Experiments With Waldorf Materials

A few summers ago, I hosted a contemplative room for summer camp at the UU Church. It was great fun to watch the children settle in to deep, internal work. There were many materials, but here are some Waldorf inspired works the children found at their disposal! The theme of the camp was the Elements of Faith, focusing on the Earth, Water, Fire and Air (and lastly Spirit!).

Here is a play set for Fire and Water - Note the sun and 'ocean'.

The play set completed by a child who allowed me to photograph her creation, shown below. These pics arent very clear, but you can see an orange fairy sailing a boat made of birch bark. (Simply a piece of bark curled up and not in the least bit artificially fashioned to look like a boat.) The shoreline is full of seashells and beach glass.

Above is the Earth and Air play set completed by a child. This boy added a blue playsilk to make a lake, and lined it with river rock and 'driftwood'. The fairy is walking down a mountian path to the lake.I found a wonderful, rough-woven fabric to mimic mountains and earth, and mounted it simply by placing layers of boxes underneath.

For these play sets, I stapled the fabrics to a large cardboard box, cut so that the bottom and two sides created a 'corner' playset. With so many children (75 per day!) using the materials, I wanted to keep some of the play set permanent and suggestive as to its application. The chidren only had 20 to 40 minutes to be in the room at a time. It can take hours and days for children to decide how to use their Waldorf materials.

Seen below is a set of blocks made from a tree limb. The neighbor was cutting off low branches on his Linden tree, and kindly cut the limb into small chunks for me on his table saw. That neighbor happens to be my dad. :)

Below is the 'before' set up for a moss garden. The moss is simply laid on a layer of dirt in a low, wide dish. In this case I used the bottom saucer of a planter. The moss can be watered with a little sprayer. If the moss dries up, simply water it again and it will come right back to full greenness! On the left is a basket of items that a child can put in her moss garden: dried plants, eucalyptus, tiny baskets, mushroom birds, pebbles, tiny terra cotta planters, feather-butterflies, pieces of slate, a fairy...

When finished, the child has selected a stone as a couch for the bright yellow fairy seated in the middle. Lots of dried plants add height, pinecones make pine trees, and little birds sit in nests made of twigs and flower baskets. 

The next two pics are of a rock garden. First, a heavy-duty tray with different sizes and textures of rock. And second, a wooden tray complete with a Zen rock garden. A small figurine can be added to walk around the garden.The rocks were appealing to boys in particular, but boys and girls alike used all the materials, even the flowery little fairies!

Another Zen garden, this time with white sand and a small choice of decorations. A small hand sized rake allows for grooming of the sand.

Last for this entry, a classic Waldorf toy: the walnut boat. Since we were inside (ironically), I set up a water station with a tub of water, decorated with beach glass in the bottom, and a basket of walnuts, twigs, and leaves. The children knew exactly what to do. Some of the children who were the least peaceful would spend the entire time at the water. It is amazing how calming working with water can be.