The third of a four-part series based on findings from a recent academic paper out of Waldorf UK: Lucas, B. & Spencer, E. (December 2025). Cultivating the skills and dispositions for young people to flourish in life: Learning from four key Waldorf education practices & headline findings .

So far, we have explored experiential learning and interdisciplinary learning as two of the core pedagogical approaches highlighted in the 2025 Waldorf UK research paper, Cultivating the Skills and Dispositions Young People Need to Flourish in Life . This week, I turn to a third approach that sits at the very heart of Steiner education, particularly in the early years: play .

Play is often seen as something light, even trivial. Yet the research highlighted in the Waldorf UK paper invites us to see it differently. Play is best understood as a child’s natural mode of learning: self-initiated, purposeful, and deeply meaningful. It is how children explore the world, test ideas, build relationships and begin to understand themselves in relation to others. Far from being separate from “real” learning, play is one of its most powerful foundations.

The research describes play as something children do for their own reasons, with choice and agency at its centre. Through play, children decide what to do, how to do it and who to do it with. In doing so, they develop not only knowledge, but vital human capacities such as initiative, collaboration and resilience.

These are not incidental outcomes; they are precisely the qualities that underpin both academic success and lifelong flourishing. Importantly, play is not one single activity, but a rich spectrum. It includes imaginative role play, construction and making, movement and physical games, exploration of nature and materials, and storytelling. At its most essential, especially in Steiner settings, is free play : open-ended, child-led activity that allows imagination and creativity to unfold without predetermined outcomes. The paper highlights that this kind of play fosters creativity, exploration and social-emotional development in a uniquely powerful way.

The research also confirms that different types of play support different aspects of development. Free play is strongly associated with social and emotional growth, while more guided or structured play can support cognitive development and conceptual understanding.
Together, these forms of play contribute to a balanced development of the whole child: intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically.

At Glenaeon, this understanding of play is woven into the rhythm and life of the early years. Whether children are building with simple materials, creating imaginative worlds, exploring the natural environment or engaging in creative expression, they are not “just playing”; they are developing the capacities that will support all future learning. Through play, children practise language, negotiate relationships, develop self-regulation and begin to make meaning from their experiences.

The paper also draws attention to an important tension in contemporary education. While play is widely recognised as essential in early childhood, its role tends to diminish as formal schooling begins. In many systems, increasing emphasis on early literacy and numeracy has reduced the time and space available for play.

Steiner education, and Glenaeon too, take a different view. We see a strong foundation in play not as a delay in learning, but as a profound investment in it. By giving children the time and space to develop imagination, curiosity and self-motivation, we are laying the essential groundwork for deeper, more meaningful learning in the years to come.

This perspective is not without its challenges. The research acknowledges that play-based approaches require thoughtful teaching and careful balance. Teachers and curriculum designers must exercise professional judgement about when to allow open-ended exploration and when to introduce more structure or guidance. As with all good teaching, it is not a question of choosing one approach over another, but of responding sensitively to the developmental needs of the child, the class, and the context.

For our school community, this focus on play offers both reassurance and invitation. It reassures us that the time children spend in imaginative, exploratory activity is not peripheral to their education, but central to it. And it invites us, as parents and educators, to continue valuing play not only as a childhood joy, but as a profound and essential process of learning. In nurturing play, we are not simply giving children something enjoyable to do. We are supporting them to grow into curious, capable and connected human beings; equipped not only with knowledge, but with the dispositions to engage meaningfully with the world.

Enjoy the weekend ahead,

Diana Drummond
Head of School