The Auroville Kindergarten
How to describe the Auroville Kindergarten?
There are approximately 46 children in four groups. The Yellow
Group is composed of three years old, the Orange Group of four
year olds, the Blue Group of five year olds and the Green Group
of six year olds. In every class, of course, there are some children
who are just coming up to a birthday either at the early end of
the age group or the latter end. For each group there is a main
teacher and an assistant. In all the groups, the teachers come
originally from France, Germany, Italy and India. The cultural
mix of children is even more varied. They are all children of
Aurovilians, but the languages spoken at home may range from Tamil
to Russian, French to Hindi. The common language for all these
groups, and the language of instruction in the kindergarten, is
The kindergarten is housed in a new building,
designed to their specifications, and is located in the city area.
It is a large, airy, one story building, with the four classrooms,
a dining room, a library, a children’s toilet room and a large
open activity area opening off a central, circular entrance cum
assembly hall. The building is of warm red sand brick with deep
window seats and accents of wood, like the classroom doors, painted
in bright colours. Behind the orange door you will find the Orange
Group, and so on.
In the inviting circular central space one
wall is devoted to a large bulletin board where volunteers have
arranged that week an attractive display to illustrate the concept
of wind. On another wall there is a very large aquarium at child’s
eye level where fish float dreamily amongst the underwater ferns.
Sometimes there will be a display of children’s work on another
wall. At the moment a frieze of elephants marches around the base
board, crayoned like elephants who have walked through rainbows.
The physical activity and energy needs of
young children are well accommodated. The large activity room
sometimes has a dance or movement class, otherwise children may
be in there playing their own games. The playground, in the back
of the building, has swings and a large climbing apparatus. There
is a washing area and a large contained outdoor sand area for
sand play. A swimming pool provides opportunities for welcome
relief as the days grow hotter. Flowers and small child planted
gardens surround the buildings.
It is truly a kinder-garten, a children’s
The children, not quite old enough to cycle
by themselves, come by bus and parent transport, straggling in
between 8:00 and 8:30. At 8:30 or a little after, each class gathers
for an opening circle, to share stories, to do an activity together.
Each circle begins with a small ritual. The children sit on the
floor in a circle, light a candle, close their eyes, and meditate
quietly for a few minutes. This is “concentration”, a uniquely
Aurovilian practice which is used to start and sometimes conclude
meetings, classes, talks, etc. When observed in schools it has
a wonderfully calming and centreing effect, even on the most active
After the opening circle there is time for
talking and sharing, and for planned activities. At 10:30 there
is a snack and short recess, then lunch, served in an adjoining
dining space, arrives at 12:00. After lunch children play until
it is time to leave around one o’clock. The kindergarten curriculum
has been described by the staff in some detail and I would like
to reproduce some of that description here, organized by the five
domains of the personality identified by The Mother as the physical,
the mental, the vital, the psychic and the spiritual.
The psychic and spiritual being
The atmosphere in the school is warm and
loving, simple and beautiful. The children feel very secure
and at ease and experience in their own way that the place
is there for them, to meet their needs.
The whole school often chooses to follow
one topic together at the same time, which brings about a
sense of sharing and oneness.
A natural friendship develops between
children of different cultures and nationalities thereby promoting
a sense of human unity.
Each morning there is a basket of flowers
with which to make a kolam, a traditional Tamil flower design,
in the centre of the entrance hall. Children spontaneously
start making the kolam or help a teacher in doing so. Allowing
children to play with flowers brings out a special sensitivity
All the teachers get a chance to interact
with all the children at some point during the day or the
This helps to create a sense of wholeness and integration
in the relationships between teachers and children,
with the result that no sharp break occurs when they move
from one group to another.
Each group visits the homes of all the
children in the group. This narrows the gap between home and
school and helps the children know each other and make friends
more easily. The emotional climate of the class improves greatly.
Teachers are alert in observing the children
and periodically share their observations among themselves
and with the parents, in order to foster greater consciousness
of the uniqueness of each child. Teachers have found that
as they learn more about the unique characteristics of each
child they are better able to help that child’s growth.
A subtle balance is maintained between
leading the children into teacher-directed activities and
leaving the children free to choose between a set of activities
offered to them.
The physical being
Sri Aurobindo and Mother have underlined the
importance of physical culture, the ultimate aim of which is to
infuse a higher consciousness into the cells of our bodies. Mother
said, “If we cultivate the body by clear sighted and rational
methods, at the same time we are helping the growth of the soul,
its progress and enlightenment.”
At the kindergarten the following physical
activities take place.
For about twenty minutes after snack in
the middle of the morning the children are free to play in
the playground, where there are slides, swings, a see-saw
and a set of tunnels along a raised passage. While they are
under observation, teachers leave them completely free to
play together in groups or singly. Qualities of leadership
and acting in concert develop spontaneously.
The children are taken to an adjacent
playground where they practice walking on a pipe, crossing
a monkey-bridge both from on top and while hanging, somersaulting
on a raised bar at different heights, and climbing on a chain
wall. In their last year at the school they also learn to
skip and play many children’s games like tug-o-war.
Periodically a dance teacher works with
the children doing movements presented as games and simple
exercises, which often leads to a marked change in their body
Two teachers lead the children in body
awareness work once a week from their second year in kindergarten.
The exercises and games encourage concentration and lead the
children to awareness of all parts of the body.
The children also go to the swimming pool
at least twice a week and learn through games many exercises
that are preliminary to learning to swim.
The vital being
Sri Aurobindo and Mother have pointed out
the fact that training for the vital in the personality is presently
carried out unscientifically, if at all. They have put particular
emphasis on developing and training the responses of our sense-organs
to be exact and precise as a preliminary to the discovery of the
inner sense. Importance has been given to developing the aesthetic
sense, the sense of beauty, harmony and order. The emotional personality
can be easily distorted if proper conditions are not created for
a child’s growth.
In the turbulence of modern life many emotional problems show
up in children. Some of the practices in the kindergarten to cultivate
the vital being are:
A set of simple habits is insisted upon
gently until they come naturally to the children.
When coming into the building they are expected to arrange
their sandals in an orderly line. If they use any book or
game they are expected to put it back in place; neatness in
all work is expected as well as not interrupting an adult
or another child; eating without making a mess; washing hands
before and after eating; brushing teeth after lunch and rinsing
the mouth after a snack. Children are encouraged to at least
try all the food items offered. Here the teachers do not force
but gently insist if they see a child rejecting food out of
caprice and not from innate revulsion.
An important though difficult area is
the interactions among the children themselves.
Being mean to another, aiming nasty remarks, not sharing,
violence, and playing favourites are all behaviours which
appear in some of the children from time to time. Teachers
watch the children closely and find appropriate forms of conflict
resolution to deal with these tendencies when they appear.
One of the responses, for instance, is to separate the fighters,
get down at eye level with them, and make each explain the
what and why of the conflict. The attempt is not to suppress
the energy of the children but to redirect it in a positive
way. The children are never judged “bad”; it is only the specific
behaviour which is unacceptable.
There are many opportunities for free
creative and expressive activities such as big blocks, Lego,
drawing, painting and drama. Simple dramatic exercises help
the children to sharpen their sensory responses, encourage
the development of the imagination, and increase consciousness
of the vital being. Acting out different emotional states
such as anger or fear fosters the capacity to create distance
between the self and the emotions, and with that the ability
to have greater control over the emotions.
Games to develop the sensory faculties
are regularly introduced. Good games are commercially available
for training the vision, but we have developed many other
simple games using common objects such as fruits and seeds
to strengthen the perception of the other senses.
The children learn many songs in English
Tamil, French and Sanskrit, and the oldest group begins to
learn musical notation.
Many children, particularly from separated
parents, show a lack of self-esteem. The staff pay special
attention to these children and take care that other children
do not use put-down statements to them.
Competitiveness can be strong in some
and often adversely affects the whole group. The staff tries
to identify the causes and find appropriate ways to work with
them. They encourage an understanding that children are not
all good at the same thing - some are good at sports, others
at painting, or music, and so on - and play many games which
have no competitive elements to foster cooperation.
The mental being
Mother said that as a general rule, before
the age of seven, the child is not conscious of himself and doesn’t
know why he does things: “that is the time to cultivate his attention,
teach him to concentrate on what he does, give him a minimum of
knowledge sufficient for him not to be like a little animal, but
to belong to the human race through an elementary intellectual
She also said, “Understand and see clearly why this movement took
place, why that impulse, what the child’s inner constitution is,
which point needs to be strengthened and brought to the fore.
That’s all you have to do, and then leave them: leave them free
to blossom, just give them the opportunity to see many things,
touch many things, do as many things as possible. It’s great fun.
And above all, do not try to impose on them something you think
There is no stress on abstract mental
reasoning in the kindergarten. Everything is concrete and
tangible. The children are exposed to and invited to be conscious
of the world around them. They take many trips to the farms,
beaches, forests, canyons and lakes in and around Auroville.
The children learn to appreciate nature and its diversity
from their experience in it.
As part of the nature study many animals and birds are brought
into the school: turtles, snakes, lizards and other common
species are brought to school so that children can learn the
proper way of handling them.
The children do simple cooking and gardening activities. They
celebrate the holidays of Christmas, Ganesh Chaturthi, Deepavali,
and also the birthdays of Sri Aurobindo and Mother.
At the kindergarten the children are exposed
to four languages: English, Tamil, French and Sanskrit. English
is the medium of instruction and they learn simple songs,
numbers and words in the other languages. Children of this
age are particularly receptive to the sounds of other languages;
if they learn to reproduce those sounds when their vocal organs
are most plastic they can come to fluency more readily when
they are older.
All children are involved in the sensory
activities which provide a strong foundation for the later
development of reading and writing skills.
As individuals show their developmental readiness they are
encouraged to do more with reading and writing.
In the younger groups mathematical concepts
are introduced through sorting, grouping, algorithms, comparisons,
manipulating numbers from 0 to 12, always apprehending with
the body as well as with the mind. The older children learn
mathematical concepts through games, working with numbers
up to 50, with simple addition, subtraction and occasionally
even multiplication and division. An understanding of weight,
volume, time and area is developed through the use of games
and simple but appropriate materials.
Through conscious attention to the psychic
and spiritual being, physical culture, education for the vital,
and an emphasis on experiential learning rather than on abstract
thinking, the kindergarten is consistent throughout as an example
of integral education for young children.
It is easier to describe the place and the
programme than to describe the feeling which permeates the kindergarten.
“Balance” is the word I heard myself saying to my friend. Balance.
There is a strong but subtle balance between meeting the needs
of the individual child and meeting the needs of the group. Children
have many opportunities for self-expression, and for the exploration
of their own interests, but they are also expected to be respectful
and considerate toward each other, to act without license in the
environment, to listen, to contribute and to share.
There is a similar balance in the rhythm of
the day which alternates between vigorous activity and quiet activity,
directed activity and free choice activities.
A somewhat unusual aspect of the kindergarten curriculum is the
emphasis on observation and concentration, developing the senses
in different ways. The physical, vital, intuitive, social, and
spiritual aspects of the growing child each have a place for play
(which is the work of children) in this kindergarten. This is
completely consistent with the aim of the kindergarten, which
is to nurture the child’s growth in all aspects and toward the
divine consciousness. I have seen kindergartens which excel in
their focus on social development, or on cognitive skills, but
rarely a kindergarten which achieves a balance between all the
aspects of the growing child, including the psychic and the spiritual.
One of the specific features of the kindergarten
which I found admirable is the body work in movement which Joan
and Aloka are doing in all the Aurovilian schools. I surprise
myself at how readily the superlatives come to mind when I see
their work. From the youngest to the oldest children they have
developed exercises and activities which draw out and strengthen
the non-verbal qualities in the developing child. And they do
it all with what seems an intuitive sense of timing, of building
from one small accomplishment to the next and the next, in ascending
levels of difficulty. Children become conscious of their bodies,
of where they are in space, of how they move, and of where their
centre of gravity is, by many different activities. They may experiment
with walking in different ways, fast, slow, dragging, skipping,
walking on a line, walking on a plank, walking up and down over
a series of obstacles, walking up
a ladder, walking blindfolded, walking to music; each time I am
there it is something different, and yet each time I can see the
connection between activities and the increasing competence and
in the children.
Joan and Aloka have combined their backgrounds
in dance and physical therapy and created a synthesis which addresses
the developing physical skills of the growing child. Here, I think,
the word unique may properly be applied. I have never seen such
care and concentration in movement among children in other schools.
I have seen a similar understanding and control of the body sometimes
in dance and gymnastics classes, but never across the board with
all the children who happen to be in the school. (Note: the Body
Awareness work is described in more detail in SAIIER’s Research
Letter #2 for 1997-98.)
Their achievement may be aided by the fact
that Auroville children are raised in an active environment. They
cycle and walk for the most part to get around,
and generally have a great deal of freedom in movement both within
the house and without. There is an emphasis on sports and healthy
outdoor activities, and Auroville is a relatively safe place for
children; they may roam freely, and often do.
Another admirable feature of the kindergarten
is the respect for language differences. All children learn to
speak in English, but they also have classes in French, Tamil
and Sanskrit where they learn songs, games and simple phrases,
enough to begin learning how to form the sounds of the language
when they are at the optimal age for hearing, reproducing and
remembering linguistic sounds.
Although this is a rather brisk tour through
the kindergarten, I hope it will provide enough of a guide for
readers unfamiliar with the kindergarten programme to assist them
in making comparisons during the philosophical overview which