ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the young child learns best and how this capacity is nurtured in the Steiner Waldorf early-childhood setting. It look at the importance of the self-education of the practitioner, the challenges and opportunities that this brings and the tools that may be useful in developing the art of educating the young child. The newborn child is at the beginning of a complex developmental journey. On the way there are many skills to master and capacities to learn, all of which each child will do in his or her own way and time. The wonderful ability to imitate is born with children and is the foundation stone of their efforts to make sense of the world during the early years of life. In the Steiner Waldorf early-childhood setting or kindergarten, all the adults will use imitation and modelling in preference to direct instruction in order to work with the child's natural way of learning.
