Early Childhood at Nairobi Waldorf School Trust
At NWST, our Early Childhood program creates a warm, home-like environment for children aged 18 months to 6 years. Rooted in Waldorf education, we nurture curiosity, creativity, and a love for life through meaningful daily rhythms like baking, painting, and play.
Crafts, handwork, games, and regular outdoor play encourage the healthy growth of the child’s body. Toys, art materials, and classroom aesthetics emphasize natural, simple materials, encouraging the child’s imagination. Through play, each child learns a broad range of cognitive, social, and linguistic skills.
Our mixed-age classrooms foster collaboration, while seasonal festivals and community events enrich each child’s experience. Through free play and hands-on activities, children develop essential motor, social, and emotional skills, preparing them for lifelong learning.
With flexible schedules and an extended day option, we provide the support families need while ensuring every child thrives in a joyful, nurturing space.
Toddlers (18 Months to 3 Years)
Our Toddler program is designed for our youngest learners, offering a gentle, nurturing introduction to school life. In a cozy, home-like setting, toddlers explore through sensory play, simple crafts, baking, and circle time, all guided by predictable daily rhythms that help them feel secure and confident.
Our experienced teachers model warmth and care, supporting each child’s natural curiosity and building the foundation for healthy social, emotional, and physical development. Small group sizes ensure every child receives the individual attention they need to flourish.
The Daisies Class (1.5 to 3 years) offers flexible scheduling — two, three, or five days per week — to suit the needs of very young children and their families. Once a child transitions to Playgroup (age 3+), full-time attendance is encouraged to support the weekly rhythm of Waldorf life.
Playgroup (Ages 3-4)
The Playgroup class provides a rich environment where three and four-year-olds begin to form deeper friendships and explore the world through imaginative play. Children engage in purposeful, artistic, and domestic activities — painting, baking, gardening, and handwork — woven into a steady, comforting daily rhythm.
Seasonal festivals bring the whole community together throughout the year, connecting children to nature’s cycles and enriching their experience of community belonging. Outdoor play in our indigenous forest setting is a cornerstone of every day, encouraging physical development, wonder, and a deep respect for the natural world.
Our mixed-age approach means older Playgroup children naturally mentor younger ones, developing empathy, leadership, and confidence in the process.
Kindergarten (Ages 4-6)
In Kindergarten, children aged four to six years deepen their experience of Waldorf early childhood education before transitioning to Class 1. The Kindergarten year is a time of preparation — not through formal academics, but through rich play, story, song, and purposeful activity that awakens the child’s readiness to learn.
Children work with beeswax modelling, watercolour painting, crayon drawing, and seasonal crafts. Fairy tales, nature stories, and circle songs develop language, memory, and imagination. Daily cooking and baking activities connect children to practical life skills and the rhythms of nourishment.
By the time a Kindergarten child is ready to enter Class 1, they carry with them a strong sense of self, a love for learning, healthy social skills, and the physical readiness that underpins all future academic work in the Waldorf Primary programme.
