Kinderforest

 

We are fully human only while playing, and we play only when we are human in the truest sense of the word. - Rudolf Steiner

 

Little Huckleberries (ages 3-4) & Fir Trees (ages 5-6) combine to create our Kinderforest Program.

This program runs Tuesday-Friday from 9am-1pm for Little Huckleberries and 9am-2pm for Fir Trees. Options for early drop off and aftercare are available. We are currently enrolling Kinderforest for the Fall 2024 / Spring 2025 season.

DAILY RHYTHM

Mornings: Preschoolers and Kindergarteners unite for joyful play and creative crafts, fostering a sense of community.

Circle Time: They then part for age-appropriate circle activities, nurturing their distinct needs and development.

Lunch and Snack: Midmorning brings everyone back together for a nourishing meal, strengthening bonds.

Storytime: Once again, they temporarily separate for captivating story sessions, each group engaging in stories tailored to their age.

Play and Snack: Reuniting, they enjoy more playtime and another satisfying snack, fostering camaraderie.

Farewells and Workshops: As the day draws to a close, preschoolers bid their goodbyes while Kindergarteners delve into enriching workshops for an additional hour of growth and exploration.


PHILOSOPHY

Heartsong’s Kinderforest grows out of a love for children and a love for the natural world.

Childhood is a magical time. From birth to age seven, young children learn in specific and dream-like ways. Rhythm, repetition and imitation are their primary methods of learning. We believe that small children experience impulses from the surrounding world and translate this information through embodied play .As teachers, our job is to create a nurturing space, a strong daily rhythm and consistent modeling of adult behavior.

We believe that children thrive in relationship to the natural world. Heartsong's Kinderforest centers around the farm, gardens and forest. We use the warm, protected shelter of a 40ft greenhouse with woodburning stove, as a space for learning, playing and gathering.

Indoor and Outdoor Play are the foundation of our program. Indoor play toys include dolls made with cotton and wool and play items made of wood, natural fibers such as cotton, silk and wool, seeds, nuts, shells and other found objects. All play items are free-form so that imagination can blossom. Outdoor play takes place in the garden, forest and fields.  Our shallow, seasonal creek is the site of endless mud & water play!  Through this play, children are building social skills, problem solving, counting, sharing, building small and gross motor skills and more.

Story is another integral part of Kinderforest. Teachers tell animal stories, nature stories and simple fairy tales from around the world. Story is used in a curative way to help process and meet challenging moments that may come up for our class. Plays and puppet shows meet the children in the dream-like state where they developmentally reside and confirm the goodness of the world around them.

Song  is a part of our daily rhythm. We begin with songs for the day, for the season and sometimes just for fun. We also use song and music to alert children to transitions in activity and before shared meal time, story time and after play time. Song also functions to gently remind children of what happens next in our daily rhythm.

Mealtime is a lovely part of the day. Children will sit together at a table with their teachers and enjoy lunches brought from home. We wash hands, light a candle and sing a song. It is a beautiful time of the day in which the children rest and are nourished physically together.

Art may take the form of wet on wet watercolor painting, playing with colored modeling wax and drawing with natural beeswax crayons. Artworks are made with high quality paints, papers, crayons and waxes. Children will also experience nature craft projects, using objects found on the farm. Some artwork is sent home with the children, while much of it is ephemeral and returns back to the earth.