Waldorf Grade One Painting : Out of the Color
Connecting with the color blue in a simple, yet meaningful painting activity.
Children in Waldorf schools begin painting with liquid watercolors on damp paper in preschool and kindergarten.
The use of this medium continues into grade one, however at this point there is a shift in the way the weekly painting lesson is presented.
The 6-7 year old child learns through experiences. They’ve left kindergarten and are transitioning slowly into more structured learning.
In his Colour Lectures, Rudolf Steiner talks about the importance for each artist (student) to know each of the colors, to understand them individually, and also how they interact with each other. He specifically says that we need to experience the colors in our feeling life in order to understand them. Once we understand them in their trueness, then we can really use them.
“Let us try to sink ourselves completely into what we receive through colour from the rich and varied world around us. We must feel what is in colour if we wish to penetrate into its true nature, bringing insight into our feelings. We must question our feelings about what is living in the colour which surrounds us. ”
Painting in primary colors is a wonderful place to begin for the growing first grader.
Painting lessons create opportunities for students to develop an intimate understanding of the colors through their imaginations, movement, and imitation.
When the teacher brings the lessons in partnership with short verses and stories (which help to personify the colors), the children live into each experience fully.
“Painting lessons also provide the teacher with a further opportunity for getting to know the children’s soul constitution in even more detail. Different temperaments and constitutions reveal themselves through what and how the children paint.”
Bring Waldorf watercolor painting curriculum into your homeschool routine today!
In grade one the lessons are simple color experiences guided by the teacher. It is purely artistic work - there is no expectation of the children creating a specific form or picture of something. These experiences are ordered in such a way that allows the children to begin to understand the dynamics of the colors by themselves, and in relation to each other.
The painting lessons begin very simply, with yellow by itself. Then the children will experience only blue. Eventually the two, yellow and blue, will be brought together on the page and the children will experience them together. Next, red is introduced by itself. Eventually red and yellow will be presented together, and then red and blue. Each of these experiences offers the children something new to live into, all the while expanding their understanding of the nature of each of the colors. (Of course, a natural result of bringing 2 primary colors together in a painting lesson is the birthing of the secondary colors - orange, green and purple. A wonderful moment in any painting lesson!)
As the year progresses, the teacher guides the children as they experience all 3 colors on the page together, culminating towards the end of the year with the children learning to create a color wheel. The color wheel becomes the foundation of many future paintings the children will create in each progressing grade.
Link to the Rawson & Richter book mentioned in this post.
Looking for support around painting with your grade one child? We made you something!
About the Authors
Robyn Beaufoy is Waldorfish’s CEO, and also a course instructor for Simple Season (coming soon!), Waldorf Art for Beginners, and Weekly Art Foundations. You’ll find her intuitive touches and influences throughout everything Waldorfish offers! Robyn has been in the world of education for over 25 years, with an MA in Education and a certification in Waldorf teaching - she also homeschooled both of her children for some of that time. In 2012 Robyn co-founded Waldorfish.com, creating it with the vision of making Waldorf inspired-art and pedagogy more accessible, joyful, and doable for homeschoolers all over the world.
Amanda Ziadeh Mercer is a dynamic Waldorf Teacher, and is the creator of our Painting courses for the grades 1-3. She has had the pleasure of working with children in varying stages of development, ranging from infants in Parent-Child programs to the more mature students of the eighth grade. This wide range of experiences has gifted her a full picture of the developmental stages of childhood.