Let's make a Shell Moblie.

Our beach is a treasure trove of beautiful shells. The rock pools are filled with brightly gleaming shells, gorgeous colors of the rainbow shimmering in the water. Many of the shells that have washed up on the beach have been bleached white by the sun. We have strolled for hours, collecting such beautiful treasure. Today, we made a pretty shell mobile. We chose all of the shells we have collected that had holes in them.

We needed,

* scissors
* ribbon or string
* shells with holes in them.


Kitty and her cousin cut a length of white ribbon and tied a shell onto the end to form the stopper for the other shells.

They threaded all of her sells onto the ribbon.

They look so lovely hanging together... soft colors bleached by the sun.

Different shapes and sizes.

We hung it from the Milkwood tree in front of our house and it sways gently in the breeze.

The proud artists, standing with the shell necklaces they also made today.

Sometimes, the simplest things are the prettiest.

Blessings and magic,

Donni

Free.

We were so inspired by Beth's Discovering Waldorf post, "I am a Child of Nature" that we wrapped the kids up warmly in their jackets and headed off to the beach. A Good Man and I delighted in how freely Mr T explored the beach. My 'old self' would have balked at the sand and warned him, anxiously, that it would 'get in his eyes', 'his hair', 'his clothes'. Not this time, I'm proud to say... I smiled happily and encouraged him instead.

And thought how much I love this boy as I watched him gaze out over the ocean.

And walk closer to the sea for a better look...

And feel his bare toes squish in the cold, wet surf...

And pick up handfuls of sand...

And toss them, excitedly, into the ocean, with all of his being...

And jump for joy when his sand hit the waves...

And run, nervously, away from the frothy water...

And climb the sand dune...

And make a slide in the sand...

And slide down with whoops of joy...

And even take a few tumbles, undeterred...

And then, spent, lie down on the sand to watch the sun set...
Oh, I love this boy who loves to be free.

Blessings and magic.

How to make a Miniature Zen Garden.

Yesterday we thought about the wisdom of ancient Tibet when we painted a lovely rainbow with our colorful sand.

Today, we talked about Buddhism as we made a miniature Zen Garden.

We learnt that a Zen Garden is a place of meditation and we experienced how calming it is to work with sand... to rake it, let it run through our fingers, watch it change shape as we move it with our hands.

This is what we needed to make our Miniature Zen Garden...

A glass, wooden our metal container

A spoon

Sand (we used some of the beach sand that we colored the other day)

And Zen treasures, we decided upon pretty rocks and earth-colored marbles.

We put the sand in the dish. The green and purple sand mixed together to make a lovely pink. We used the spoon to make the sand level.

We took our little rake and made a spiral marking in the sand. We positioned our Zen treasures in our Miniature Zen Garden, making use of the spiral markings to maximize our gardens aesthetic appeal. We placed and removed our treasures many times until we thought it looked just right.
Mr T was very impressed!
And then we played in it... for a very long time... raking, placing treasures... covering treasures, making markings in the sand... arranging treasures again. We 'meditated a lot!'
Can you believe that we made the Zen Garden Tools too? You won't believe how easy they are! Have a look at the link above to see how we made them.

Blessings and magic.

Painting With Colored Sand.

One of my very favorite movies is Kundun. Watching it is a magical experience from beginning to end. I vividly remember the very first time I saw it... it opens with the Tibetan Monks painting with sand. They work for hours making the most beautiful image from colored sand. It's huge, covering the entire floor... spirals, waves, twirls, blues, greens, yellows. It is a magnificent sight... and then, when it is finally finished, they open the huge wooden doors of the temple and let the wind sweep over the colorful floor, blowing their magnificent labors away. At first it is a terrible shock that all their work was for nothing, swept away, gone! But then you get a glimmer of the wisdom that is Tibet... that it is not the creation that is important but the creating. It is profound! Such a valuable lesson for all of us.

Last week we made wonderful colored sand. It was a fun, colorful activity... click on the link above if you missed how it is made.

Today we painted with our colored sand. We used the sand we colored last week, a glass dish a spoon, a funnel and a straw

.

We made our own sand dispenser by inserting our straw into the funnel. It was a little long for K to manage comfortably so we cut it to the right length.

We poured our yellow sand into the glass dish and K spread it evenly.
With a little shake of the glass dish from me, the sand was even and ready to be painted on.
K decided she wanted to create a rainbow. She drew a faint outline in the sand to guide her.
We filled up the funnel with purple sand, keeping a finger on the bottom of the straw to keep the sand in it.
Then K positioned the funnel over where she wanted the purple sand to go, removed her finger from the bottom of the straw and let the sand fall from it in the shape of her rainbow.
It was very exciting to finally let the sand drop from the funnel and we giggled with abandon.
Then the blue rainbow arc.
The pink.
Finally, the green.Isn't it pretty?

Of course, our rainbow needed some embellishment so K used a little stick to run the colors into each other.

Isn't it even more beautiful?!
But, alas, when I suggested we let Little Brother play in it (a simulation of the Tibetan winds) a loud cry of protest could be heard for miles around! Needless to say, it is sitting on our table now for all to admire.

Blessings and magic.

How to make a Fairy Garden Swing.

All you need to make a swing for your Fairy Garden are...

Pliers, thin, bendable wire and some sticks and stones.

Cut a long piece of wire and select a long, flat stone. We used a small sea brick that we collected on the beach, rubbed smooth by waves and time.
Bend the wire in half. Your stone swing seat will be attached in the middle of the bend. Wind the wire around one side of the stone and then the other with the strand of connecting wire running along the underside of the swing seat. Bend the wire around the sides of the seat and attach the tops to your Fairy Tree branch.

If your Fairy Garden doesn't have a tree, use sticks and the wire to make a frame for your swing to connect onto.

Here is The Clean Plate Club's delightful entry into The Magical Fairy or Gnome Garden Challenge and Giveaway. Have a look at their awesome swing.

A very sweet addition to your Fairy Garden.

Look here for more on our Fairy Garden Series and here for more info on The Magical Fairy or Gnome Garden Challenge and Giveaway.

Blessings and magic.

Wonderful Beach Treasures.

It was an overcast and windy day and we needed to blow the cobwebs from our heads. There is a beach that we call 'The Peninsula' not far from us. We love this beach as the sea is rough and the waves bring treasures from the sea onto the beach for lucky searchers to find... this is where we found ourselves... on top of the sand dunes, looking out over the vast bay.

To our delight, the high-tide-mark was strewn with sea treasures.

And we discovered that these sea treasures could be used to make all manner of things... Boats waiting patiently for the tide to take them out to see.
K took her nature journal to log all the 'especial' things we saw.
A small flock of Godwits patrolled the surf, looking for little delicacies in the sand. They were wonderful to watch as they poked their strong, long beaks down holes to find their breakfast. If you click on this photo, you will be able to see the sand still sticking to this fellows beak.
A colander full of sea treasure was collected.

When we got home, it was diligently washed...

And lined up for inspection.

The shells...
The sea bricks, worn smooth by many, many years of attrition on the sea floor... we think they might have come from the ledgend city of Atlantis.
Drift wood, rubbed smooth by the water and waves. Do you think one of these pieces of driftwood came from the raft Robinson Crusoe sailed on to find his island?
And our favorite, Sea Glass. We would not have known of the value of these little sea gems if it were not for the wonderful Garden Mama who wrote about it in this post a few weeks ago.

What treasures the sea gave us. Before we left her beach, we gazed out over her vast expanse and said a blessing of thanks and cast a wish into her depths that people everywhere would respect her bounty and protect her treasures.

Here is a story about another treasure nature gave us.

Blessings and magic.