requires constant supervision, because your child can hurt herself or other things the minute you turn your back. It's a time when you'll need to start teaching discrimination: it's all right to play with her toy telephone, but not the real one; she can play with the large necklace in her drawer, but not go into your jewelry box. It's understandable that it takes time for toddlers to learn the difference!
One valuable thing you will be teaching your child during this time is how to touch and how to care for things. Because your child is such an imitator, always demonstrate the behavior you want and make positive statements such as, "Touch the puppy gently," rather than "Don't hurt the puppy." Or "Here, sniff the pretty flower," rather than "Don't crush the flower!" You will also need to start teaching the lessons of "Sharp!" and "Hot!" by modeling the behavior of taking your hand or your child's away from the object in question.
Toddlers are delightful if you can view their being into everything as their way of exploring the world, of experiencing new sights and touch, of emptying, filling, exploring gravity, using their muscles. They have no sense of adult order or goal-directed behavior. If you want Jason to clean up, start putting the toys in the basket with him. He's glad to help, but he's equally glad to dump them all out again if you walk away from him. When you find yourself being annoyed, take a minute to enter into a toddler's world and you will realize that he isn't doing it to annoy you. Quite the contrary, he's probably doing it out of pure "doingness" and is quite oblivious to you. You can (and must) correct and teach him what is and is not acceptable, but you needn't be annoyed when you do it. If you want to get your toddler to do a specific action, the key is to model the behavior you want, while he or she watches and/or does it with you (you'll still end up doing 90 percent of it yourself, but that's the way it is at this age).
Even though it is necessary to know where toddlers are at all times, it's good to provide them with time and space to explore the world while you appear not to be looking. This has been called "benign neglect" because you're aware of what's going on but are not involved in it. Having a craft project such as knitting or crochet is an ideal way to be "busy", reading, however, does not work! Independence is fostered by not always interrupting your toddler but being accessible when he or she comes to you for assistance or to share a discovery.
In addition to loving to explore, your toddler loves simply to move for the joy of movement. She will delight in running, jumping, climbing, pushing, and carrying. All of these activities help in the development of the large muscles and express the young child's nature: to be in movement. Aside from deciding which furniture it's okay to climb on and jump off, you can provide your child with a low balance beam made from placing a wide board over a couple of low bricks or blocks. If the bridge you have made is too challenging for your one-year-old, place it next to a wall; raise it as she becomes more skillful.
Toys that help with the development of large muscles include the very popular indoor wooden slide and ladder with crawling space underneath. Four-wheeled straddle toys that are low to the ground are also favorites of toddlers. A wooden cart, child's shopping cart, or doll stroller is a good toy for pushing. Make sure it is sturdy enough to take the child's weight.
Toddlers love to be outside, and a sandbox (covered to keep cats away) and a water table can provide long periods of enjoyment. Again, make sure that you have inspected your yard and have a locked gate or other means to keep the child away from the street. Most children love to swing, so a sturdy swing is good from age one on. Toys for sand and water play inside are also valuable when the weather is bad.
Many of the toys listed in the preceding chapter will still interest a toddler. As a guide for buying toys, always take into consideration safety and durability. A toddler will still pull things apart and put them in her mouth. As she becomes more adroit at manipulating objects, stacking boxes or nesting dolls are very popular. Wooden toys with moving parts are especially recommended for young children by Rudolf Steiner, who stated, "What a healthy toy it is, for example, which represents, by moveable wooden figures, two smiths facing each other and hammering on an anvil. Such things can be bought in country districts. Excellent also are the picture books where the figures can be set in motion by pulling threads from below, so that the child himself can transform the dead picture into a representation of living action." (11) The ability to have an effect on something and to transform it through movement suits the young child's nature.
Your child loves to stack things, so we suggest making a set of blocks by cutting the trunk and large branches of a tree into blocks of various sizes and shapes. Unlike the geometrically perfect blocks you buy in stores, these irregularly shaped blocks will be used throughout the preschool years for much more than stacking. Their unfinished quality lets the child use his imagination with them. They can easily become people, cans of cat food, or baby bottles; flat pieces from a trunk can be used as plates or cakes. Your preschool child's imagination will be endless. But your toddler will be most interested in stacking them up and knocking them down.
When purchasing toys, consider not only their safety but also their aesthetic qualities. Are they beautiful? How do they feel? What kind of picture of the world do they put before the child? Darth Vader figures, Transformers, dinosaurs, and chartreuse ponies with platinum hair are caricatures of reality that simply are not beautiful nor accurate representations of the world. Everything the young child takes in from birth through age seven has an especially strong effect on him—more so than in later years. The effect of toys and the power of imitation were strikingly illustrated by a photo that appeared in American Baby a number of years back. This prize-winning photo showed a preverbal child next to a Cabbage Patch doll, with the child copying exactly the inane expression on the doll's face. Such imitation is completely unconscious and would have been missed if the photographer hadn't been there. Such a photo captures in black and white how deeply sense impressions penetrate the young child and are manifested through the physical organs.
In another remarkable case described by professor of child therapy Alfred Nitschke, a ten-month-old baby girl was admitted to the hospital with extreme lethargy. She was unable to sit up, being doubled over in a jack-knife position; she had a listless expression and a blank gaze. No one had been able to diagnose the problem. Finally one doctor was inspired to notice that the child looked exactly like her constant companion, a floppy stuffed rabbit that was long-limbed and droopy, with large, fixed eyes. The doctor brought a new toy that was friendly looking and had a well-defined shape. The child soon became attached to the new toy, and within a few days her posture, appetite, and mood had begun to improve without any other treatment. (12) In contemplating stuffed toys or dolls for your children, you might remember these examples.
Especially for the young child, the simpler and more archetypal a thing is, the more possibilities it holds for the child. Steiner states:
As the muscles of the hand grow firm and strong in performing the work for which they are fitted, so the brain and other organs of the physical body of man are guided into the right lines of development if they receive the right impressions from their environment. An example will best illustrate this point.
You can make a doll for a child by folding up an old napkin, making two corners into legs, the other two corners into arms, a knot for the head, and painting eyes, nose and mouth with blots of ink. Or else you can buy the child what they call a "pretty" doll, with real hair and painted cheeks If the child has before him the folded napkin, he has to fill in from his own imagination all that is needed to make it real and human. The brain unfolds as the muscles of the hand unfold, when they do the work for which they are fitted. Give the child the so-called pretty doll, and the brain has nothing to do. (13)
Because the young child is not fully conscious of his own body, what he is most aware of in himself and others is the head. Thus a knot doll with a large head is quite recognizable and satisfactory to the young child. For a very young child, you can change the basic doll into a "baby?' by stuffing the bottom like a blanket or pillow instead of making a body and legs from the two bottom corners. (14)
TOYS AND EQUIPMENT
In addition to many of the toys listed at the end of the previous chapter, the following will be enjoyed by your toddler:
The following are activities that most toddlers will enjoy:
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Toddler Play
Sources for Creative, Natural Toys
There are so many companies on the Internet these days! Favorites include:
DVDs and CDs on Sensory Integration and Child Development
The following CDs and DVDs are available from the online store at www.waldorfinthehome.org:
NOTES
Between the ages of one and two, your toddler is improving physical mastery of her body and also developing facility with language. With the development of language, you will start to see your child use ideas and images in her mind rather than use physical actions to solve problems. This growth of thinking and memory interact with her behavior, so that a two-year-old is a highly complex social being. This aspect of development is marked by the emergence of individuality and personal power, the growing sense of I.
The main task of parents as first teachers during the time from twelve to twenty-four months is to encourage a balanced development. Physical development involves the freedom to practice new motor skills; emotional development centers around her relationship with her mother, father, or other primary caregivers; intellectual development comes primarily through exploring the world around her.
Your toddler's natural inquisitiveness is best met by letting it unfold naturally in a baby-proofed home, free from restraints. Much of her time will be spent exploring objects and mastering skills, such as taking things apart, stacking them up, and knocking them down. Hinged doors, stairs, and climbing up on a chair to look out the window are favorite activities. The toilet bowl is a favorite source of play, so be sure to keep the bathroom inaccessible Outdoor play is encouraged because there are so many things to explore. Children in this age range love to swing and to play in the sandbox.
Because everything she explores still goes into her mouth and will be swallowed if possible, make sure that toxic items are stored out of reach in locked cupboards (toddlers love to climb). We wonder how children can swallow gasoline or cleaning fluid, but their curiosity is stronger than bad tastes or smells, and these children may swallow just about anything. Take time to recheck your home for safety when your child is between one and two years of age!
In terms of social development, a child in the second year will be focused primarily on her parents, not going very long without checking back in with them for nurturing, advice, assistance, or just making sure they are there. By being available when your child wants you and letting her explore without you, you are teaching your child both independence and security. And your encouragement and interaction when she brings you something to look at fosters her natural curiosity, showing that you value both inquisitiveness and learning.
Positive social interaction among two-year-olds is not very common. Their unconscious need to imitate means that one toddler wants whatever interesting thing the other has, and they usually lack the social skills to play together. Play will be more side-by-side than interactive, and a child of this age will need to be closely supervised to learn to touch with gentle hands and to wait when another child has a toy. Sharing is not a concept that comes naturally, but learning to wait until another child is finished can be an appropriate first step. LifeWays and some other home-based programs address the special needs of toddlers by caring for children of mixed ages. In this situation, toddlers can learn both social skills and imaginative play by imitating the older children, and thus learn them sooner than if they were around only their peers!
In terms of motor skills, you will find that your baby from the age of fourteen months is able not only to walk but also to climb. Running will also start to develop. Your eighteen-month-old will probably like sturdy toys that she can straddle while she walks. The ability to operate a tricycle usually isn't present until after the age of two, and such toys are best delayed until the child is older.
The best way to keep a balance in these areas of exploration, movement, and social interaction is to provide an environment where the child can explore by herself (with adult awareness of safety but not always with adult interaction). This will usually be your home, made safe and equipped with a few simple toys in addition to common household items.
Aids to Learning
Because of the natural impulse to want to provide the best opportunities for their children, many parents are turning to classes to help their eighteen-month-old learn to swim, read, become a gymnast, or whatever. Programs to teach infants to swim were very popular several years ago and have since drawn a great deal of criticism. Most parents' experiences were that early gains were lost, and their children's experiences were often heartrending. Trust yourself and don't do anything you don't feel good about. Putting your child into a frightening situation is not worthwhile. No classes are necessary for optimal or even enhanced development. If you do participate in any kind of group, make sure that you stay with your child, that the activity is appropriate for her age, and that the environment is not overwhelming on a sensory level. As mentioned before, a baby gymnastics class can be fun as a social experience for parents with cabin fever, but such classes can push children beyond their developmental stage. The toddler knows best which muscles to exercise to develop optimally. An excellent summary of reasons parents want their children to be in classes and why it is better to avoid them is contained in Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk by David Elkind. (1)
Even a playgroup is more helpful for stay-at-home parents than for a child of this age; an ideal format might be a parents' support group during which one or two parents take turns watching the children while the others meet to talk. (They can also meet at night while the other parent watches the children!) Many Waldorf schools and LifeWays providers offer parent-toddler groups, as do many churches and service organizations such as the "Y."
Similarly, any kind of emphasis on intellectual development that takes time away from physical movement can lead to imbalance. There's a saying, "Don't push the river." Your baby is developing according to his or her own inner clock. Tampering with the mechanism by trying to speed up one area can lead to problems in other areas.
Some parents wonder whether their child will be missing out if she doesn't watch Sesame Street or other programs designed to promote early language skills. However, children learn how to use "before" and "after" in their speech perfectly well from hearing you speak—they don't need Grover to give a lesson on it! One study, cited above, showed that only language from living sources, not television, boosted children's vocabulary and knowledge of syntax. (2) Burton White corroborates this, saying, "Rest assured that if he never sees a single television program he can still learn language through you in an absolutely magnificent manner." (3)
The medium of television is totally inappropriate for the infant or toddler, who needs to be moving and actively exploring. Up until now, young children have been unable to sit long enough to watch the screen; if they did so with older siblings, it was more in an imitative and social way than because they were paying attention to what was being presented. Unfortunately, television producers have now studied what attracts toddlers and are offering programming designed to capture their attention. Videos such as the "Little Einstein" series marketed by Disney have been discredited for claiming benefits for young children. Don't buy their consumer arguments! A more detailed discussion of how the two-dimensional, flickering sensory stimulation from television is not what a young child needs can be found in chapter 12. In the meantime, it would be best for your child if you moved your television into a room where adults and older children could watch it without the images and sounds cluttering the environment of your baby or toddler.
As your child's first teacher, you have primary responsibility for him or her in the first years of life. One of the most important things you can do is to pay attention to all that surrounds your child. This includes the food, clothing, images, toys, sunshine, sand, and water. It also includes the less tangible "nourishment" that comes from your warmth and love and the emotions that surround your child. To help your toddler develop, work on yourself, which means cultivating patience and firmness and getting rid of blame and guilt when you are not the ideal parent. No one is, but it is the striving and the effort to grow inwardly that speak most strongly to children, who are so involved with their own physical and emotional growth. Our children come to see our faults and forgive us; our orientation toward inner growth through parenting fosters change within ourselves and is a great gift to our children.
If you understand your child's development, you will be less likely to do things that impede it, such as boring him by restraining him in an infant seat or high chair for hours every day. You will also avoid unrealistic expectations of your child, such as expecting her to remember that certain things aren't allowed or trying to reason with her. Remember the principles of imitation and movement when you correct her actions! This will make you better able to provide the correction and guidance that are needed, and to avoid the annoyance that can lead to you telling your child she is "bad" for exploring things you want her to stay out of.
DEALING WITH NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR
One of the challenges of living with the child from eighteen to thirty-six months is dealing with the negativism that he or she manifests. If you can recognize your child's emerging sense of self and power as something positive, you won't fall into the trap of thinking that you have done something wrong ("If only we hadn't moved," or "He must be selfish because I have a short temper"). You can take the adult and parental perspective of enjoying your child's development while providing the guidance and boundaries she needs.
Most first children suffer from too much adult attention, whether it is the result of love, insecurity, or mistaken ideals. With a second or third child, there just isn't the time to indulge her every whim, and life has to become more rhythmical and orderly or the parent won't survive. With my first child, I fell into the philosophical pit of not wanting to be authoritarian, and chaos reigned until I realized that I could (and should) insist on right behavior. This needs to be done with calmness and joy rather than anger, but with absolute conviction that the child will eventually learn what is expected. It is appropriate that parents be guardians and guides (less charged words than "authorities") and help children in the process of becoming pleasant as well as bright three-year-olds! Your children unconsciously trust you to know more about becoming adults than they do. Because they are just learning impulse control and the social graces, you must provide appropriate boundaries for them.
In observing families where parents had already produced "outstanding children," White found that "the effective parents we have studied have always been loving but firm with their children from early infancy on. The principal problem that average families run into in this area is allowing the child to infringe on their own rights too much."( 4) This means, for example, that you set up your house so that the child has maximum freedom and requires a minimum of "no's," but then you are firm about what is not allowed. It is wonderful for your child to be curious, but he doesn't have to play with your makeup, which can be met with a stern "no," removing the child from the scene, and then putting the makeup in a less accessible place. There is no need to punish the child, because a toddler is unable to understand what he has done or to remember the next time.
Preventing your child from running your home becomes more of an issue when he starts to assert himself by saying "no" to you. One very useful tip for getting around the almost reflexive negativism of a two-year-old is to stop asking questions while cultivating an appreciation for the power of moving. Young children tend to be very verbal, leading parents to fall into the trap of relating to them on a rational level. Asking your two-year-old, "Do you want to . . ." invites a negative answer from a child of this age. Instead, positive and neutral statements such as, "It's time to brush your teeth for bed" can be very effective when combined with the absolute certainty that there is no other choice. Adding a bit of fantasy, movement, or song while going upstairs can also engage a child and circumvent negativity.
Keeping things the same as much as possible can also avoid problems with toddlers. Many two-year-olds hate change and fall apart during transitions between activities. Everything has to be a certain way or pandemonium breaks loose. This doesn't mean that you need to give in each time or put up with whiny behavior, but understanding the two-year-old's attachment to order can help you avoid problems. It is a phase that will ease in intensity as your child matures. You'll most likely find he's not attached to order as an adolescent!
However, sometimes your child will just be negative, and he may astonish you with the force of his refusal. When this happens, it is good first to acknowledge what it is that your child wants: "I can see that you really want to keep playing in the park. You have tears and are saying, 'No, mommy! No go home!" This in itself may get your child's attention, and everyone appreciates being understood. After this heartfelt acknowledgment, however, you follow up with a statement of what needs to happen: "But it's time to go so we can make dinner for daddy. You can help me with the carrots when we get home." Again, presenting something imaginative can often help ("Let's hop to the car like that little bunny we saw. I wonder who will get there the quickest, mamma bunny or baby bunny?"). You might also provide a choice, either of which still accomplishes your aim, to help avoid a showdown ("Do you want to fly to the bedroom or hop like a bunny?").
If your child resorts to full-blown whining or screaming after you have acknowledged his feelings, it's important not to indicate that he can sometimes get what he wants by throwing a fit. You might physically remove the child from his location, either sitting and holding him, if that seems appropriate, or standing there with him like a big, boring lump while reassuring him that as soon as he's ready, the activities of life will go on again. While taking a few deep breaths yourself, you could ask yourself whether there is anything going on. Is he overtired or possibly coming down with a cold? Or there may be no apparent explanation. Sometimes one or two minutes of your leaving the room will calm a child right down. What's the point in having a tantrum when no one is watching? At other times singing a song or starting a favorite finger-play can put the child in a better mood. Regardless of what method you use, you then need to lovingly and firmly follow through by insisting on the action that caused the meltdown. What doesn't work is becoming angry, hitting or belittling the child, or giving in and reinforcing that this behavior often gets results. Remember that intermittent rewards have been shown to encourage learned behavior more effectively than a reward that is given every time, so it's important to be consistent.
Knowing that you can set boundaries and correct behavior helps you maintain your patience and keeps you from allowing a child to run the household and then resenting it. Correction always occurs in the present moment, where the child lives. You can't expect your two-year-old to remember not to do that again, which is why time-outs or other punishment will not work. If you have an especially willful child, you may need to set the limits again and again during this period, but persistence pays off. Setting firm and consistent limits throughout the second year will usually prevent temper tantrums after the child turns two. Temper tantrums and the "terrible twos" are common, but they are not inevitable. White encourages parents to teach the child that he is terribly important, that his needs and interests are special, but that he is no more important than any other person in the world, especially his parents. (5) If a child moves into the third year without it having been made clear that he doesn't run the home and that you really mean it when you forbid something, you are in for trouble. Discipline and the importance of rhythm in home life in preventing behavior problems will be discussed further in later chapters.
ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Because we cannot really be certain what a child experiences when she contemplates an object, it is best to leave the toddler in peace until there is a natural break in her activities or she comes to you with something. Because of our lack of awareness and our desire to take advantage of teaching situations, we are constantly interrupting children to tell them the names of things when they are happily engrossed in an object. Instead, we can observe them and let them explore the world. In The Young Child, Daniel Udo de Haes makes the valuable suggestion that you do your teaching when you give the child an object, not when he or she is playing with it. (6) For example, you might say, "Water . . . water," when you give your daughter a bowl full of water and some measuring cups to play with, perhaps even picking up some of the water in your hand while you say the words. Then let her play by herself. Similarly, if she has discovered something fascinating in the yard, don't rush over to teach her about it. Wait until she wants you and then be there to comment on what she has found ("Bug. What a big bugl").
If we are conscious of the "silent language" of objects, then we can let our human language interact with it harmoniously. For example, after the child hears the wind rustling in the trees we might say "rustling," letting the child hear in these sounds something of what the rustling tree has first spoken to him. In this way it is possible for the child to experience through our words an inner connection between the language of things and the human language. (7)
With the toddler it is best not to speak about things but to let the things speak for themselves whenever possible. In other words, there is nothing harmful, and even something beneficial, in letting the doll say, "Good morning!" to the child or in personifying or animating objects and letting them speak for themselves. For the young child, all the world is alive, and everything does speak; the ability to distinguish reality from imagination lies in the future and will come naturally. As adults we tend to offer far too many intellectual explanations to our young children, having forgotten how to experience the world in movement and in pictures. If the personification of objects is done in a natural and responsible manner, it can strengthen an inward listening in the child. (8)
Around the second half of the second year, your child will become more interested in the pictures in books than with turning the pages. There is a value in bringing before the child a picture of what she has experienced in nature. Just as an artist can help us see everything, so a picture book can help the child recognize that others share her visions and experiences. With this in mind, pictures of everyday objects, far from being trivial, have great value in bringing before the child the most fundamental aspects of life on earth, and have the recognition value of mirroring the child's own experience. In this sense, a picture of baby's cup might be more valuable than an elephant, which the child won't yet have experienced! Thus pictures of the simplest objects, with no story thread, are satisfying for the child before the age of three.
Because the child is trying to experience the world and gain a picture of life as it is, it is helpful to put before her appropriate and accurate pictures of life rather than caricatures of a rabbit wearing clothes or cartoon depictions of characters. The young child does not have the sophistication to laugh at cartoon renditions of absurd events, which imply that the observer, like the artist, is placing himself over and against it in judgment and laughter. A picture book has value for the toddler when he finds in it a portrayal, created by adults with dedication and respect, of everything that has resonated in his inner being. (9)
Very few good books for toddlers exist, but if we understand the value of sharing the same book over and over (even several times in the same day), then very few are needed! It is beneficial to read only one book at a sitting because each book has its own atmosphere, and mixing them can clutter the child's experience, especially at bedtime. Similarly, too many pictures give the child no time to digest them and destroy the quiet intimacy that belongs with each picture. Children may bring another book to you and want more, but being clear that one story is enough will not only help your child live fully with those images but will also help convey the value of the individual experience in contrast to always having more of something.
It is also very valuable for your child if you draw your own picture book for her, preferably with her watching. Most adults think they can't draw, usually as a result of their own experiences in childhood. But the child is not concerned with our artistic ability. Rather, the magical quality appears when our attempts, which she invests with her own imagination, call forth her own inner recognition of experiences. By so doing, we show the child that her quest for the earthly world is understood. (10)
Another activity for toddlers is showing her a storybook whose pictures meet the above criteria but without reading the story. Simply comment on the pictures using simple language, such as "There is Mother Hen with all of her chicks. Peep. Peep. Peep." Then when we turn the page (or the child does), we can let him look at the picture for a while before adding our simple words. At first the child may turn the pages at random. Later he will want you to read or tell the story with the same words each time and will be nourished by their familiarity. As the years go by, stories can gradually be made more complicated, or you can begin conversations about a story, so that a good picture book can last from toddlerhood through the preschool years.
THE BEGINNINGS OF IMAGINATIVE PLAY
A young child's earliest play involves movement for the pure joy of it. Running, jumping, whirling, and standing on tiptoe are enjoyable in themselves. The imaginative element will start to enter in when your son or daughter hops like a bunny or rides a stick horse. In the second year you may have glimpses of imaginative play as your child begins to pretend she is eating or drinking or talking on the phone. Through imagination, the child is able to unite herself with the world at the same time that memory and thinking are separating her from it. Fantasy and play are like complementary opposites to memory and thinking. The creative power of imaginative play continues to develop throughout early childhood, blossoming between ages three and six.
For the young toddler, pretending first begins as imitation and is carried out as actions rather than words, like pretending to drink something from a real or an imaginary cup. As children approach the age of two, their growing facility with language enables their pretending to be more conversational and interactive. Simple toys further your child's imagination. For example, having a toy plate leads to talking about what is on it. This soon develops into preparing food, which can easily be done as a chair is turned into a stove top with an oven underneath.
A block can be used as a toy telephone and lead to conversational play, but your hand can do just as well. Many times, messages delivered this way can make the next set of activities into a game.
Mother (with hand to ear): Ring. Ring. Heather, your phone is ringing.
Heather: Hello.
Mother: This is Mommy. I need to buy some eggs. Get your shoes on and you can come to the store with me.
Heather: Okay!
Mother: Bye.
A bit of fantasy goes a long way in circumventing your child's negativism. For example, if you hold a washcloth like a puppet who is talking, the child may soon be convinced to rub noses with this talking friend. Or suggesting that all the little mice pick up the crumbs (scraps of paper) will immediately result in a "little mouse" helping you clean up the mess.
PROVIDING A RICH ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR TODDLER
You don't have to spend a lot of money on fancy toys to provide a rich environment for your toddler. Making accessible the items in your home, plus a few free or inexpensive items, such as a ball and a cardboard box, will provide your child with hours of valuable exploration. Your toddler will want to touch and explore everything in your home, seeing what it feels like, whether she can carry, empty, or fill it, and whether it comes apart. The toddler age requires constant supervision, because your child can hurt herself or other things the minute you turn your back. It's a time when you'll need to start teaching discrimination: it's all right to play with her toy telephone, but not the real one; she can play with the large necklace in her drawer, but not go into your jewelry box. It's understandable that it takes time for toddlers to learn the difference!
One valuable thing you will be teaching your child during this time is how to touch and how to care for things. Because your child is such an imitator, always demonstrate the behavior you want and make positive statements such as, "Touch the puppy gently," rather than "Don't hurt the puppy." Or "Here, sniff the pretty flower," rather than "Don't crush the flower!" You will also need to start teaching the lessons of "Sharp!" and "Hot!" by modeling the behavior of taking your hand or your child's away from the object in question.
Toddlers are delightful if you can view their being into everything as their way of exploring the world, of experiencing new sights and touch, of emptying, filling, exploring gravity, using their muscles. They have no sense of adult order or goal-directed behavior. If you want Jason to clean up, start putting the toys in the basket with him. He's glad to help, but he's equally glad to dump them all out again if you walk away from him. When you find yourself being annoyed, take a minute to enter into a toddler's world and you will realize that he isn't doing it to annoy you. Quite the contrary, he's probably doing it out of pure "doingness" and is quite oblivious to you. You can (and must) correct and teach him what is and is not acceptable, but you needn't be annoyed when you do it. If you want to get your toddler to do a specific action, the key is to model the behavior you want, while he or she watches and/or does it with you (you'll still end up doing 90 percent of it yourself, but that's the way it is at this age).
Even though it is necessary to know where toddlers are at all times, it's good to provide them with time and space to explore the world while you appear not to be looking. This has been called "benign neglect" because you're aware of what's going on but are not involved in it. Having a craft project such as knitting or crochet is an ideal way to be "busy", reading, however, does not work! Independence is fostered by not always interrupting your toddler but being accessible when he or she comes to you for assistance or to share a discovery.
In addition to loving to explore, your toddler loves simply to move for the joy of movement. She will delight in running, jumping, climbing, pushing, and carrying. All of these activities help in the development of the large muscles and express the young child's nature: to be in movement. Aside from deciding which furniture it's okay to climb on and jump off, you can provide your child with a low balance beam made from placing a wide board over a couple of low bricks or blocks. If the bridge you have made is too challenging for your one-year-old, place it next to a wall; raise it as she becomes more skillful.
Toys that help with the development of large muscles include the very popular indoor wooden slide and ladder with crawling space underneath. Four-wheeled straddle toys that are low to the ground are also favorites of toddlers. A wooden cart, child's shopping cart, or doll stroller is a good toy for pushing. Make sure it is sturdy enough to take the child's weight.
Toddlers love to be outside, and a sandbox (covered to keep cats away) and a water table can provide long periods of enjoyment. Again, make sure that you have inspected your yard and have a locked gate or other means to keep the child away from the street. Most children love to swing, so a sturdy swing is good from age one on. Toys for sand and water play inside are also valuable when the weather is bad.
Many of the toys listed in the preceding chapter will still interest a toddler. As a guide for buying toys, always take into consideration safety and durability. A toddler will still pull things apart and put them in her mouth. As she becomes more adroit at manipulating objects, stacking boxes or nesting dolls are very popular. Wooden toys with moving parts are especially recommended for young children by Rudolf Steiner, who stated, "What a healthy toy it is, for example, which represents, by moveable wooden figures, two smiths facing each other and hammering on an anvil. Such things can be bought in country districts. Excellent also are the picture books where the figures can be set in motion by pulling threads from below, so that the child himself can transform the dead picture into a representation of living action." (11) The ability to have an effect on something and to transform it through movement suits the young child's nature.
Your child loves to stack things, so we suggest making a set of blocks by cutting the trunk and large branches of a tree into blocks of various sizes and shapes. Unlike the geometrically perfect blocks you buy in stores, these irregularly shaped blocks will be used throughout the preschool years for much more than stacking. Their unfinished quality lets the child use his imagination with them. They can easily become people, cans of cat food, or baby bottles; flat pieces from a trunk can be used as plates or cakes. Your preschool child's imagination will be endless. But your toddler will be most interested in stacking them up and knocking them down.
When purchasing toys, consider not only their safety but also their aesthetic qualities. Are they beautiful? How do they feel? What kind of picture of the world do they put before the child? Darth Vader figures, Transformers, dinosaurs, and chartreuse ponies with platinum hair are caricatures of reality that simply are not beautiful nor accurate representations of the world. Everything the young child takes in from birth through age seven has an especially strong effect on him—more so than in later years. The effect of toys and the power of imitation were strikingly illustrated by a photo that appeared in American Baby a number of years back. This prize-winning photo showed a preverbal child next to a Cabbage Patch doll, with the child copying exactly the inane expression on the doll's face. Such imitation is completely unconscious and would have been missed if the photographer hadn't been there. Such a photo captures in black and white how deeply sense impressions penetrate the young child and are manifested through the physical organs.
In another remarkable case described by professor of child therapy Alfred Nitschke, a ten-month-old baby girl was admitted to the hospital with extreme lethargy. She was unable to sit up, being doubled over in a jack-knife position; she had a listless expression and a blank gaze. No one had been able to diagnose the problem. Finally one doctor was inspired to notice that the child looked exactly like her constant companion, a floppy stuffed rabbit that was long-limbed and droopy, with large, fixed eyes. The doctor brought a new toy that was friendly looking and had a well-defined shape. The child soon became attached to the new toy, and within a few days her posture, appetite, and mood had begun to improve without any other treatment. (12) In contemplating stuffed toys or dolls for your children, you might remember these examples.
Especially for the young child, the simpler and more archetypal a thing is, the more possibilities it holds for the child. Steiner states:
As the muscles of the hand grow firm and strong in performing the work for which they are fitted, so the brain and other organs of the physical body of man are guided into the right lines of development if they receive the right impressions from their environment. An example will best illustrate this point.
You can make a doll for a child by folding up an old napkin, making two corners into legs, the other two corners into arms, a knot for the head, and painting eyes, nose and mouth with blots of ink. Or else you can buy the child what they call a "pretty" doll, with real hair and painted cheeks If the child has before him the folded napkin, he has to fill in from his own imagination all that is needed to make it real and human. The brain unfolds as the muscles of the hand unfold, when they do the work for which they are fitted. Give the child the so-called pretty doll, and the brain has nothing to do. (13)
Because the young child is not fully conscious of his own body, what he is most aware of in himself and others is the head. Thus a knot doll with a large head is quite recognizable and satisfactory to the young child. For a very young child, you can change the basic doll into a "baby?' by stuffing the bottom like a blanket or pillow instead of making a body and legs from the two bottom corners. (14)
TOYS AND EQUIPMENT
In addition to many of the toys listed at the end of the previous chapter, the following will be enjoyed by your toddler:
- Low three- or four-wheeled toy that can be straddled
- Push toy, push cart, or doll stroller that is sturdy enough to lean on
- Wooden slide and climbing toy
- Wooden blocks in various diameters cut from a tree
- Wading pool or other low container for water play outdoors, plus bath or other water toys Sandbox and sand toys
- Outdoor swing
- Simple first doll of natural materials
- Indoor and outdoor balls of various sizes
- Wooden toys that have moving parts (pecking chickens, two men with hammers) Wooden nesting dolls
- Simple picture books with stiff pages
- Books with parts that move
- Large empty cardboard boxes to play in
- Crayons (age two on), especially beeswax crayons, as described in chapter 9
The following are activities that most toddlers will enjoy:
- Let your toddler start "helping" with things you do (such as loading the dishwasher, stirring the cake, putting things in the trash, sweeping, folding clothes, or watering the plants). The tasks will take you longer, but this is true quality time.
- Help your child experience nature through walks, visiting the park, or feeding the ducks.
- Set up a "nature table" (see page 126) with things that you find on your walks, such as a pretty shell or a leaf. Change the color of the cloth and the themes to reflect the seasons.
- Your toddler loves to be lifted up to the ceiling as if she were an airplane, resting on your extended legs while you lie on your back. A friend once told me that she liked the ocean so much because it was the only thing big enough to toss her around the way her father did when she was little.
- Simple hiding games are fun. You and your child can take turns hiding under a blanket (our children always played "lump in the bed" while we were trying to make it). Hiding objects in your pocket is also fun for toddlers, who love to find them. Chase, catch, and hug is a favorite game, too.
- Use a song or a bit of fantasy to accompany daily activities like brushing teeth or getting dressed. I made up a little tune for when I wanted my daughter to lie down in the bathtub and get her hair wet: "Mermaid, mermaid, swimming in the water. Mermaid, mermaid, see my little mermaid."
- Continue singing to your child! Include action rhymes whenever you can.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Toddler Play
- Children at Play: Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Child Development, by Heidi Britz-Crecelius (Park Street Press). Will help you understand how the child experiences the world through play.
- Creative Play for Your Baby: Steiner Waldorf Expertise and Toy Projects for 2 Months—2 Years and Creative Play for Your Toddler (2—4 years), both by Christopher Clouder and Janni Nicol. Overview of the development of play, plus many items to make, with clear directions and beautiful photos.
- Giving Love, Bringing Joy and other titles by Wilma Ellersiek (with accompanying CDs). Hand gesture games and lullabies in the mood of the fifth. Available from www.waldorfearlychildhood.org.
- "Joyful Days with Toddlers and Preschoolers." Blog, telecourses, and other resources from Faith Baldwin Collins, a masterful LifeWays teacher. See www.joyfultoddlers.com.
- This Is the Way We Work-a-Day, by Mary Schunemann. Songs, fingerplays, and games for activities of daily life, with accompanying CD by a consummate Waldorf songstress. Available from www.naturallyyoucansing.com.
- Toymaking with Children, by Freya Jaffke (Floris). Directions for making knot dolls and other toys for young children.
Sources for Creative, Natural Toys
There are so many companies on the Internet these days! Favorites include:
- Bella Luna Toys (www.bellalunatoys.com)
- Nova Natural (www.novanatural.com)
- Palumba (www.palumba.com)
- A Toy Garden (www.atoygarden.com)
DVDs and CDs on Sensory Integration and Child Development
The following CDs and DVDs are available from the online store at www.waldorfinthehome.org:
- "Brain in Motion: How Movement Organizes and Improves Brain Function," by Tim Burns
- "Developing Healthy Sensory Integration in Nature," by Nancy Blanning
- "Helping Our Children Get into Their Bodies," by Nancy Blanning
- "Supporting the Four 'Foundational Senses' in the First Seven Years," by Ingun Schneider
- "The Twelve Senses," by Daena Ross
- "Understanding the Twelve Senses as the Basis for Learning," by Ingun Schneider
NOTES
- Elkind, Miseducation.
- Begley, "How to Build a Baby's Brain," p. 31.
- White, The First Three Years of Life, p. 176.
- Ibid., p. 151.
- Ibid., p. 181.
- Udo de Haes, The Young Child.
- Ibid., p. 61.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., p. 65.
- Ibid., p. 72.
- Steiner, The Education of the Child, p. 26.
- Heidi Britz-Crecelius, Children at Play: Preparation for Life (New York: Inner Traditions International, 1986), pp. 94—96.
- Steiner, The Education of the Child, pp. 25—26.
- For detailed directions on making knot dolls, see Susan Smith, Echoes of a Dream (London, Ontario: Waldorf School Association of London, 1982); or Freya Jaffke, Toymaking with Children (Edinburgh, UK: Floris, 1988).