Rhythm and routine form a big part of the Waldorf early years education. Rhythms can happen on a daily basis; taking your shoes off when you come inside, saying morning verse at the start of each day and sitting down together to eat morning tea. Rhythms can also occur on a weekly rotation; baking bread on Monday, painting on Tuesday, handwork on Wednesday and so on. Seasonal rituals add another layer again and can help to give the child a sense of the changing seasons, encourage awareness of their environment and create a feeling of wonder and excitement in the lead up to an event.

Celebrating the seasons needs not be complicated and small changes can make a big difference. There are a number of things which you are probably already doing, such as having salads in Summer and more cooked, warming food in Winter. Focusing on just one or two elements can create a change in how your child experiences the seasons and these can be built on over the years.

Now that we are towards the end of March the weather has become colder in Melbourne and we need to rug up when we head outside. Just bringing out the beanies and coats was a sign that we were heading into the cooler months. At the park the leaves have started to turn orange and red and we have been collecting these and bringing them home to add to our nature table. My son loves collecting acorns and their ‘hats’ so we also have a growing collection of these.

About once a week I make time to do circle time with my son. Given that he is only two I don’t feel that it is something which we need to do every day, but when I do make the time for it, we both enjoy it. For us, the best time to do morning circle is straight after cleaning up from breakfast before he gets absorbed in play. It is a lovely time for connection.

We start with a morning verse. For the past month we have been using this one:

Read more about the Autumn Morning Circle (including sheet music) here.

My son loves this verse and often walks around the house carefully pronouncing, ‘a red tipped gum leaf.’ After the verse we do some finger games, rhymes and songs, trying to incorporate some Autumn themes. We finish with a story which I tell using props. His current favourite is The Magic Porridge Pot so I have been telling it regularly.

Our watercolour painting adventures have so far focused on using single primary colours, but I recently introduced the use of two colours. To reflect the Autumn hues, our latest paintings have been created using yellow and red. At the moment we are using Stockmar Circle Colours. I love using wet-on-wet watercolours to allow a child to fully experience the sense of colour and to witness two primary colours mixing together to create a new colour. It is magic to see my son look down at his page and shout, ‘orange!’ amazed that where there was once yellow and red there is now a new colour.

Another way to embrace the change in seasons is to vary the food that we are eating and cooking. I’ve been cooking soup more often, especially pumpkin (this is my favourite recipe) and we’ve been enjoying it with homemade bread. Our morning oats are now cooked into porridge and our go-to dessert is apple crumble. We are enjoying the last of the tomatoes and raspberries from the garden and have eaten more figs from my mother-in-law’s tree than I’d care to admit.

These are just a few ways in which you can embrace the change in seasons and bring a sense of ritual to everyday life.

How do you celebrate Autumn with your children?