What is “waldorf inspired” ?
We hear and see this used so often .. it’s become a cliche nowadays. Take for example handwork. Apart from the fact that Rudolf Steiner said that everything we do in handwork must be “purposeful” and “made to use” Waldorf handwork is much more in the details . Not in the details of what the child is making but in the process that the teacher or the parent adopts.
Everything in handwork is child specific and age appropriate… what does that mean ? Yes we introduce various types of handwork at various stages of their development – knitting in grade 1, spinning in grade 3 etc. but there is much more to reflect on. As a parent or teacher that makes handwork articles for the children / for the classroom we must pause to think about what and why we are making it and then choose carefully. For eg: in a kindergarten class or for a kindergarten child at home we see gnomes and elves in much of their imaginative play. It stems out of all the stories and verses they do in school. These are important archetypes for the kindergarten child and represent fantasy, magic and mystery. When we want to make gnomes for them what material should be used ? What colours ? What texture ?
For kindergarten they live in their limbs and their peripheries. As such every thing they see or touch is important to them .. so what we make must always be gentle on the eyes and soft to touch.. something that transports them back to their dreamy place … human figures such as gnomes and elves and fairies should never be crocheted or knitted (the stitch itself has a firm structure to it and does not lend itself to the dreamy purpose of kindergarten). They should either be felted or made from cloth. Knitting lends itself beautifully to animals given the source behind knitting itself is an animal – the sheep. You can see a child playing with knitted animals in a very deep soulful way. In grade 1 and 2 knitted gnomes are a lovely project for the children to make themselves.. so you see at different age groups on a simple gnome different handwork skills work with the child differently.. we must be mindful of that.
Steiner had given a nice example of teaching children to respect the resources they have by our own examples. He told the teachers that when they taught fractions in class not to use a piece of chalk and break it up to demonstrate the concept of fractions .. the value of the chalk would be undermined and more than understanding fractions, children would take in the message that chalk had little or no value and could be played with/broken/destroyed easily cause “the teacher did it too”.
Similarly We must also consciously care for the choice of yarns we use. Just as an example (and this is my personal view/preference) T-shirt yarns lend themselves to easy stitching when learning to knit or crochet, but they do nothing for the child. Apart from improving fine motor skills we must recognise that there is a spiritual aspect to everything done in Waldorf. We are teaching the spirit that lies within an incarnating child to think and love and do “freely” and “responsibly” as an adult later in life. In fact using t shirt yarns also sends the wrong message to the child ..today most T-shirt yarn is fresh new T-shirt jersey fabric cut and made into yarn.. what a waste. It is no longer this truly old T-shirt torn up and made into yarn (the origin of T-shirt yarn was conserving resources and recycling). And then you have to ask yourself – Wouldn’t that old T-shirt still have utility to some needy person instead ? They wouldn’t are for a hole in it that they could darn, or some food stains.