Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years - Games to Play & Sing with Children aged 3 to 7 offers a handy guide to playing games with young children.
This classic games book offers a standby resource for parents, teachers, forest school educators and play leaders. The games are tried and tested. They draw on worldwide Steiner - Waldorf creative education, where a ‘child’s work is their play.’ Child growth is explored and how this is helped by a rich treasury of action, finger, circle, clapping, beanbag, chasing, water, tumbling, story and singing games. There are both traditional favourites and also new games created to engage with digitally challenging behaviour.
Each game is clearly and simply described, with diagrams and drawings for how to play.
The games’ weaving of rhythms, movement, songs, stories and pictures invites children into worlds of vibrant wonder. These games help children feel at ease in their bodies, build relationships and enjoy playing.
Kim John Payne is a leading Steiner Waldorf educator. His social inclusion approach for breaking down the patterns of bullying has been implemented in hundreds of schools. He researched a drug free approach to tackling Attention Deficit Disorder. His books, Games Children Play and Simplicity Parenting are best sellers. Father of two, he lives with his family in Massachusetts.
Cory Waletzko was a professional dancer, actor and musician before becoming a movement and games educator at Upper Valley Waldorf School in Quechee, Vermont. As a Spacial Dynamics Institute graduate and adjunct faculty member at Antioch University, she has trained trainers in Movement Education and mentored games and movement educators. She works with social inclusion in public and private schools across North America.
Valerie Baadh Garrett is a movement artist, educator and therapist working with people of all ages. She worked in Waldorf Education, Spacial Dynamics and Agile Aging, also teacher training in the USA and China.
Why singing, movement and play matters - Sally Goddard Blythe
Foreword - Jane Miller
Moving from Me to We - Jaimen McMillan
Movement and Learning - Valerie Baadh Garrett
About Playing these Games - Joan Carr Shimmer
Introduction - Kim John Payne
Games categories:
Chapter 1: Age 3 - 6
Finger Games
Circle Games
Age 4 -5
Age 5 – 6
Chapter 2: Age 6 - 7
Clapping Games
Beanbag Games
Chasing Games
Counting Out Rhymes
String Games
Chapter 3: Water Games, Snow Games and Indoor/Rainy Day Games
Water Games
Age 3 - 5
Age 6 -7
Snow Games
Indoor/Rainy Day Games
Chapter 4: Mixed Age Games
Skipping Games
Running Through the Rope
Creating Your Own Rhymes
Simple, practical, guide to playing 144 games with children
Tried and tested, age appropriate, for engaging 3 to 7 year old children
Traditional and new games specially created for today’s children as a digital antidote
Fun! These games develop social, language, co-ordination and movement skills
Must-have handbook for educators, play leaders and parents
Draws on Waldorf kindergarten, Spatial Dynamics and creative early years education
Reminds us of the beauty and power of living song and movement. Nourishes children and adults alike as they share the music together. - Joan Almon, Alliance for Childhood
What a delightful collection! The wide range of games are described so clearly that it’s easy to fund something to play with a lucky chid or group of children. And then you’ll want to play something else, juts because it so much fun to play and sing. - Rahima Baldwin Dancy, author, You are Your Child’s First Teacher
Provides parents, nursery carers, and teachers with a valuable resource of enjoyable games for preparing children for life. - Sally Goddard Blythe, author, The Well-Balanced Child
‘A child must learn to live within a house of her own making,
To tour worlds she has never seen, without her home forsaking.
But what bridges realms within, without others have no name?
The answer is a shared delight, and is a child’s game.’ - Jaimen McMillan, Spacial Dynamics Institute
An inspiring and useful gem for anyone who plays and works with young children. - Foreword, Jane Miller EdD, Department of Education, Antioch University, New England , USA