Advice on Waldorf "inspired" home daycare? - Page 3

I am still abit caught up about going outside. Since Mon, we have only been out ONCE. It was way too icy.

Today it is 10 degrees. That is pretty cold.

I need more ideas regarding bringing the outdoors in on these types of days.

Any suggestions?

AngelBee, these are activities we do every winter:

Big bin of fresh snow in the kitchen (sensory table or roasting pan baby bathtub or rubbermaid bin works great), pass around the mittens, enjoy building with it, playing with toys in it and watching it melt. You could have the children build little snowmen and move them outside and line them up to greet the parents.

Freeze colored water in muffin tins (silicone works best if you have it). Put loops of string in the cups before they freeze, then pop the frozen ones out. Dash outside and hang these ornaments on the trees.

Mix colored water and pour in every pan in the house ( be warned plastic containers may split in really cold weather) Stick them outside the back door. WHen they are frozen, bring them into the kitchen and build an ice sculpture on the table. Move outside when it is melty enough to stick together. Or dash outside and build a sculpture.

Do experiments on what makes ice melt faster -- sprinkle with sand, salt, cover with a black tarp and a white one...etc.

Make a winter painting (we do them for every season). Mix colors to match the landscape as closely as possible and paint on a brown or grey background. Look out the window for collage inspiration. Dash outside and collect stuff from the yard that one could glue on the painting -- we found some tufts of fur that we decided were rabbit fir, as well as some bits of straw and twigs and a few old leaves from parts of the garden sticking up from the snow. One boy wanted to glue ice on his picture -- the experiment didn't work so well, but we all learned from it!

Cut a small branch of an apple tree and put it in a pot with water and rocks. It will leaf out and you might even get some blossoms on it -- a beautiful Easter tree.

We have a collection of childrens books about playing in the snow, winter in the woods, Jan Brett's The Mitten, Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow, Robert Munch's books about Inuit folklore and Thomas's Snowsuit etc. We read a lot of wintery books, act out the stories inside, listen to books on cd -- don't know how Waldorfy this is, but I couldn't do without it!

We learn about a part of the world where it is not snowy, like Hawaii or Australia and have a beach theme week where I crank the heat (and swallow the bill) and the kids wear bathing suits and leis and we eat some tropical fruit (again, maybe not so Waldorfy, but they stay warm and it gets us through).

REALLY great ideas! :

Thanks!

This thread is so inspiring, this is something that I desperately want to do at some point, either in the near or more distant future. I currently work as an assistant in my local Waldorf kindergarten. My daughter is 20 months, and although I love the work it's hard to leave my own child to look after other people's children. Becoming a childminder (the word used for home based childcare providers in the UK) seems an ideal option, and I would love to offer (fairly loosely) Waldorf inspired childcare for under 3s, as that's not something that's available around here (it is hard having to send my daughter to a plastic filled overly stimulating childcare settings...although she seems to love them...). However, it seems there are far more legal loopholes to setting up as a childminder over here, as you have to become Ofsted registered and approved before you can do anything at all, and since September, you have to prove you are meeting Early Years Foundation Stage goals, several of which conflict with Waldorf principlpes (ie, you will be seriously criticised by inspecting bodies and deemed as failing to meet EYFS requirements if you do not have programmable toys and IT available to babies and toddlers This has put me off somewhat, as well as some worries over whether I would be able to get permission from other memebrs of my housing co-op (I have a self contained flat but the grounds are communal), especially as there are hugely stringent regulations over the height of the fences/plants that are growing, and lots of other things, just to be able to allow the kids to play in the garden.
Anyway, it is still an eventual goal of mine, and I would be really interested in seeing how other people do with their beautiful and inspiring ventures! Especially if there is anyone who has managed to do this in the restrictive UK childcare environment?

Just wanted to be totally upfront and honest in saying that I am a homeschooling mama to ds8, dd7, ds4, dd2, and due in April with a dd.

We are looking into doing respite care for a family, doing foster care, and maybe taking a child or two in for daycare.

So I hope that is ok that I still hang here.

Oh...I also own a dance academy and coach a dance team. I am constantly seeking ways to run those programs in a way that is nurturing to the children and young adults.

Yes! My DD's school is for kids 3 1/4 to age 6.

My DS was in a waldorf-inspired home program last year that sounds more like what you are talking about. There were three children (sometimes four) including the provider's young toddler.

It is wonderful that you have the experience of working in a Waldorf Kindergarten! Is there any way of contacting the inspecting bodies and asking directly about whether there is a way to reconcile media-free Waldorf principles and the apparent requirement for IT/electronic toys? I mean, it sounds like Waldorf is a recognized educational philosophy in your community if there is a K run on that principle....

I would also ask what the reasons are behind that requirement and what the minimum you would need to have to meet requirements, if it can't be gotten out of. Maybe you could get by with one electronic toy gathering dust in the corner and a computer running a slideshow of children's artwork once a week, or something

I have been visiting an Australian home daycare forum that has some providers on it from the UK. I am just amazed by the some of the regulations you all have to follow to do home childcare over there in the UK (not to mention in Oz). Not that some of the rules aren't for the good, but more complex than I have to deal with, for sure. The site isn't particularly crunchy, but maybe some of the UK providers can address your questions.

I know someone who ran a home daycare in a condo development where it was officially against the bylaws. She and her dh got on the condo board, worked hard to serve the best interests of their community, and eventually got the no-home-daycare regulation changed. Maybe you might be able to do something similar in your situation? Is there a co-op board you could volunteer for?