The Royal Road

To enlarge photo, click on it.
"Play is the royal road to childhood happiness and adult brilliance." - Joseph Chilton Pearce
In the Waldorf view, a young child learns about the world through her senses and the use of the physical body, while the emotional life is in a dreamy state and the intellectual life is still asleep. In essence, young children learn by doing, by playing. And the way they "choose" what they do and play is through imitation.

Learning Through Imitation
Because they learn through imitation of the people and environment around them and because children's play often springs from what they observe adults doing, Waldorf maintains that the people, environment and activities around them be worthy of imitation. Kindergarten teachers are highly attune to everything they do in the classroom. They perform meaningful work in a loving, joyful manner - preparing art supplies for a project, tidying and cleaning the room, making toys, cooking, repairing doll's clothing, etc. Because a child deeply absorbs all his surroundings as sense impressions and is unable to judge or filter them, it is important that the environment, adult role models, the toys, the activities, and the rhythm of each day be considered.