Process AND Product - It's the Waldorf Way!
Tamarack Waldorf students create projects with intention and purpose. Everything created in our school has a process, a product, and a lasting meaning.
Why?
To instill in the students the value of purposeful work, confidence in their capabilities, and a sense of work that matters.
As a child, did you ever do the popular sheep craft where you were given an outline of a sheep, a pile of cotton balls and glue… in 2 minutes you “created” a sheep. If you are like my son, it took two seconds to put on a few cotton balls and you were done. It’s a sad looking sheep. What is the reason for this craft? Well, the adults in charge will tell you “it develops the fine motor skills of a young child and their hand and eye coordination,” which is true but, often it’s just a simple activity that’s supposed to eat up time. As a parent, you feel obligated to “ooh” over it, put it on display for a few days and then try and toss it without the child noticing…if your child doesn’t throw it away first because they know it was a useless activity.
Part of the Waldorf philosophy works to create meaningful crafts that often take a much longer time to complete. There is also the process of learning about where the materials come from and how they are made. The end result is often a beautiful and purposeful product, one that can be happily played with, worn or used for many years.
We also want our students to learn that we are not a community that believes in throwing things away needlessly. So creating something that can last and be passed on is a wonderful component of the curriculum.
These craft projects can also help develop the life long skills of creative thinking, persistence, problem solving, and help develop self confidence.
There’s a lot more than meets the eye to these cute lambs!
Knit sheep created by 4th grade students
Dorothy Kulke, Enrollment and Outreach Coordinator at Tamarack
Dorothy is a mom to two Tamarack students, and has both traditional and Waldorf teaching certifications.