The questions which brought us to this topic: more and more sedentary ways and fewer natural experiences for the children, led to the observation that more and more it’s evident the difficulties and strains on the level of sensory integration; the need to better the various spaces of the educational environment to strengthen the integration of the basic sense in the realm of Anthroposophy.
Just as in the Waldorf/Anthroposophic pedagogy we consider the human being in terms of body, soul and spirit, there are twelve senses which are spread throughout these bodies. What we live in the physical world is with our body, what we live with that which surrounds us and in the social relationships is with the soul, and finally, that which we live with the spirit goes well beyond perception and extends to the world we can’t see; the world that gives origin to everything around us. With this project we strive to develop a more conscious and attentive outlook of the basic senses, within the potential that the Kindergarten can offer. We seek to deepen the topic with proposals for the child in the day to day, the adequacy of materials and experiences and the sensitization and work of the parents and community.
In the past a deepening of practice and reasoning was achieved by the team keeping as its base the general study of man according to Anthroposophy, the Senses and the seven vital processes. All of this can be resumed in following way: The experiential project will have as its focus the basic senses and their importance in the development of children, striving for a theoretical deepening which would be embedded in the diverse ways and practical experiences for everyone involved in the educational process. After an evaluation of the first phase of this project it was agreed by all of the team, that it would be relevant to maintain this topic and bring it to the day to day of the classroom in a way that is more experiential. In this way, there will exist moments of common experiences and others in small groups.
This will be the experiential project as well for the parents, being that the construction of a path of the senses and some toys for the classroom was already the work of everyone. The goal is that there can exist various moments throughout the year of talks and experiences in the scope of this topic of the basic senses.
In the heart weaves feeling, Thinking shines in the head, In the limbs, will forces. Weaving shining, powering weaving, shining powering: That is - the human being.
Rudolf Steiner