18 months to 6 years
A Warm Beginning
In our early childhood programs, children learn through play, imagination, meaningful work, movement, and daily connection with nature—all within a warm, screen-free environment.
Daily Rhythms Include:
Outdoor Play
Circle Time
Artistic Activities
Practical Work
Snack & Rest
Unplugged: Learning Through Play
In our intentionally screen-free classrooms, children spend their days immersed in imaginative play, storytelling, movement, music, and hands-on activities that nurture language, coordination, creativity, self-regulation, and social-emotional growth. These joyful, real-world experiences provide the strong foundation for future academic learning.
Guided by Caring Teachers
Our teachers strive to be adults worthy of imitation, meeting each child with warmth, reverence, and genuine interest. Rather than separating learning into subjects, they guide children through meaningful work, consistent daily rhythms, and purposeful activities that naturally cultivate independence, cooperation, confidence, and a love of learning.
Rooted in Nature
Nature is an extension of our classroom, with daily access to gardens, woods, streams, trails, and nearby Lake Whatcom. Through every season—and in all kinds of weather—children build resilience, wonder, physical confidence, and a lifelong connection to the natural world.
Our Early Childhood Programs
Programs List
Foundations for First Grade
The transition from Waldorf Early Childhood into first grade is a significant developmental milestone which is carefully supported and thoughtfully paced.
Timed to meet children around age seven: when they are ready for a more structured academic experience, learning shifts from play-based discovery into an intentional academic rhythm that continues to honor imagination, joyful movement, and hands-on creativity.
Building on embodied experience: Moving into the grades, children have developed the capacities that support success in reading, writing, and mathematics, including concentration, memory, coordination, social awareness, language, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy.
By the time formal academics begin in grade one, children are ready to build on a rich set of lived experiences and emerging skills.
Our Campus at Play
Our Classrooms
Begin your Whatcom Hills journey today
