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Content includes:
-
An overview of child development birth – teen years
- Ways of thinking about technology use, homelife, play and learning to enhance your child’s development
- Songs (many with music), verses, fingerplays, math activities and movement exercises;
- Ideas for nurturing the senses of touch, warmth, balance, listening and smell;
- A Waldorf-inspired backyard assault course;
- Ideas for games with groups of children.
Watch a short sample from the video below:
Testimonials
Donna Addresses How To Work With The Senses
Donna’s wisdom rings true and comes across clearly as usual… She addresses the senses and how to work with them, calming down a child, getting them into their bodies (a subject close to my heart), hand dominance, math, nature and gardening. Then comes the verses, songs and finger plays organized by time of day, sleep, baking, counting, seasons, fantasy, tongue twisters, and even a chapter on groups of children. I have found the book to be very important for developing circle time activities for my first grader. We do lots of stomping, hopping, jumping, play leap frog to help him get into his body to overcome a slight speech problem (which is pretty much gone now). He is learning clapping games, songs (and he hates to sing, but loves these songs). My 10 year old enjoys circle time too! Oh, and due to this book I am working on teaching both of my children to skip, a lost art as Donna calls it!
I highly recommend Donna’s latest book……it’s been invaluable for us.
But, I think the most important page in the book is that Donna addresses GUILT! I think the hardest thing for me with Waldorf is all the information I have, the books, the workshops, the songs, emails, etc., etc. where I read what is “supposed” to happen. But it never happens quite that way at my house, and I feel guilty. Seeing someone deep within Waldorf address that we don’t need to feel guilty for what we have or haven’t done is so refreshing……something I think we all need! Don’t waste time feeling guilty, just move forward from where you are!
Karen Petz
Joyful Movement 2nd Edition
A Resource for Nurturing Balance, Movement and the Senses
by Donna Simmons
$35.00
Note: this item is printed on demand, which can take up to 5 days. It will be shipped by Lulu.
Not simply just another collection of ideas, activities, songs & movement games, Joyful Movement has been created out of Donna’s 35+ years’ experience of working with children in a wide variety of situations and with a wide variety of challenges and seeming challenges. Written in the hope of preventing and even possibly correcting issues a child might have with sensory integration, movement, balance, coordination or other related faculties, this book is a treasure trove of ideas on how to sensitively nurture – not overstimulate – the child’s senses and to bring healthy activity to him or her every day.
A huge part of preventing and/or addressing such challenges falls to us as parents. The environment we create for our children, how we parent, choices we make about toys, play and the media all influence our children’s development. Based on Donna’s deep understanding of the therapeutic basis of Waldorf education, this book helps a parent better understand what might be happening with his/her child so as to encourage and nurture healthy development.
This new publication spans the early years through fifth grade with a look at the teen years (the previous edition covers early years through third grade). In it you will find in-depth discussion of the anthroposophical basis of the Waldorf curriculum including sections on the 3fold and 4fold human being; the 12 senses; addictive behaviors; the Waldorf home; and a detailed explanation of the unfolding of child development from birth into the teen years. There are also more games and movement ideas with instructions for how to work at home with one child or many, as well as with older children.
Included with the new Joyful Movement is a companion video showing how to do some of the games and movement from Joyful Movement, as well as Donna (sometimes with friend) cheerfully singing all the songs. She also gives pedagogical advice about the various games and songs throughout the film.
This 50 minute video is not available separately.
Please note: This book is also an integral part of the Christopherus Curriculum for 1st through about 5th grade. And any early years purchases will not be complete without it.
Content includes:
-
An overview of child development birth – teen years
- Ways of thinking about technology use, homelife, play and learning to enhance your child’s development
- Songs (many with music), verses, fingerplays, math activities and movement exercises;
- Ideas for nurturing the senses of touch, warmth, balance, listening and smell;
- A Waldorf-inspired backyard assault course;
- Ideas for games with groups of children.
Watch a short sample from the video below:
