A fifth key characteristic of the Steiner approach is emphasis on the importance of the early school years. The child's entry into the formal education system marks a significant transition in the child's life. Play, language, activity and the manipulation of a variety of materials are central to early childhood learning and help in preserving a learning continuum between home and the school. The formal or didactic teaching of reading and writing is developed in an age appropriate fashion as the child progresses through the school.
Of the importance of early childhood education The Primary School Curriculum says of the curriculum in infant classes:
"It is, in the first place, based on the uniqueness of the child and the particular needs of individual children at this stage of development. The informality of the learning experience inherent in it, and the emphasis it gives to the element of play, are particularly suited to the learning needs of young children. It stresses, too the centrality of language in early childhood learning and the importance of activity and the manipulation of a variety of materials in promoting motor and sensory development."