Today educating the faculty of movement is more important than ever before. The foundations for bodily, emotional and mental flexibility are formed by movement education in kindergarten and school. Children gain control over their spatial orientation and temporal integration by means of their own motor activity. This makes clear that movement education, on the one hand, constitutes a principle that permeates all other subjects, and on the other that eurythmy and sport are essential elements in education as a whole. These subjects contribute in a wide variety of ways to the overall development of the personality.
In sport and gymnastics lessons basic motifs from all the subjects of a particular school year are taken up and channelled into physical movement: for instance, in class 3 the first movement sequence in Bothmer gymnastics (1) echoes the house-building main lesson (“There stands a house built just for us”), while in gymnastics little dance sequences can be done which reflect themes from the crafts and trades main lesson. The main lesson on Greek culture finds expression in sport lessons in the classical pentathlon, as well as the “Olympics” (2), and the early stages of geometry are reflected in the triangle exercises (class 6) in Bothmer gymnastics.
Sport lessons in Waldorf schools often have the following structure: an initial warm-up phase is followed by apparatus work, and the lesson culminates in some kind of age-appropriate game. Once the class have been greeted, the first part of the lesson takes the form of a playful warm-up combined with specific Bothmer exercises. The inner pictures that live in the Bother movement sequences used in classes 3, 4 and 5, and which are introduced by the teacher through stories, provide the children with a motivation for action. In the middle and high school the students no longer receive images through words, but through direct demonstration. Bothmer exercises are done in such a way that they forge a union between the neuro-sensory and metabolic systems. This creates inner warmth.
Gymnastic exercises are used to prepare the students for the movements they will be required to perform in apparatus work. The core of a typical lesson, which now follows, consists of getting to grips with apparatus of one kind or another. Here the students can test their own boundaries, and perhaps extend them by consciously permitting themselves to go with the activity in question. It is an elemental experience of self-discovery.
Having faced all these challenges, they are now ready for a game with their classmates. Through games, children and young people learn to be part of a team and to observe rules. They notice the abilities of their team-mates in relation to their own. A game only works if people pull together. This strengthens the ties of the class community, and provides a good way of bringing a gymnastics and sport lesson to a close.
Engaging together in such activities encourages the development of a range of social skills, intensifies interaction and increases young people’s powers of bodily coordination, together with their skills in manipulating objects, e.g. a ball. This intensification of their physical capabilities combined with its inner counterpart has the effect of strengthening their mental resilience.
Preparation for all this begins in classes/grades 1 and 2, where gymnastics is more like “play”. Here lessons consist mostly of singing-, circle- and skipping games. The children learn to move in space both inside and outside a circle. Through the different images of the circle-games they take on different roles and carry out the movements accordingly. Children gain control of their spatial orientation and temporal integration by means of their own motor activity. Towards the end of grade 2 the circle begins to open up. The movement, usually in connection with a catching game, is introduced by means of spoken dialogue.
In Waldorf schools actual sport lessons begin in class 3. From the first lesson on, rules must be introduced and habits of behaviour established. They give the pupils important guidelines and contribute to a calm working attitude and a basic feeling of trust and security. Ideally this subject should be co-educational and handled in team-teaching style by a male and a female teacher all the way up to grade 12.
The lessons can be held in a variety of venues. In the hall, sports-field or in the open. Nowadays sport is an essential component of excursions and class-trips: hiking, cycling, sailing, climbing, canoeing etc. People really enjoy being active and setting themselves challenges, and this trend is on the rise.{ kind of fun is increasingly in demand.}
Further options for engaging in sport and movement arise in connection with teams and clubs that meet as part of the afternoon programme. Learning circus skills, for instance, is an integral part of many Waldorf schools. Here it is often the older students who act as mentors and group leaders for the younger students.
(1) Bothmer gymnastics is an integrated training in movement developed in the early 20th century by Count Fritz von Bothmer out of his experience of working with the children of the first Waldorf school. It has since been subject to regular impulses of further development and is known as Spacial Dynamics in the English-speaking world. An in-depth description of the Bothmer exercises can be found in the book by Alheidis von Bothmer (2013). Bothmer Gymnastics has been further developed in the US by Jaimen McMillan, who, after working for years with Alheidis von Bothmer in Stuttgart, founded the Spacial Dynamics Institute in 1985 in New York.
(2) It is not unusual for several schools to get together to stage this.
Methodological considerations
For children in the first two years of school all movement is connected with inner pictures. Living in the world of images enables them to match their outer to their inner dexterity. The teacher creates a bridge between inner experience and outer movement through engaging the children in singing- and circle-games. They learn to take on different roles and translate them into movement.
Suggested lesson content
Circle-, singing- and hopping-games, story games, catching games. The basic form is the circle. Walking, hopping, balancing, ball-throwing, skipping, wheel-spinning, small apparatus set-up, and other skills coordination games and exercises.
Methodological considerations
Getting to know themselves while at the same time looking out upon the world, and particularly not forgetting the importance of “us” – these are pictorial story elements used to motivate the children towards active engagement, for they now tend to relate to the world in a more detached way. They are at the age of the Rubicon (→ The child between the ages of 9 and 12, p. --), when they often display a certain alienation from their surroundings, but also relate to them in a more alert and conscious way.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
Children at this age just love being busy. The rhythmic words of the second Bothmer movement sequence bring the set movements into harmonious connection with this need to be active. Sport lessons are now designed much more with the group’s growing sense of justice in relation to exercises and games in mind.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
More detailed attention is now paid to the development of bodily coordination. During this year the students increasingly achieve bodily control and are willing to engage with reality in the performing of vigorous movements. They display a marked connection to circular movements. Here also the rhythmically spoken word still has its harmonising effect on the sequences of movement.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
The students are now capable of moving in space with a natural confidence. They are undergoing muscle growth and changes in the interplay of bodily forces. Now begins systematic practice. Any slight awkwardness that appears is {dealt} worked with.
Suggested lesson content
Acrobatics: simple exercises in pairs, minor pyramids
Methodological considerations
Beauty, order, energy, flexibility form the basis for performance. The students now have an inner sense for order. Now begins the phase of inner tension and release through joy and enthusiasm, and a longing to possess the inner quality needed to be able to show something outwardly. Jumping, flexing, swinging are ingredients of the kind of dynamic experiences this age-group requires.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
During puberty the radical changes occurring in the body mean that all previously learned exercises need to be grasped anew. There is a distinct loss of coordination and elegance. Sports lessons now need to incorporate enough variation in order to meet individual interests and requirements. They are designed such that girls and boys have an equal chance to develop their abilities. Accordingly, for apparatus work they are usually taught in separate groups from class 8 onwards. In games, however, the co-educational principle persists.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
The students are now capable of testing their own limits and taking on practice routines. The effects of gravity to which they are subject at this stage of development is something that they have to come to grips with. They are encouraged to up their game as far as possible, their gymnastic repertoire is enlarged and their ability to gauge their own performance improved.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
The main theme for this school year is that of periphery and centre. The previously learned abilities and skills are taken further, varied and optimised. This is also the year in which students are very much focused on coming to terms with their own bodily nature. They are personally responsible for choosing which abilities and skills are to be developed in sports.
Suggested lesson content
Games: basketball, handball, volleyball, football, baseball etc., with emphasis on passing, a good focus for this age group
Methodological considerations
If the students have managed to come to terms with the rotational forces, as, for instance, in discus throwing, they can now turn to actions involving aim at a target, e.g. throwing the javelin. Accomplishing this is no longer just a question of will, but must be thought through as well, and this represents a further developmental step. Thinking, feeling and willing have to work together. The lessons can now have enough flexibility to enable students to set their own goals. In team games this is just the time to focus on tactics. Parts of the lessons can be run by the students themselves.
Suggested lesson content
Methodological considerations
Individual abilities are appraised and accomplishments recognized. The students can now set their own tasks. Repeated practice of self-selected skills now becomes an important part of the lessons. In team sports there are ample opportunities to work systematically on improving tactics, to devise training plans, introduce exercises or practice referee skills.
Suggested lesson content
Aims and content of all previous years are extended on an individual basis.
Account should be taken of examination requirements.