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The Ballarat Steiner kindergarten environment fosters the development of social skills and readiness to participate in group learning. Through rhythm, reverence and repetition the children feel secure and nurtured. Emphasis is given to regular patterns of activities both within the day and over each week. A cyclical pattern is reflected in themes of work related to seasons of the year. The celebration of festivals and observation of nature's seasonal changes allows the children to feel a connection to the earth.

The kindergarten is a beautiful, nourishing place for the young child to explore the world. In a cosy atmosphere, the kindergarten embodies activities in imitation of life such as baking, cleaning, sewing and gardening. Games, songs, rhythm and music, movement, storytelling, puppetry, wet-on-wet painting, drawing, and seasonal crafts are all part of a typical week. In lovely open baskets on a low shelf are materials for creative play thye are varied and beautiful; soft handmade toys of natural fibres, stones, shells, pinecones, capes, and large cloths of silk and cotton. Because these items are simple and natural, they serve the flow of the child's imagination, creating a strong foundation for creative thinking in later life.

The kindergarten child learns through doing. A homelike classroom invites play, and participation in practical and artistic activities, circle, story and outside time. The rhythm of the day is designed to encourage the young child to experience life's patterns in a healthy and secure manner.

There is no formal education before the age of six reflecting the more enlightened approach of many European countries. There is a growing body of research supporting the position of Waldorf/Steiner schools that children should remain in play-oriented preschool until the age of six. The clearest example of such research is a major study undertaken in Germany comparing 100 public school classes for five year olds. Fifty of them had only play in their program and the other 50 had academics and play together. The children entered first grade when they were six, and the study surveyed their progress until they were ten. The first year there was little difference to be seen. By the time the children were ten, however, those who had been allowed to play when they were five surpassed their schoolmates in every area measured. One can imagine how startling these results were to the state educators. They considered the results so conclusive that within months they had converted all of the academic programs back into play programs.