Waldorf Early Childhood Courses at WCI

Summer Courses & Workshops

Summer courses and workshops are held at the Sunrise Waldorf School on Vancouver Island, in beautiful scenic British Columbia, Canada.

Anthroposophical Biography

Bring consciousness to life questions through reflection and artistic techniques

with Ko Hawkes

June 29 to July 3, 2026
Schedule: daily 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Ko will offer a structured, artistic, and reflective approach to exploring life stories based on Rudolf Steiner’s seven-year life phases and developmental rhythms, bringing consciousness to our life questions and to healing.

Designed for personal growth or professional development (counseling/coaching), this course will utilize artistic techniques and narrative reflection to find deeper meaning in life experiences. Participants will use different artistic techniques and materials to explore their experiences such as watercolour painting, clay, black and white, and pastels.

Five, half-day intensive course, open to all

Registration Fee: $60 CDN
Tuition: $240 CDN includes supplies

Course Refund Policy (pdf)

Flyer PDF

Ko Hawkes
Ko is a graduate of Hibernia School of Art Therapy & has been teaching, conducting workshops and practicing art therapy with children and adults in private practice. She has been on the faculty of the West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy for many years. Ko has been traveling to Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China since 2013 conducting workshops in Waldorf Schools and communities there.

Waldorf Early Childhood Educator Training Auditing

We are opening some of our Waldorf Early Childhood Educator Training courses to auditors. Courses are open to Waldorf educators and those interested in anthroposophy. Course participants will join our teacher training program and are asked to pay an auditing fee of $30 per class and in some cases a materials fee. Auditors must commit to, and pay for, all classes within a course.
(Please note that auditors are asked to be quiet participants—present as observers only—unless asked by instructors to contribute.)

All prices are Canadian dollars

EC Summer Program Auditing

June 27 to July 18, 2026

Auditors Schedule

Child Guidance
Birth to Three with Debbie Laurin; Three to Seven with Ruth Ker
July 6th through 8th
(3 classes; $90)

In the early years, the child imitates all sense experiences. Therefore, it is the adult that needs to be self-disciplined, so as to provide a healthy model, worthy of imitation. Rhythm and regular routines are natural forms of discipline and they also serve to strengthen and educate the will forces of the young child. As the child develops and imitation begins to fade, so the approach to discipline must change to one of authority. This means authority in the context of relationship to “one who knows”. Therefore, the teacher also has to be worthy of discipleship (the root word of discipline).

Dyeing from Nature with Michelle Havixbeck
July 11th
(4 classes plus $125 materials fee; $245)

Nature dyeing silks is a beautiful creative process using natural dyes that create visually stunning colours for your creative endeavours. Each participant receives 10 yards of Habotai silk and 2 yards of silk chiffon for dyeing. Michelle Havixbeck hosts this day of silk dyeing at the beautiful RiverSong Biodynamic Farm. Participants and WCI early childhood teacher training students will experience this day of nature dyeing together. Lunch is potluck and our amazing instructor Michelle will provide a yummy pot of something delicious.

Eurythmy with Wendalyn von Meyenfeldt
July 6th through 10th
(5 classes; $150)

The aim of this course is to awaken through the art of eurythmy, the seeds of beautiful rhythmic movement. The classes will endeavor to deepen the students’ experience and understanding of rhythm and gesture, music and language. Exercises to become more aware of one’s own movement and the surrounding space will be introduced, along with some further centering and harmonizing work. Eurythmy gestures for the vowels and consonants, and several movement patterns to music will be practiced. The students will also be guided through several early childhood eurythmy lessons. Time will be allotted each day for questions and discussion, with moments of exploration to help the students create their own beautiful gestures and movement. There will be some piano accompaniment during the course

Gardening & the Elementals with Ruth Ker
July 2nd, 3rd, 8th & 9th
(4 classes; $120)

A true caring, reverence and respect for the natural elements of the earth can be fostered in the young child by embracing gardening in the Waldorf early childhood setting. This course will show how, by accompanying the year, many meaningful and purposeful activities and experiences can surround the children.

Handwork & Crafts for the Seasons with Astrid Lackner and Esther Chase
June 28th through July 3rd
(10 classes plus $40 materials fee; $340)

An introduction to work activities to be carried out with young children. Engagements with crafts related to the seasons of the year; sewing, felting, marionette making, working with grain and wool processes; conversations around planning and implementing appropriate puppet plays.

Inner Life of the Teacher with Heather Church
July 14th through 17th
(4 classes; $120)

Anthroposophy, as given by Rudolf Steiner, is the basis of Waldorf education. Without this foundation we are left with only a ‘method’ of education. It is important that a teacher in a Waldorf school should know about, and understand, the issues associated with the cultivation of the inner life of the human being. This course of study is an introduction to the cultivation of the inner life of the Waldorf teacher, based on the indications given by Rudolf Steiner.

Movement & the Development of the Will
Birth to Three with Debbie Laurin; Three to Seven with Astrid Lackner
July 6th through 9th
(4 classes; $120)

Through the indications given by Rudolf Steiner we recognize three human soul qualities, thinking, feeling and willing. The education of the will forces of the human being is addressed primarily in the first seven years of life. In our times the capacity to exercise the will, to put into action the fruits of thinking and feeling, appear to be disturbed and weakened. Movement is intrinsic to the expression of the will, and in addition, imperative for brain growth and development. This course will follow the stages of development in movement in the young child, look at the relationship between movement and the will and the incarnation of the ego as a basis for the capacity to think.

Music for the Young Child with Annette Lampson
June 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, July 1st, 6th, 7th, 13th, 14th, 15th
(14 classes; $420)

These are the second 14 of 19 singing/music sessions altogether, and will represent the beginning of a journey through the wondrous land of “The Music of the Young Child”. Music accesses our soul life more immediately and directly than any other medium or tool. We meet the child where he/she is at home, developmentally, when we sing and make music in the mood of the fifth and in the pentatonic scale. We will spend time discovering this ‘soul space’ called the Mood of the Fifth through musical playfulness, enriched with our own observations, so as to open up and loosen our own listening capacities.

Overview of Waldorf Education with Lisa Hitch
June 30th, July 1st
(2 classes; $60)

Participation in the culture of a Waldorf school can often place the early childhood teacher in a position of encouraging parents to continue their child’s education into the grade school and even the high school years. Having a knowledge of the wholeness of Waldorf education and the exciting journey the child embarks upon when they enter the grade school is an asset for the early childhood teacher.

Seven Life Processes with Heather Church
July 9th, 10th
(3 classes; $90)

The course will give an overview of each of the seven life processes and how they flow through us to transform the human body.

“There is not just one life force. You have to differentiate; the sense of life, through which we perceive life, is something different from what I am talking about now. I am talking about life itself and how it flows through us, and that is further differentiated within us in the following way…There are no further internal life processes other than these seven. Life is divided into these seven processes… ..Breathing, Warming, Nourishing, Secreting, Maintaining, Growing, Reproducing.”

—Rudolf Steiner, The Riddle of Humanity (GA 170)

Auditors Schedule

Course Refund Policy (pdf)