In kindergarten age, Eurythmy exercises are brought through stories in the form  of folktales, or rhyming songs and verses that correspond to the current season or festival. The aim in kindergarten eurythmy is to gently guide the children, using their natural inclination for joyful movement, and have them imitate activities that are done in our daily lives or that take place in nature. The children are led to alternately stretch their limbs in large gestures and then make smaller, finer movements with their hands, fingers, feet, and toes; in this way, they learn to use their will to move all parts of their bodies.

Eurythmy activates the coordination of the physical and cognitive senses. Unlike purely physical activities such as running, swinging, or balancing, the movement processes of Eurythmy build a bridge from the physical level to that of imagination and cognition.

In eurythmy, movement and speech are connected in a meaningful way, i.e., the children don’t just say what they mean, but through the gestures and movements of eurythmy, which are directly connected to the sounds of speech, they actually do what they mean.

The Eurythmy lesson also develops the social senses in the children through listening, taking in what is being said, and inwardly engaging with the story that is conveyed by the teacher. The children’s perception of their own body becomes coupled with their (mental) cognitive perceptions.  

When rhythmic speech is being moved, it imprints itself into the body memory and promotes the child’s understanding of words, language, imagination, movement expression, and social resonance. This makes eurythmy in the kindergarten an effective tool for stimulating the faculties of speech, memory, thinking, and socialising.

In first grade eurythmy, all the exercises are designed to aid the children in developing greater awareness of the 3 physical dimensions we live in: left/right, up/down, and front/back spatial orientation. We also work to increase dexterity, coordination, and balance. In first grade, the social rather than the performance aspect of eurythmy is emphasized.  Therefore the children work mostly in a circle, imitating and following the movements of the teacher, as opposed to an orientation toward an audience. In addition, in first grade, much of the work involves helping the children find their way into a sense of form and order so that cooperative movement can take place.

The main part of the first-grade eurythmy lesson is centered on fairy tales, supporting the children’s imaginative growing capabilities and enriching them with feelings of goodness and kindness. Through the telling of the fairy tales, the children practice speech eurythmy gestures that create living images of the alphabet, which the children experience through the movement of their limbs. Through performing the fairy tales, the children also experience how different characters require different types of movement. This experience nourishes a child’s ability for dramatic expression.

In first grade, the children learn to draw various forms from straight and curved lines. This is especially important as they are learning to write the letters of the alphabet. In eurythmy, the children will practice choreography based on straight and curved lines within the context of a story. In this way, they absorb these forms through an act of will by moving their bodies in a living, imaginative way.  

Starting in first grade, piano music is included. The children now experience little dances and music for various activities, such as galloping and trotting, that take place within a story.  

Second-grade eurythmy lessons reflect the second-grade curriculum, centered on fairy tales, and animal fables, as well as verses that relate to stories of nobles and aristocrats.

To quote from an article on the second grade: “If the circle is a picture of First Grade, all whole and unified, each part sustaining the rest, the Second Grade may be seen as two parallel lines. For the child is no longer carried by the dreamy sense of security in all that encircles him but begins to experience a delicate quality of apartness, of ‘identity’. At this age, criticalness may suddenly appear, along with a tendency to squabble endlessly or feel persecuted by “everybody”, bereft of friends. The fables point out the foibles suddenly appearing all over; the legends of noble people calm, console, and reassure.”

Second-grade lessons include exercises and dances that may be performed in opposite pairs; they are designed to help the children cross the vertical midline, which is important for the development of mathematics and reading. The children learn to move mirror forms, which develops a sense of symmetry and is also an exercise that addresses the reversal of letter writing and dyslexia.

All the rhythmic exercises that were begun in first grade that aid the children in developing greater awareness of left/right, up/down, and front/back spatial orientation are continued in the second grade.

Third-grade students experience a greater sense of differentiation and separation between themselves and their surroundings. The children are becoming more independent and wish to meet the challenge of learning and memorizing the exercises so that they may lead their classmates or be called upon to perform something on their own.

At this stage of development, practicing contraction and expansion of the circle to both verse and music helps the children to experience harmonious, rhythmic breathing, as well as preventing them from separating too much.

More complex forms, such as spirals, figure eights, triangles, squares, and the Cassini Curve , are incorporated into the lessons.

Casini curve – image attached 

The children now practice moving to rhythms of speech and music with precision. They also learn that eurythmy is a “secret” language and that each sound of speech has a corresponding gesture. Now they are ready to learn consciously which sound each gesture represents.

In tone Eurythmy, third-grade students are ready to move from working with music in the pentatonic scale to working with pieces composed in the diatonic scale. The children practice the C major scale in a variety of ways and the major and minor third may be introduced.

Once the children have crossed what is sometimes called “the Rubicon of the nine-year change,” they are ready for more challenging and skill-based work.

Poetry that expresses the breathing quality between polarities, such as sorrow and joy, or fear and bravery, is used for a variety of forms and movement exercises. Speech eurythmy exercises contain elements that differentiate grammatical components.

In tone eurythmy, there is a continuation of practicing the precise movement of the rhythmic element of a piece of music; however, because the children are now more firmly grounded, the element of the beat is introduced. One such eurythmy exercise relates to the Norse Mythology. For this exercise, the children move a form that creates the Walls of Asgard (which was built to protect the land of the Norse Gods and Goddesses) while strongly stepping to the beat of the music.

Tone eurythmy pieces are also now performed with more complex geometric forms that include simple gestures for the melody of the music.

In 4th grade eurythmy, the students are engaged in many exercises to help them develop greater coordination, concentration, dexterity, and control. The children often practice these exercises by holding firm to their own individual part against a partner, another group, or the entire class. They continue to work on exercises that develop the crossing of the vertical midline.

Movement that has been performed in a centrally oriented circle now can be exchanged for movement with a frontal orientation. This gives the children a different sense of spatial orientation, and with it, a new sense of self confidence.

In fifth grade, the students work on many challenging and enlivening concentration, dexterity, and spatial orientation exercises. Students often use the copper rods to enhance their work.

The geometry of the human form (think of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man) is consciously experienced as the students move the five-pointed star (as an image of the human being) to both verse and music. The teacher emphasizes and encourages the students to shape their gestures and movements so that the beauty, rhythm, and form of language and music are made visible to them. 

In tone eurythmy, the gestures for various musical scales are practiced, while forms for two-part melodies or rounds may be introduced. Tone work is further developed by moving with precision to various beats, rhythms, phrases, and the high and low voices of a musical composition.

A variety of complex and geometric forms based on figure eight, star, or square are moved to both speech and music.

By the sixth grade, the students have developed a capacity for spatial orientation. Spatial orientation exercises are performed on a variety of complex geometrical forms which adhere to the lawfulness of the geometry of the form. In addition, they may move tone Eurythmy on a geometrical form, especially along a six-pointed star or hexagon.

 At this point in the students’ development, movement may become heavy and/or unbalanced; therefore, practicing forms and exercises that are symmetrical and rhythmical may help to recreate the coordination that was taken for granted at an earlier stage of development.

Performing exercises that use the copper rod can help the students to form a clear inner image of their own spatial dimensions and boundaries.

Exercises should be performed with a clear sense of sequence and accuracy. Students are encouraged to perform their work with precision. A small group may be chosen to observe as their classmates work on an exercise; the purpose is to allow them to see outside of themselves what, until now, they have only experienced within. Giving helpful critiques about what is working well and what needs improvement strengthens observation while developing respect for others.

Seventh grade calls for greater precision and variety in speech and tone eurythmy skills. The students explore the different moods in a poem or the range of feelings of various pieces of music, which expand the richness of their own growing soul experiences. Gestures for more complex emotions like joy, sorrow, laughter, and knowledge are introduced, as well as the expression of major and minor chords in music.

Students are now asked to create their own choreography based on the lawfulness of language and musical elements. More complicated geometric forms also provide the students with an experience of external structure.

More complex copper rod exercises are introduced which develop an upright posture for the students. Students work on many variations of these.

Work with eurythmical elements becomes more elaborate. In the eighth grade, the students study human anatomy and part of this study is the skeletal system. Because the gestures for the musical intervals are directly related to the human skeleton, eighth grade is the perfect time to introduce the intervals (prime through octave). This opens the door to a more refined artistic expression of the music.

 In tone and/or speech Eurythmy, forms may be choreographed for a solo, duo, or trio of students. The students may also work on complex forms for a larger group, thus cultivating greater social awareness through movement.

All the elements of tone eurythmy that were previously learned, such as note gestures for the various scales, harmony (major, minor, dissonance gestures), rhythm beat, pitch, are now incorporated into a final eurythmy piece. 

The soul gestures, which were introduced in the seventh grade, may now be incorporated into speech eurythmy work on ballads, comediess, or a simple fairy tale to be performed and shared with the lower grades of the school.

In the eighth grade, the students often have the opportunity to experience moving with silk veils; with this, they reach a new level of awareness of the surrounding space.