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Class One
Class One ~ for children aged 6-7
In Waldorf Schools we understand that the children from Class One to Class Three have a strong connection to their immediate environment as well as an intuitive sense of rhythm, and as such; rhythmic looping and flowing movements are best for their development.
At Waldorf Craft, the Class One child will focus on knitting, eventually enjoying the fluid movements that they become accustomed to, using both left and right hands together, increasing their fine motor skills and laying the foundations for “bodily knowledge” where knitting increases their ability to think logically and help develop numeracy and literacy skills as they progress through life.
Here we will work on developing one knitting skill at a time, using brightly coloured natural lamb’s wool. The wool we have chosen for Class One projects is slightly rough, giving it a “sticking” quality which makes it easier to work with as a beginner knitter.
Upon registration, you will receive a box full of all the crafting supplies needed to participate in a year’s worth of online lessons. Projects are systematically planned and taught, ensuring that children gain one new skill at a time.
Description
The First Project
In Class One, it is assumed the child has no experience with knitting. The first project arrives in the box already on the knitting needles with a few rows already cast on, and a bright red “lifeline” in case the child needs to start again. The stitches can be pulled out up to the red “lifeline” and the needle can be re-inserted and the child can have another guided attempt. In this way the child doesn’t need to learn how to hold the needles. The already worked rows of knitting hold the needles in place. They don’t need to learn how to cast on stitches, that has already been done for them. For the first lessons they are simply learning how to knit. Once this project of the Chicken is long enough, children will learn how to cast off their knitting, but this skill comes at a time once the children are already a bit more confident of their first skill: how to knit.
Second Project
The same is true for the second project, the Rainbow Ball, and in this instance, the children now have the opportunity to learn how to change colours.
The third project:
By the time students reach the third project, the Cat, the children are ready to learn a new skill, namely: how to cast on. They will practise this skill by first making a couple more chickens, and then the big project of the Cat begins. At this point children will know: how to cast on, how to hold the needles from the beginning of a project without the support of previously knitted rows, how to knit, how to change colours and how to cast off.
The last major project is to knit a person:
In this project children will learn: a new knitting stitch, called purl stitch. This gives a smooth appearance when knitting and is good for the pants/ trousers and face of the person. In this project they have more choice over colours used and can even choose the skin colour of their person.
We will also incorporate other smaller projects, like making beautiful Window stars out of kite paper, and felting nature decorations. Your child will be guided to look around on nature walks and collect acorn hats or pinecones or shells or interesting seed pods. I will show them some examples during our lessons, and you will see how their keen eyes start to notice crafting supplies from nature. Because this will be their first exposure to felting, we will use nature to hide any imperfections. Throughout all lessons, from Class One to Six it is important to create gentle opportunities for really beautiful work.
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