Children at Play: Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Childhood Development

Imaginative play is more vital for a child's future than many parents and educators realize. The more they are allowed to be absorbed in their play, the more fully and effectively they will later take their place in the community of adults.

Drawing on her experiences as a mother and as a proponent of Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf system of education, author Heidi Britz-Crecelius emphasizes the different qualities of play that may extend through more than one phase of childhood. She focuses on natural materials and recommends specific games, toys, and art supplies that further the mobility of the mind and the powers of expression without the burden that premature schooling can place on children.

In Children at Play, the author also reminds us that the human being, though bound by laws of space and time and tied to the earth, stems from eternity and belongs to a much larger community; the child's innermost being is directly related to the all-embracing world of spirit.

German-born Heidi Britz-Crecelius worked on the city council of Völklingen for more than fifteen years, concerning herself primarily with facilities for children. A strong supporter of Steiner's principles, she has three sons who have attended Waldorf schools.