The Playschool and Nursery programs provide a gentle first school experience for children aged 2-4 years. These classes are designed to meet the needs of the young child in a loving, home-like setting.

To qualify for entry into these programs, children must turn the minimum age required by August 31 of that year.

The Woodland Garden Playschool, for children aged 2-3, provides a gentle introduction to school based programming.  For the 2011-2012 year beginning in September, the program runs three half days, Wednesdays through Fridays.  Two spaces have opened up. Please send in your child’s application form to admissions@waldorfacademy.org.  Please make careful note of our age requirements as listed above.

The Rainbow Garden Nursery is for children aged 3-4 and offers the option of half or full days either 2, 3 or 5 days per week.  For 2011-12, two spaces are available in the three-day program.  A few spaces are also still available in the two-day program.

Young children are deeply influenced by their environment. All they experience through their senses, their sense of movement, their sense of goodness of the world and the warmth of soul of those around them impresses upon their developing bodies and minds. Great care is taken to provide a peaceful environment filled with simple toys and natural playthings.

Children are gently guided through their daily activities with songs and verses. The mornings flow with a rhythm that includes; a circle time of songs and games, indoor and outdoor free play, story time with puppets, domestic activities and a nutritious snack.  Seasonal crafts, painting, gardening and baking are woven into each week. From the warmth and rhythm of the class, children develop a sense of security and confidence, new friendships, and a reverence for nature.

The Nursery class is guided by a lead teacher with an assistant and has a maximum limit of 12 children. The Playschool class has a limit of 8 children with a lead teacher and an assistant.

I am struck by the fact that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think that the same is true of human beings. We do not wish to see children precocious, making great strides in their early years like sprouts, producing a soft and perishable timber, but better if they expand slowly at first, as if contending with difficulties, and so are solidified and perfected.  Such trees continue to expand with nearly equal rapidity to extreme old age. – Henry David Thoreau