At Sacuanjoche Kindergarten in Granada we offer a child-centered educational approach that is non-selective, multi-cultural and has an age-specific curriculum. We are dedicated to providing an education that understands, embraces and encourages the development of the child as a whole human being, with a spirit, soul and body. This approach is characteristic of Steiner Waldorf schools, along with high academic standards and lifetime skills. However, the Sacuanjoche Kindergarten is the first of its kind in Nicaragua, and as such is a unique pioneer project in more than one sense.

The Granada Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten was born out of a desire to provide this kind of freeing and enabling environment for our own children as well as for children from Nicaraguan families, especially those from less fortunate backgrounds.

The Granada Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten is accommodated in an old colonial house with a spacious patio-garden. A spacious and open environment is important for creating a warm and loving atmosphere, as well as to stimulate creativity and play. The Kindergarten and it’s patio have been further re-decorated and landscaped by the parents and teachers during work-weekends. During these work-weekends the entire family work together in creating a living and beautiful frame for the daily play of the children. The contribution of each participant, from the youngest to the oldest, is valuable, and will inspire the children to treat the place with respect.

This kindergarten is set in a warm atmosphere like in a loving home. It embodies activities in imitation of life, because imitation is the young child’s special talent and natural way of learning. The teachers will participate as models in guided activities, which the children imitate and re-enact in their play. In this kindergarten, the daily rhythm alternates carefully between expanding and contracting activities (like inhaling and exhaling). Rhythm in the days of the week is established through the practical and artistic activities of bread baking, gardening, cooking, watercolor painting, woodworking, bee wax, clay modeling, and other handwork activities. By participating in meaningful tasks, the children develop coordination and cooperative social skills, as well as apply themselves with devotion and joy that will help them to build a strong bridge to later academic challenges. Daily story telling nurtures the imagination and develops the love of literature. The year’s natural rhythms and seasons permeate the class mood and are therefore the basis for songs, poems, games and play by the children.

In the Sacuanjoche Waldorf Kindergarten we aim at providing a bilingual environment for the children. However, the degree to which we succeed depends to a large degree on the number of English-speaking children and teachers that we have. It is important for us that languages, especially at this early age, are lived and experienced as something fun and natural. English-speaking children are more than welcome! Currently, Spanish is the preferred language for most of the children. One teacher speaks fluent English, and all children and adults are exposed to English several times a day, through songs, riddles and poems in English (as well as in Spanish).  

Sacuanjoche Waldorf Kindergarten does not discriminate against children or their families on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, national or ethnic origin, or financial status in its admissions. Sacuanjoche Waldorf Kindergarten works actively against violence against children.