Waldorfish Blog
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.
*Looking for support painting with your 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.
Nurturing Community in the Postpartum Year
A strong sense of community is a powerful remedy for healing, bonding and belonging.
This is true always, of course….
But it’s especially true for new mamas in the first postpartum year.
And that’s when it’s most challenging to create.
This is why Mothering Arts is so devoted to sharing how to collectively shift the experience of the postpartum year from isolating to community building. From depleted and burned out to feeling of resourced and connected.
The secret is that we need each other.
Do you believe that the postpartum year is a special time when mothers and babies need to feel supported and nurtured? We do too!
That’s why we’re stoked to be sharing their one-of-a-kind Mothering Arts Facilitator Training with our Waldorfish community!
This multi-faceted online program will inspire you to facilitate a local multi-generational gathering for elders, mothers and babies in the postpartum year. The word facilitator means, one who makes easy. You will learn a successful and sustainable format to simply plug in and make it your own.
The Mothering Arts program helps women create multi-generational supportive gatherings for mothers and babies in the postpartum year without re-inventing the wheel.
If you feel a spark of inspiration to be a part of the shift, consider joining the Mothering Arts community and a small inspired group of women from around the world in this one week Community Supported Postpartum training. You will complete the course feeling confident and totally prepared to create community support for families in your town! It begins October 13th!
*Even better, founder Kerry Ingram has offered the Waldorfish community a chance to save $50 on enrollment!
Use code: Waldorfish to save $50 on the full investment
Use code: Waldorfish3 to save $50 on the first of 3 payments.
There’s so much more info about everything this program includes over on the Mothering Arts website (use that link, above!). You can also communicate with Kerry via the site if you have questions!
Committed to sharing the best of the best resources for your school and family,
Brian & Robyn Wolfe
About Kerry:
Mother, foster parent, postpartum doula, educator, nurturer.
Devoted to uplifting the postpartum journey through local multi-generational gatherings which nurture mothers and build community.
Weaving together her education and experience as a Waldorf and LifeWays trained teacher, postpartum doula practices and knack for building community.
Read more about Kerry here!
“I believe that when a mother feels acknowledged, resourced and a sense of belonging, her health and well-being can truly flourish.
I don't just believe it, I know it.
After nearly 20 years of working with families, a strong sense of community is a powerful remedy for healing, bonding and belonging in the postpartum year. This is what the Mothering Arts Facilitator training is all about.” -Kerry Ingram
Celebrating Michaelmas
The seasons are shifting.
For some of us the relief of fall is on the horizon. For others, the arrival of spring has been long awaited.
Last week I noticed that I was craving soup. Like, CRAVING. Never mind that it's still in the mid 90's where we live. For Brian, this seasonal shifting means a trip to our local foothills and his beloved Apple Hill (insert images of apple cider, apple donuts, etc, etc, here). Of course, we're a few weeks ahead of ourselves still, but....it's coming. Can you smell it?
Michaelmas is approaching as well. This brings to mind the year that Brian almost (almost) had our kids believing that he saw a Michaelmas dragon sale going up in the parking lot of a local chain store near us. Think Christmas tree lot, but with dragons of assorted temperaments, colors and sizes. Thankfully our kids (mostly) appreciate our sense of humor. So far anyway.
The change in season brings new opportunities to come together and celebrate!
Here are two pieces that we love for this time of year.
"Modern parenting seems to dictate that we should protect our children from the bogey and even from knowledge of its existence. But “it is in the world already.” Children know the terrors that lurk under the bed, in the dark, and in the whispers of grownups.
With fairy tales and golden capes and wooden swords and songs, we stop lying to them. When we show them the monsters and evil hiding in the stories, and help them shape their weapons, when we give them the words to “conquer fear and wrath,” we validate what they already know – that there are dragons."
On Dragons and Making Swords... read the full piece here
No matter which hemisphere you call home, this piece also offers many ideas for consideration.
"As a Waldorf-inspired homeschooler, you have no doubt noticed that a healthy festival life is one of the anchors around which Waldorf Education is organized. These rituals and festivals have traditionally contributed to the stability of communities of the past, and now brick-and-mortar schools of current time. They create an opportunity to relate to the seasons, and to each other.
What then, does this mean for those of us who have chosen to leave a local Waldorf school, or, to never attend one at all? What meaning do these festivals, or feast days as they are traditionally called, have when they are practiced in much smaller group settings without institutional support, or even at home within individual families?"
In Praise of Balance: A Healthy Festival Life ... read the full piece here
Additionally, take a look at our Michaelmas Pinterest board for plenty of ideas, tutorials and resources.
All our best to you,
Robyn & Brian Wolfe
Related content:
Community Supported Postpartum Plan
The following is shared with permission from Kerry Ingram, of Mothering Arts. We are thrilled to share this important resource with the Waldorfish community!
If you are a parent you already know that all the cute onesies given to you at your baby shower/birth blessing paled in comparison to the home cooked meals delivered to your door postpartum.
The diaper wipe warmer and stuffed elephant were sweet, but the friend who picked up your groceries and washed your dishes felt like a superhero. The transition into motherhood or into mothering more than one child is truly a rite of passage. It is vital to acknowledge this passage into parenthood in a way that represents you, your lineage, your culture and your intentions.
Being seen and supported by your community is an inclusive practice that just about anyone can do. Simply by coming together to help with everyday life, is one way of saying "we see you, we see this transformation and we are here for you".
By supporting a family during the tender postpartum time, the community enhances the health and well-being of the entire family, and the health of the community is also nurtured.
When mothers feel supported, they have a boost in oxytocin which helps the production of breast milk, reduces stress, promotes mama-baby bonding and even helps to balance hormones. There is quite a bit of anthropological evidence supporting levels of oxytocin being greater in women living in close proximity to family or close community as seen in indigenous cultures.
Nowadays, many of us need to re-create the village to receive our support and nurturing, that is where Community Supported Postpartum comes into play.
You have heard of a CSA (community supported agriculture). Maybe you have heard of a herd-share where you pitch in and receive weekly milk or meat. We belonged to a wonderful CSH (community supported herbalism) last year and received tinctures, teas and salves each season. Or perhaps you have been part of a school work day or grocery co-op.
All of these organizations have the same foundation of ideals; when we can come together with shared values, it benefits everyone involved as we stand/work in solidarity. When many hands pitch in, the work is lighter and the connection is stronger. The whole is greater to the sum of it's parts.
What if we could use the same great form to support folks who are welcoming a baby? The shared value is that families need extra support in the tender postpartum time, we can all stand behind that notion. I call this Community Supported Postpartum; CSP. My hope is that we can start incorporating intentions of true community support into every baby shower and prenatal gathering so that families can experience how valuable community can be in the postpartum time.
Leave the pacifier with the mustache behind, and grab a copy of this instead.
We all want to be a helpful friend or family member, and sometimes we need a bit of guidance. After decades of supporting my friends, my community and the many families I have worked with as a teacher and in our mama-baby classes, I have curated a list of helpful ways that we can all pitch in to support a postpartum journey rooted in health and community support.
Looking for something?
Welcome to Waldorfish! We started this adventure in 2012 out of a desire to make Waldorf training more accessible to class teachers in remote locations and to homeschooling families everywhere! Read more, click here.
WE WON! Our Weekly Art courses were voted “best interactive art program.” Learn more about the award, here.
Click here for a full list of schools we work with.
A few of our most popular blog posts:
Who are our courses for?
Starting Waldorf First Grade
4 Things to Know Before Planning Your Homeschool Year
In Praise of Balance: A Healthy Festival Life
Science in Waldorf Middle School: Starting Something New!