A Waldorf Co-op Supply List: What the Group Shares and What Each Child Brings

A Waldorf-inspired co-op needs two supply lists, not one. The first is the group's shared kit, everything that's used up at the table together. That means painting boards and jars, paint and paper, beeswax and crayons, the circle basket and rags. The second is each child's own bag: indoor shoes, a painting apron, a change of clothes, rain gear, a water bottle and their handwork. The group pays for the first with a small supply fee. Families pay for the second and label every piece. There's a checklist to copy at the end.

For what a family keeps at home, see the Waldorf homeschool supplies list. It covers which crayons, which paper and which flute. This page is about who buys what when twelve children sit at the same painting table.

What supplies do you need for a Waldorf co-op?

Picture a Tuesday morning in a church hall. Circle time with a verse and a clapping game, then the next part of the story. After snack, wet-on-wet painting at two long tables, and then everyone outside. Every part of that morning uses something. Some of it belongs to the group, and some of it arrives in a child's bag.

Waldorf schools draw the same line. Da Vinci Waldorf School tells its grade school families that "the school provides all other materials such as pencils, paper, art supplies". What families send is the personal list: indoor shoes, rain gear, two sets of spare clothes and a water bottle. And it asks for every one of those items to be labeled with the child's name. A co-op can work the same way.

The group's shared kit

Most of the shared kit sorts into a few crates, one for each part of the morning.

Painting. Lavender's Blue writes a Waldorf-inspired homeschool curriculum. It sets each painter's place with a board, a brush, a damp sponge, a rinse jar and a small empty jar for each color. The paint is mixed from concentrate in a larger jar and poured into the small ones about half an inch deep. So the co-op needs one of each of those things per child painting at the same time, plus:

• watercolor paper, enough for every painter each painting week
• the three paint colors (a yellow, a red and a blue) in concentrate, and lidded jars to keep mixed paint in
• a basin for soaking the paper
• an oilcloth or two for the tables, rags, and aprons for the adults
• a flat place to leave paintings to dry, or a plan for carrying them home wet on the boards

Setting up a co-op painting day shows how the crate is used on the morning.

Drawing and modeling. A few tins of block crayons to share across the table, a box of modeling beeswax, and plenty of plain drawing paper. Beeswax warms and softens in small hands, so it goes back into its box at the end of each week, or it ends up in the carpet.

Circle and story. A candle and something to snuff it with, if your venue allows a flame (some halls don't). A cloth for the middle of the circle, and a basket for anything the story needs: a few wooden figures, a silk, the season's finds. Your nature table can travel in the same basket. Setting up a borrowed room for co-op shows how to pack it.

Handwork. Shared wool, spare needles, crochet hooks and a pair of scissors. Each child's own project lives in their own bag, which is the next list. The co-op handwork class article has what goes in each child's basket.

Housekeeping. Tissues and hand towels, a dustpan and brush, and trash bags. Then the first aid kit, with your emergency contacts folded inside the lid. The co-op's emergency plan says who keeps it and checks it.

The festival box. Lantern paper, candle stubs, beeswax sheets for Advent candles, crown card. It sits at the back of the cupboard for most of the year and comes out in the weeks before Martinmas or Advent.

What each child brings

The personal list is short and practical. Spring Garden Waldorf School's early childhood list is a good model to borrow from. It asks for a pair of indoor shoes with a heel and a toe, two full changes of clothes, a painting shirt or apron, and rain gear with boots. It adds that socks are "typically the single most used item in each child's cubby". It asks for plain things, with no media images on them.

For a co-op morning, that comes down to one labeled bag with:

• Indoor shoes or slippers, so the hall floor stays dry for circle.
• A painting apron or an old shirt with the sleeves cut short.
• A full change of clothes, spare socks included.
• Rain gear and boots for outside time, and a sun hat in summer.
• A water bottle that goes home each week to be washed.
• Their handwork, in its own drawstring bag.

The same Spring Garden list asks families for one box of tissues to share with the class, with no name needed. It's a neat way to fill part of the shared kit without a fee.

Shared or per child? The in-between things

A few things could go either way. One simple test sorts most of them. If it's used up at the table or stays at co-op, the group buys it and shares it. If it's worn, goes home, holds the child's own work or goes in their mouth, the family buys it.

Item	Usually	Why
Block crayons	Shared	A few tins do a whole table
Stick crayons	Either	Some families want their own for main lesson book work
Modeling beeswax	Shared	Used up a little each week
Main lesson book	Per child	It holds the child's work and goes home
Knitting needles and project	Per child	The project travels home and back
Flute or recorder	Per child	It goes in a child's mouth
Watercolor paper and paint	Shared	Used up each painting week
Painting board and jars	Shared	Stay with the painting crate

Agree the in-between items once, at your planning meeting, and write them on the list you send to families.

How much to buy

Count by painters, not by families. Eight children painting at once need eight boards, brushes, sponges and rinse jars, and three small paint jars each. It makes no difference whether they come from three families or six. For paper, multiply the painters by the number of painting weeks in the term, and add a few sheets for the week someone brings a cousin.

Then read down your term's plan. If you're telling a farming story in autumn, you might need wool for little sheep and beeswax for the farmer. If Advent falls in the term, you'll need beeswax sheets for candles. Buy for the term in front of you, not the whole year.

If your group runs on Starpath, the shared program of main lesson blocks, stories, crafts and the festival year is the plan you'd read down when you write the term's list.

Who pays for it

Most co-ops charge a small supply fee per child for the shared kit. The homeschool co-op fees article has real examples of what groups charge.

Two public examples show how it can work. FHL Homeschool Co-op lets each class leader set a supply fee, paid straight to them. It asks leaders to plan carefully, to aim no more than $5 per child above their estimate, and to refund anything left over evenly between families. The fee has to cover everything the class uses, including coverings for messy work, so no one is asked for more later. Coastal Waldorf, a Waldorf-inspired co-op in Florida, charges a materials fee that covers art supplies, nature journals, craft materials and snacks.

A smaller group can skip the fee altogether. Split the shared list and let each family buy one crate's worth. One family does the painting jars and paper, another the beeswax and crayons, another the housekeeping box. Write down who bought what, so it can go back to them if the co-op closes.

Keeping it together between weeks

The shared kit only works if it's all there on co-op morning. Give each crate a name on its side and a list taped inside the lid, and make one parent its keeper for the term. Check the lists midway through the term, before the paper runs out. Where the crates live between weeks is part of setting up the room.

A co-op supply checklist to copy

Change it to suit your group. Brackets are for your own numbers.

Shared kit (the group buys)

• Painting: [8] boards, [8] brushes, [8] sponges, [8] rinse jars, [24] small paint jars, a soaking basin, watercolor paper, 3 paint colors, lidded jars for mixed paint, oilcloths, rags
• Drawing and modeling: [3] tins of block crayons, modeling beeswax, drawing paper
• Circle and story: a candle and snuffer (if allowed), a circle cloth, a story basket, the nature table basket
• Handwork: shared wool, spare needles, crochet hooks, scissors
• Housekeeping: tissues, hand towels, dustpan and brush, trash bags, first aid kit and contacts
• Festival box: lantern paper, beeswax sheets, crown card
• Keeper for each crate this term: [names]

Each child brings (labeled)

• Indoor shoes or slippers
• Painting apron or old shirt
• A full change of clothes and spare socks
• Rain gear, boots and a sun hat
• Water bottle
• Handwork in its own bag
• Please leave at home: toys, and clothes with characters on them

Agreed for our group

• Crayons for main lesson work: [shared / from home]
• Supply fee: [amount] per child per term, collected by [name]
• Checked midway through the term by: [name]

Start with less

It's easy to look at a beautiful Waldorf classroom and think the co-op needs all of it. Susan Howard, writing for the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, asks whether beeswax crayons, handmade playthings and natural materials are what make a setting Waldorf. Her answer is that it has less to do with the materials and more to do with the adults, and the qualities they bring to the room.

So start with the painting crate and one bag per child. Add the rest as the term asks for it. And if you're still looking for families to share the crates with, the Waldorf Map lists Waldorf schools and groups near you.