Child Development
Words of Waldorf Wisdom
Encounter with Colour
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
We are surrounded by colour, it enchants us, it enlivens us, and a child's experience of colour is much more intense than an adult's. What is our inner experience of colour? Many things are beyond words. Children should be given time and space to encounter the colours. For them to be able to observe how colours behave with one another (mixing them or how yellow seems even brighter when next to a deep purple). What are the colours saying to each other?
In kindergarten, we paint weekly and we also allow for time to draw daily. Drawing is most encouraged in the afternoon as way to wait for the whole class to wake up after rest and welcome the moment of colour.
Each student looks for their materials: either a blank sheet of paper or a book with white pages and their set of block beeswax and stick beeswax crayons.
The teacher can sit down and draw, welcoming the children and almost without words, they all begin to draw. The subject is free and there are many comments! Sometimes they share something about their drawings, sometimes they prefer to stay in silence.
By using block crayons, children feel that they can manipulate with their fingers and that they do not break easily. That they can explore different positions with their fingers and discover colours and see how they combine as they use them. They can use different edges of the block crayon to create different thicknesses. Often, they interact with each other as they discover colours.
The use of stick crayons develops the child's grip and helps them to draw details such as people, animals, trees, vehicles and other representations of figures.
Children are invited to discover their creativity and let their imagination fly. Experimenting with color and form using the same book or coming back to same drawings from a folder allows them to develop the capacity of attention to previous work, adding details and colors during the week.
The moment of drawing is the opportunity to imagine the world as everyone sees it.