One afternoon last week while I worked inside with half of the K6 children on their handwork, the other half were outside along with the K5 children.  A child began setting up an “obstacle course” using various “loose parts” and play equipment.  The aim they established for themselves was to be able to travel from the verandah to the cubby without touching the ground!  When the handwork group went outside, their friends were excited to show them the obstacle course.  This is an example of the type of creative play requiring many problem-solving and co-operative skills which children in their sixth and seventh year will  engage in if they are given time and space, and an opportunity to sometimes be “bored”.  The adult’s role is to ensure what they are doing is basically safe, and perhaps to offer more items to support the play, rather than to entertain them, or think up a new activity.  

The previous week, also during outside play, one of the children had the idea of making a boat, and several children collaborated to find some equipment to create one, emptying out baskets to use as seats and finding a straight stick for a “rudder”.  When adults are busy with their own work nearby, a safe space can be created where the children are free to pursue  their creative play, unencumbered by adults ideas.

These opportunities to solve problems socially, emotionally and practically within themselves and with their peers is the focus when it comes to self-directed play in the kindergarten.  This is where the life-long learning takes place.  The teacher’s role is that of a facilitator, a guide on many different levels.  Within the security of the rhythm of the kindergarten, the child has the opportunity to meet challenges.  It is healthy for the child to say “I don’t know what to do”, or “I’ve got no-one to play with”, as out of these experiences new impulses for play and problem-solving can arise.

It is truly a privilege to work with young children guided by a curriculum that recognises self-directed play as the underlying principle of all that we do.

“The present day task of the Steiner Kindergarten is primarily a therapeutic one.  It provides children with basic experiences which they need for healthy development, overcoming deficiencies which often occur today in the first years of life.  A very large part of these experiences are sensory, as the development of the physical senses (touch, life, self-movement and balance) lays the foundations for the later unfolding of spiritual capacities (thinking, speech, etc).  The kindergarten is not a mirror of our daily lives, but an extract of the many activities, distilled to their essence.  This provides a simplicity and basic necessity for the content of kindergarten life which the child can understand and imitate wholeheartedly.  The meaningful activity around the child awakens his/her interest in the world, and this interest becomes the mainspring of later learning. “

Jennifer Aulie

With warmest wishes,

Denise