Friday's Nature Table.

Welcome to Friday's Nature Table, a forum for us to share the nature inspired things we have done with our children... our nature ideas, crafts, activities, inspirations and photos. Nature is all around... her magic is everywhere!

I encourage everyone to participate. The more wonderful ideas we can share about how to enjoy our beautiful earth, the happier we will be. And, as always, thanks to everyone who participated last week!

Enjoy! and thank you for sharing today...

Blessings and magic.

Pine Needle Forest

We have a pine forest that we love to play in.

With a pine needle carpet under our feet.

Lovely places for children to hide.

And gnomes too...

Pine needle beds to lie in, castles to bulldoze, nests to make...

We are reminded of how rich and sensory Mother Natures toys are and how fulfilled we feel when in her presence.

Blessings and magic.

A Rainbow of Leaves.

Aren't the leaves just amazing in Fall? They are ablaze! A way to bring a child into connectedness with nature is to help her become aware of the changing of the seasons... to show her that nature is an ever-changing cycle that always comes back to the beginning. It gives a child confidence to know that things can change but still stay the same, like her changing body... she is growing, getting taller, loosing her teeth but she is still the same inside.

K and I made it our Fall challenge today to find all the colors of the rainbow in leaves. We set out in search of fallen leaves, a bit skeptical that we could succeed.

Here is RED.

Orange.

Yellow.

Green.

Blue.

Purple!

On our walk, I asked her what color a leaf is. She immediately answered... 'Green!' Then she thought for a moment and changed her answer to... 'all the colors of the rainbow!'

Blessings and magic.

A Magical Mushroom Hunt.

We went on a mushroom hunt this weekend. We set out in the hopes of finding as many strange and wonderful mushrooms as possible and, boy, we were not disappointed!

This was the first one we spotted. It was just like a fairies shade umbrella and we decided that it must be a local fairy picnic spot. We pictured the fairy family sitting comfortably in the shade of their mushroom umbrella while they ate their nasturtium sandwiches and drank their dewdrop tea.

Mr T got so carried away with his imaginings that he had to search the mushroom more closely for fairy evidence.

Next, we found a gnome village...

Perfect little white gnome muchroom houses. We discussed how gnomes like to live in a community as they like their friends to live next door. K, in particular, thought this was a good idea... that way, she could play with her friends all day, every day!

The next find was a fairy throne. There had obviously been a fairy ball the night before and this comfy white mushroom is where the Fairy Queen sat. It 's fairy tradition that the Fairy Queen sits on a raised throne to let her watch all of her pretty fairies dancing the night away. Don't worry, she dances too, but when she is tired, she rests on her lovely soft mushroom throne.

And now for the find of the day... a goblin lookout platform! It's very rare to actually see these. Goblins usually leave very little clue that they have been around... this was clearly left by a lazy goblin! Goblins climb onto these platforms to survey the land around them. As we all know, the higher you are, the more you can see. A goblin climbing this platform would be on the lookout for fairy treasure, gnome jewels or elf gold. We do wonder if he got SO excited when he actually found some that he completely forgot to dismantle his platform and hence left it out for us to find?

Isn't it a most curious looking mushroom?

So, next time you are out on a walk with nature, see what treasures from the fairy realm you can find... I am certain you will be happily surprised!

Blessings and magic.

Silent Saturday.

A well set up reading corner.

Friday's Nature Table.

Welcome to Friday's Nature Table, a forum for us to share the nature inspired things we have done with our children... our nature ideas, crafts, activities, inspirations and photos. Nature is all around... her magic is everywhere!

I encourage everyone to participate. The more wonderful ideas we can share about how to enjoy our beautiful earth, the happier we will be. And, as always, thanks to everyone who participated last week!

Enjoy! and thank you for sharing today...

Blessings and magic.

Make Playdough with our Recipe.

I make sure that there is always a bag of playdough in the fridge. It is a wonderful activity to introduce when Mommy has some work to do, like cook supper! Why is it that you are needed the most when it's time to start dinner?!

Today we needed to make a fresh batch. I always find the beginning of the 'making of playdough' activity, very difficult. I can't help trying to contain the mess... 'careful', I say. 'Don't sift too quickly... we don't want to get flour on the floor!' My voice reaches a shrill pitch.

Who am I kidding... flour ends up all over the kitchen and once I let go of my 'mess phobia' we all have a wonderful time. So much more fun than a clean kitchen is worth! Besides, it only takes a minute of sweeping afterwards to clean it up.

How nice flour feels, cool and soft!

How interesting it is to make a blanket of white snow with the sieve!
How wonderful it feels to scoop it in our hands and let it drop back into the bowl!
How squishy it feels between our toes!
How sweet we look with our face dusted white with flour!
This is our recipe... it has always made wonderful playdough.

PLAYDOUGH

• 3 cups flour + a little set aside for kneeding
  
• 1/2 cups salt
  
• 2 tbs. cream of tatar (usually found in the supermarket spice section)
  
• 2 tbs. vegetable oil
  
• 2 cups boiling water
  
• a few drops of essential oil (optional but oh so nice for added sensory pleasure)
  

METHOD

• Mix together all the dry ingredients.
  
• Add the oil to the boiling water (add a few drops essential oil here; our favorites are lavender, peppermint or eucalyptus.
  
• Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, carefully (it is hot!)

Kneed, using a little additional flour until the consistency is just right (not too sticky, not too dry).

I sometimes divide the playdough into 6 balls and add a different colour to each ball. I try to use natural colouring (but often need the speed of food colouring).

A few drops of beet juice makes a soft pink.

A few drops of fresh blueberry juice makes a lovely blue/purple.

Tumeric makes a beautiful yellow (although it does have a funky smell)

Water from boiled marigolds make a gorgeous yellow/orange.

I make our playdough in advance as it takes about 15 minutes to make and we usually need it quicker that that!

I keep our playdough in a ziplock bag in the fridge. When it’s time to play with it, I pop it into the microwave for 5 - 10 seconds. This takes off the fridge chill, making it pliable and not too cold for little hands.

And what, you might ask, did we make with our playdough today?

This proves the theory that 'monkey see, monkey do'...

Blessings and magic!

How to make a Walnut Boat.

Waldorf education has been a great gift to our family. We happened upon it when K was 3 and fell in love with its gentle, nature based learning. Slowly, we have incorporated many of the Waldorf philosophies into our everyday lives. I did not expect to find myself raising my family in one of the biggest metropolises in the world and, for a while there, I found myself caught up in the frantic 'bigger, better, MORE!' syndrome that living in a huge city inflicts. I am so relieved that Waldorf has slowed us down, brought us back into connectedness with nature, helped us clear away the unnecessary clutter so that we can see the beauty in the dewey grass and hear the crazy calling of the mocking bird over the drone of the freeway. Life is much fuller with less stuff!

Making our own toys brings us particular delight. It is magical to watch my children start with a few natural materials and see their wonder as those plain, everyday things become a cherished toy. It is so empowering for them to know that they are creative... they can make things they really love!

Today we made little Walnut boats. This is a wonderful Waldorf activity... it uses natural materials, requires skill, hand/eye coordination, foresight, planning, patience and imagination. The delicate boats are magical... just big enough for an elf to sail. They inspire hours of imaginative and creative play... in soothing, calming water. All these things are a gift to a child's spirit.

To make your Walnut boat you will need,

walnut halves (look here to see our trick to splitting walnuts)

a knife

bees wax or a few natural colored crayons

a recycled jar

a few sticks

card or material for the sail

scissors

a hole punch

We used broken brown crayons instead of bee's wax. Mr T took great pleasure in breaking them up into tiny pieces and putting them into the glass jar.

He has always been a good crayon breaker!

Once all of the crayon pieces were in the jar, I microwaved it for one and a half minutes to melt the crayons.

I carefully (it is HOT!) poured the melted crayon into the empty walnut shells and set them aside for a few moments to cool.

While the wax was cooling, we broke our long stick into two 2 inch shorter sticks for the boats mast. When the wax was cooled to the consistency of peanut butter, we inserted the masts into the wax. As the wax cools further, it holds the masts fast.

To make the sails, we used strong card paper. K used my leaf paper-cutter to punch out an oak leaf for her sail. T preferred a triangle. They punched two vertical holes in the sails for the masts to fit through.

They threaded the masts through the punched holes in their sails and their boat toys were ready for sailing.

They looked too sweet sailing around our fountain.T and K discovered that they could move their boats through the water by blowing softly on them. Boat races ensued which brought much joy and laughter!
To find out more about Waldorf Education, visit Why Waldorf Works.

Happy boat making!

Blessings and magic.

Silent Saturday.

270 Acorns for a Magical Fall Wedding!

Friday's Nature Table.

Welcome to Friday's Nature Table, a forum for us to share the nature inspired things we have done with our children... our nature ideas, crafts, activities, inspirations and photos. Nature is all around... her magic is everywhere!

I encourage everyone to participate. The more wonderful ideas we can share about how to enjoy our beautiful earth, the happier we will be. And, as always, thanks to everyone who participated last week!

Enjoy! and thank you for sharing today...

Blessings and magic.