The Waldorf Grade 1 Form Drawing Sequence

The Waldorf grade 1 form drawing sequence begins with just two lines: the straight line and the curve. Many classes draw them on the first day of school. From those two, the year moves to standing forms, shapes that sit on their own on the page, such as arches, spirals, circles and figure eights. Later come running forms: waves, loops and zigzags that travel from one side of the paper to the other. Each form is met first in a small story, then walked and moved with the whole body, and only then drawn.

For what form drawing is and how it carries on through the grades, see What is form drawing?. This article stays with grade 1.

Why the straight line and the curve come first

Every letter and every numeral your child will write is made of straight lines and curves. Lavender's Blue puts it simply: the straight line and the curve "are the basis for all of the other forms, including the forms of the numbers and letters."

The idea goes back to the first Waldorf school. In 1919, in his talks to its new teachers, Steiner described what to do in those first lessons. The teacher draws a straight line on the board and says, "Now do it with your own hand," and each child does. In the next lesson, a straight line again, then a curved line.

What Steiner asked for next is easy to miss. He suggested the children draw the lines first and name them afterwards. The teacher asks, "What is that?" and the child answers, "A straight line." The doing comes before the word. At home, that means you don't need to explain anything on day one. Draw, let your child draw, and let them tell you what it was.

Your child will usually meet these two lines as characters in a story. Starpath's grade 1 guide opens with a child walking a long straight path towards the mountains, beside a stream that curves around rocks and trees. In A Waldorf Journey's grade 1 story, one character loves the straight line and another loves the curve. Choose one image and keep it for the week.

The first week, one step at a time

A grade 1 block usually moves in small steps, one new form a day or two. Starpath's 10-day block goes like this:

1. The straight line, vertical and horizontal
2. The curved line: C-curves and bows
3. Rainbow arches that grow, one inside the next
4. Spirals and mazes
5. Zigzag paths and up-and-down steps

Other curricula order things a little differently. Meredith Floyd-Preston of A Waldorf Journey writes that she changed her plan "several times throughout the block, based on what I observed to be simple and challenging." What most sequences share is a balance. She suggests "a balance of straight lines and curved lines, a couple of running forms" and some forms with symmetry.

If a form is too hard, go back one step. A child who can't yet hold a spiral can draw rainbow arches for another day.

Standing forms

After the first two lines, grade 1 moves to forms that stand on their own in the middle of the page. Lavender's Blue lists "spirals, figure-eights, stars, circles, squares, and other geometric shapes."

Standing forms ask your child to come back to where they started. A circle has to close. A spiral winds in to the middle and, later in the year, out again. A figure eight crosses itself in the middle every time. Your child goes round the same form several times, slowly, until the line starts to feel smooth under the crayon.

This is where the straight line and the curve start to meet. A square is four straight lines that turn corners. A star is straight lines that cross. An arch is a curve standing on the ground.

Running forms

Running forms come after the standing forms. Some curricula fit a couple into the first block, and others save them for the weekly lessons later in the year. Lavender's Blue describes them as "patterns that continue across the page such as a series of loops, zigzags, or a stepwise pattern." Live Education! calls the grade 1 forms "simple repetitive ribbon forms."

A running form has a different job from a standing form. Instead of closing a shape, the child keeps a rhythm going. Each wave should be about the same height as the one before, and the line has to reach the far side of the page without getting bigger, smaller or lost.

Running forms to try in grade 1, roughly in this order:

• A row of rounded waves, like the sea on a calm day
• A row of pointed mountains, the zigzag
• Steps that go up and down, like a staircase
• Loops, like wool running off a ball
• A wave on top with a zigzag underneath, drawn as a pair

Many Waldorf teachers see a link to handwriting here. A running form can train the hand to keep moving along a line, which is what joined writing asks of it later. Lavender's Blue writes that form drawing "can be used to teach print and cursive." When Waldorf teaches cursive follows that thread into the later grades, and grade 2 turns to symmetry forms.

How to teach each form

Whatever the form, the order stays the same.

The story. Two or three sentences are enough. The river that curls around the stone. The bee that flies from flower to flower in loops.

The body. Lavender's Blue suggests you "walk the form, skip or stomp it," make it with a skipping rope or a lump of clay, or trace it on each other's backs. Waldorfish describes children drawing curves in the sandbox with their feet. Draw it huge in the air with a whole arm.

The board or big paper. You draw the form once, slowly, while your child watches. Then they draw it large, on a chalkboard, a tray of sand or a big sheet on the floor.

The main lesson book. Last of all, your child draws it into the main lesson book. Starpath's guide suggests a light yellow stick crayon first, going over the line several times, then a deeper color for the final line. Lavender's Blue says "the last step is for your child to draw the form into his main lesson book." The main lesson book fills up with one form per page.

Steiner's advice from that first lesson is worth keeping, too. Ask your child to name what they drew, rather than telling them.

How long, and how often

The first form drawing block is often the first block of grade 1, and it tends to run 2 to 4 weeks. Lavender's Blue says many homeschoolers begin with a 2-week block. Starpath's runs for 10 teaching days. After the block, form drawing carries on in shorter weekly lessons through the year.

A weekly session doesn't need to be long: one short story, a few minutes of movement and one page in the book. A first grade schedule shows where it can sit in a week.

When a form goes wrong

It will, often. A wave gets taller as it goes. A spiral runs off the page. A circle ends up looking like an egg.

You don't need to correct it. Show the form again on the board, then let your child walk it one more time and draw it fresh on a new page. If one form stays hard for a week, go back to a simpler one for a while and come back to it later.

At the end of the year, look back through the book together. A Waldorf Journey describes going through the main lesson books "page by page, naming and remembering each drawing." Your child can see the straight line from the first morning and the running waves from the spring, side by side.

A way to begin

Tomorrow morning, before anything else, draw one straight line down a chalkboard or a big sheet of paper. Say, "Now do it with your own hand." Then go outside and walk the straightest line you can find together, along a path or the edge of a lawn. Come back and draw it in the main lesson book in yellow, then in a strong color. Ask your child what it is. That's day one.

Starpath's free grade 1 Form Drawing guide sets out the 10-day block, with a sample story, movement games and drawing steps for the first day. For the whole year, see What is the Waldorf grade 1 curriculum?, and for full curricula, the best Waldorf homeschool curriculum for grade 1.