Toys & Art
Anything Can Become Anything
The toys our children play with at Heart To Hand School are made of natural materials that stimulate their senses. Most are nonrepresentational, inspiring children to develop their own free imaginations to create the storyline of their own lives. Those that are representational are modeled after things found in the home -- such as kitchen sinks, rocking chairs, dining rooms, and babies.
We do not rotate the toys on our shelves because, to the child’s creative imagination, they are completely new every day. One day the silks are a cape, the next a crown and belt, the next a dog tail or horse’s mane. The only limit is the child’s ability to inventively make believe … and our Waldorf curriculum removes this limitation through the development of ever-increasing imaginative, artistic, and cooperative creativity.
Our crafting materials meet high (adult) artistic quality standards. For example, the children use:
• Stockmar beeswax crayons (for pigment purity and brilliance)
• Stockmar modeling beeswax (bright and hygienic, never
crumbles, smudges, or bleeds)
• Professional grade watercolors and watercoloring paper
(for deep layering of color and expression)
• First quality habotai silk (luxurious, naturally hypoallergenic,
and incredibly versatile)
• Organic raw wool (soft with tannin and chlorine free)
Educational research is showing that the art of play -- and playful art -- is essential to the healthy physical, emotional, and mental development of children ... and that is what fills our days here!
Play is the work of the young child.
~ Rudolf Steiner
