ABSTRACT
The word 'Kindergarten' originated in the nineteenth century with the German educationalist Friedrich Froebel. The literal translation from the German Kinder-Garten means 'Child Garden'. In many schools or attached to kindergartens, parent and child groups and pre-kindergarten groups are provided for younger children. Steiner divided the broad principles of child development, and the educational methodology supporting it, into three psychological and physiological phases of childhood, each approximately seven years in length. Social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic and physical skills are accorded equal value in Steiner Waldorf early childhood education and many different competencies are developed. At each developmental stage, the child presents a particular set of physical, emotional and intellectual characteristics which require a particular educational response in return. The child's whole body is a sensory organ uniting external impressions with their internal world; similar to the function of the eyes.
