The Ames Waldorf Association strives to build a community in which children's hearts, hands and heads are nurtured at each stage of their development, and where families are strengthened by their involvement.
In a world where childhood is often exploited and viewed as a period to be hurried through, the Ames Waldorf Association and Prairie Flower Children's Center honor unpressured childhood as a critical time for healthy development. Young children are entirely given over to their physical surroundings; they absorb the world primarily through their senses and respond in the most active mode of knowing: imitation. We strive to create a total environment that is worthy of the child's unquestioning imitation.
Six Core Values Identified by the AWA Board:
As a Waldorf-inspired preschool, PFCC is part of the largest, fastest-growing independent movement in the world with more than 870 Waldorf Schools internationally. Founded in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner, the renowned Austrian philosopher, educator, scientist, and artist who gained profound insights into the human being and the nature of the developing child. The subsequent findings of child specialists such as Jean Piaget, members of the Gesell Institute, David Elkind, Joseph Chilton Pearce, the developmental neuropsychologist Jane Healy, and Jean Ayers' research on sensory integration confirm the soundness of Steiner's approach. Waldorf education strives to develop the child's full human potential. By a deep understanding of the needs of a growing child, they are provided learning opportunities appropriate for his or her stage of development and by building on the child's natural curiosity, sense of wonder and love of learning, the whole child is educated'body, mind, and spirit.