Early Childhood

During the first stage of childhood, from birth until around the age of six or seven, children are learning and experiencing the world primarily through physical activity. The nurturing environment of the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School’s early childhood education program provides plenty of opportunities for learning and meaningful engagement through exploration, creative play, and purposeful work. The classroom is a child’s first home away from home. At the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, it is a place of warmth, order, and beauty. It is an environment that nourishes the senses and fosters reverence for nature and the material world.

Play is paramount in the life of a child, and Waldorf schools utilize this truth to optimize each child’s learning and development. The 100-year-old Waldorf philosophy of a play-based curriculum in the early years has been substantiated in research by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which states that play is integral for a healthy childhood and necessary for social and intellectual development when formal academics begin in the grade school.

Having your child attend a play-based preschool provides multiple benefits, including:

Social Development: Play-based learning not only helps your child develop intellectually, but also socially and emotionally. They will learn how to properly communicate with other children and how to develop social habits to build relationships.

Develop Motor Skills: Physical activity, such as running and jumping, helps your child to develop their motor skills and core strength. Other activities, including water coloring and creating with beeswax, help children to develop their fine motor skills.

Encourage Creativity: Imagination and critical thinking are learned skills that children develop through play-based learning and pretend-play, which helps them to think about a variety of scenarios and discover the world around them.