WALDORF EDUCATION AND PLAY IN KINDERGARTEN: AN EXCELLENT THEORETICAL PROPOSAL

Abstract

 This article presents a theoretical analysis of game design in Waldorf schools. Special emphasis is given to the case of early childhood education and its relationship with recreational activities. In order to cover an analysis of these characteristics, this work starts from a schematic approach both of the figure of the considered ideologue of this unique educational alternative, Rudolf Steiner, and of the most outstanding theoretical principles of Waldorf pedagogy. For this study, a critical historiographical perspective is taken as a reference, clearly in tune with contemporary currents in the field of the history of ideas. The fundamental contribution of this work focuses on detecting six characteristics that define the game for education of an anthroposophic nature from a theoretical perspective. These characteristics of the game in the Waldorf kindergarten are: its ability to contribute to the consolidation of certain evolutionary milestones, the connection it presents with the imitative nature of the child, its location in moments that favor breathing; the use of objects made with natural and versatile materials; the exclusion of intellectual elements from its objectives; and, finally, its connection with the spiritual development of children. All this leads to the conclusion with the main novelty that Waldorf pedagogy brings to the debate around playing, childhood and education, that is, the need that this pedagogical movement claims to integrate education with playing and never the opposite.