Kindergarten

Welcome to Rainbow Ridge Kindergarten!

The Steiner kindergarten is a nurturing and home-like environment in which children are allowed to unfold and grow. Like flowers flourishing in a garden the young child is surrounded by warmth, beauty, a healthy rhythm and the opportunity to engage in purposeful and creative play.

One major task of the child’s first seven years is to incarnate into and develop a strong healthy physical body and find their place in the world. The kindergarten child learns through being physically active and exploring the world around them. Another major task for the young child is to develop their will forces which enable the seeds of self discipline to grow. Providing children with a healthy, consistent rhythm that alternates between focused activity and free play encourages this.

Daily Rhythm

9.00 am             Outside play
10.00 am           Morning circle, morning tea
10.30 am           Inside play, craft, painting, baking, building
12.00 pm           Finger rhymes, story time
12.30 pm           Lunch time
1.00 pm             Outside play
2.00 pm             Rest time
2.30 pm             Beeswax, drawing, painting or craft
3.00 pm             Home time

As young children are naturally dreamy and not yet capable of abstract thought it is important for them to dwell in the world of imagination.

It is through creative play, story telling, poetry, singing, painting, drawing, building, beeswax modeling and baking that children are allowed to unfold and develop all the preliminary concepts in maths and language. As young children learn through imitation, the adults in the kindergarten engage in meaningful activity and lead by example with respect to caring for the children and the kindergarten itself.

Teaching the children to respect each other and their environment is an important part of their daily experience. The daily rhythm is a natural process of breathing in during group times and breathing out during play times.

The weekly rhythm includes painting on Mondays and Fridays and drawing or beeswax-modelling on Wednesday. The children are connected to the rhythms of the year through seasonal songs and stories and festivals at the end of each term. A sense of reverence for Mother Earth and all her gifts is encouraged as we care for our toys made from natural materials and give thanks for the healthy food we eat each day.