The Waldorf handwork curriculum works alongside the classroom curriculum to support the developing child both physically and emotionally. Projects help students improve their fine motor skills and challenge them to be persistent with one project for several months. At the end of each year, the child has created a few beautiful and treasured pieces that represent many hours of focused work and learning.

The first grader will work on training their fingertips and fine motor skills thus supporting proper communication between both sides of the brain. Children will learn to knit not by understanding the technical details on how to knit, but through muscle memory. The children learn short songs and verses to support their handwork. The gift of natural fibres and tools awaken the child’s tactile sense and stimulates mental development. Studies and observations suggest that learning to knit in first grade strengthens math and reading development.

The second grader brings knitting to the next level with more complex projects and use of different colors to support their inner feeling of joy and satisfaction in their work. The last part of the year is dedicated to crochet where the child works with a tool that supports their dominant side of the brain (the opposite of their dominant hand). The crochet hook mimics the pencil grip, which supports cursive handwriting and builds the proper muscle memory for successful handwriting skills.

The third grader seeks to be useful in their daily lives as they enter a new stage of development around age nine. The handwork curriculum supports their inner need for challenge and awakening. The farming curriculum in the main lesson is tied into the handwork curriculum by plant dying yarn, hand-spinning fleece, and crocheting useful items for daily life.

In the fourth grade, fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination are developed through embroidery and cross stitch. Cross stitch is another tool for supporting strong communication of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The fourth grader is encouraged to slow down and pay attention to detail instead of speeding up and moving at society’s heightened pace. A feeling of peace and great satisfaction is felt by the fourth grade child when they are able to relax into their needle work.

The fifth grader returns to knitting, this time with complex patterns and knitting in a round with double pointed needles. Once the child understands the basic principles of reading a pattern and three-dimensional designs, they can take that to much greater levels and make socks, mittens and hats. The act of focusing on a project for extended periods of time helps the child understand that life is more a process versus an instant experience.

The sixth grader feels one of the most far-reaching benefits of the handwork class in its social aspect. The class chooses an endangered animal that lives together in a group and with that animal in mind, they make a gusseted stuffed animal. The atmosphere in class is filled with conversation of their work, their lives and what the next project will be.

Throughout the class the joy of using your hands works alongside the joy of talking to their friends. Respect, appropriate conversation topics, and listening skills are fostered. The sixth grader has developed their sewing skills to the level where they can now make complex figures such as Marionette, table puppets and even dolls that mimic the 12 year old in body proportion.

The lessons that students learn in handwork class are not only practical life skills, they also hold many hidden lessons and virtues – such as patience, persistence, and quality – that will stay with them for life.

With files courtesy of http://teachinghandwork.blogspot.com