little wooden houses as waldorf classmate christmas gifts

Every year as we snuggle down during Advent and try to spend the long winter nights together with stories and baking and wholesome good work, we attempt to come up with a simple craft that we can create together for little classmate gifts for Christmas.  
(Spoiler alert, dear Waldorf friends, we've got a basket of these little houses coming your way on the day before winter break!)

This year, since we're still house hunting and living at my mum and dad's, we had access to some good tools and even better helpers.  Opa and his table saw started us off in our production by sawing a pointy edge from a regular ol' 2x4.  (Cost: about $3)

He then chopped it up into smaller pieces.

Then Naiya, Oma and I sanded down the rough edges.

Sanding can be messy business so we stood out in the 30-something degree weather smoothing down those splintery corners.

Back inside we mixed up a platter of rainbow goodness and set to work with our acrylics.

They sat on the table for a couple of days and got more and more elaborate with glitter, fancy paper and lots of painted embellishments.

We finished them off with a screw eye and bit of ribbon for simple ornaments we hope the kids will enjoy.

screen-free week: play dough

Painting, drawing, sculpting and crafts of all kinds are great ways to give children

a creative but focused outlet for their imaginations.  

Many parents find that meal preparation times are an especially difficult hour to keep kids occupied and free of screens. When having children help with cooking is not an option, dough modeling can be a fun way to engage a child’s hands, heart and mind while parents are busy.

Every child loves to shape malleable materials and children can parallel adult kitchen activities by pretending to bake and cook or they can use whatever inspires them to sculpt shapes, figures and even tell stories through the medium of dough.

 I can make it 

You will see 

I roll and squeeze 

Then one, two, three 

From my hands 

Something will grow 

What it will be 

I don’t yet know...
a castle... 

an elephant...
a spider... 

a vase... 

a flower...
a snake... 

a cave... 

a tree...
what will it be? 

what will it be?

 “Children love to practice rolling out with a rolling pin and cutting shapes with cookie cutters. I have a collection of small animal- shaped cookie cutters, and after they have rolled and cut a few, I then encourage the children to play with them at the table. They can roll a little more play dough to make fences, or a barn, or nests. This encourages them to use their hand- dexterity in service of their imaginative skills. Great training for life!”
                                                        - from Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer

To make your own play dough, try this easy recipe:

 Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/3 cup salt
2 Tblsp. cream of tartar
1 Tblsp. vegetable oil
food coloring

In a medium sized pot mix flour, salt and cream of tartar.  Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

Once the dough forms a ball, remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once cool, knead the dough on a floured surface. 
That's it!  You've got play dough!  If you'd like to add some color...

 

Separate into various balls (depending on how much of each color you would like).  Indent each ball and drop food coloring into indentation.  (For the colors seen here I used 10 drops.)

Knead until the color is distributed evenly throughout the dough.  Once the coloring is mixed into the dough it will, oddly, not stain hands or surfaces.  (During the initial kneading, however, watch those clothes, countertops and hands!)

Store in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag.

“Artistic expression is an essential element of a balanced “diet” of experience for our young children. In artistic work, we accomplish two essential tasks of childhood: the training of the hand and the training of the heart. Together these lay a firm foundation for the training of the mind.”
                                       - from Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer

screen free week: clothespin airplanes craft

Today marks the first day of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood's SCREEN-FREE WEEK.
"On April 29 - May 5, people around the country (and world!) will turn OFF TV, video and mobile games, and other screens they use for entertainment, and turn ON the world around them!"

At Naiya's Waldorf school (where many families are already screen-free all year) I'm once again helping to organize some little activities and offerings in the Early Childhood classes to coincide with this national week of recognition.  I thought I'd share our goings on here each day as we offer up crafts, storytelling suggestions, play ideas and more.

(this is last year's hallway display but this year's is basically the same :)

Today in the hall under our display we're offering little kits to make...

     Clothespin Airplanes

          We will build a plane and soar 

          Over woodland, sea and shore 

          Over woodland, sea and shore

          And fly back to you once more

Simple crafts are a great alternative to screen time and offer a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to learn something new and create something together.

This super simple clothespin and popsicle stick airplane can be made by parents or children and then decorated in myriad colors and patterns with crayons, paint, colored pencils, pens or even strips of tape. Try personalizing each plane with a child’s name or attaching a magnet to the bottom and use it as a handy refrigerator magnet clip!

In addition to a clothespin, two large and one small popsicle stick, you will need some kind of glue. Craft glue, white glue or even hot glue all work fine.

There’s not much to it really. About a half an inch behind the nose (the clipping end of the clothespin) glue one of the larger popsicle sticks to the top of the pin then glue the other directly underneath it on the opposite side.

Glue the tail piece about a quarter inch from the tail end of the clip and you’ve got yourself an airplane!

After your plane has dried, decorate or embellish in any way you choose.








For lots of other craft ideas for you and your children check out the many ideas under the "crafty craft" label.  Enjoy!

felted wool wall hanging

Much like last year, this year Naiya's kindergarten class, teachers and parents created another beautiful felted wool wall hanging to donate to the school auction.  The children helped make the flowers and also enjoyed a lot of the wet felting.

This time around one of the parents (thanks Jennifer!) added some gorgeous touches of embroidery with both machine and hand stitching...

super quick doll clothes

   Like many Waldorf moms, over the years I've hand made my daughter some beautiful dolls only to have her cast them aside for simple store bought versions that relatives and friends have given her.  It took me quite a while to figure out that it wasn't so much the manufactured playthings she loved more than those I lovingly and painstakingly crafted; rather, it was their fancy clothes collections and ease of dressing that were the magical draw!    (How come our children won't just love the toys WE love?  A post for another time...) 

  Of late, her favorite dolls for dressing and playing are two Groovy Girls.  There's something about the size (and freakish proportions) of these particular dolls that just really appeals to my daughter.  I've embraced them but, if you're not familiar with these gals, they often come with some pretty racy outfits.  We use them but have tried to add some fun, more young-girly ensembles through our crafting.  Oma's been knitting them sweaters and skirts and I've sewn a few pairs of pants and skirts as well.  But last week, Oma had a designer breakthrough and came up with this super-quick-and-easy-doll-clothes-in-minutes idea!  

  

Basically, it utilizes the sleeves of old pajamas and whatever trim is laying around.  In no time at all Groovy Rainy and Groovy Toni had garments for nearly every occasion.

We're always outgrowing cotton pajamas and they come in  a pretty interesting variety of colors and designs.  Simply chop off the sleeves, finish the cut edge (or don't) and add a little something to give the wardrobe some style...

Since Naiya started gymnastics, she wanted Toni to have her own leotard.  We cut holes for the arms to go through and put in a few stitches by hand to separate the two leg holes.  (Naiya insisted on the little circle of yellow felt for "decoration".   The kid loves adornment.)

This cute summer dress has a ribbon sewn around the stretched bottom.  Stretching the fabric as the trim was sewn on caused it to curl into the frilly pattern seen here.  Straps and buttons (those were Naiya's idea) finished this summery selection.

Pants are basically a skirt cut and stitched for legs up the middle.

Roll those pants out and pull 'em up for a trendy jumpsuit.

(Wait... are these ridiculous things still in style?)

It's hard to tell in this shot but this mini dress has a white lace layer on top of the printed under layer. 

A little gold lame fancies up any simple design.

Who doesn't have packets of mint green ric rac just waiting for the perfect project?

(And a child that thinks a bell would make for a fine bit of embellishment?)

Another gown dressed up with a small bit of lace and ribbon straps that tie around the neck.
















Thanks Oma!  Now we've got playtime outfits for every occasion for weeks to come.

handmade valentine ideas for classmates

For our classmate Valentine exchange each year at Naiya's Waldorf school, we try to come up with a few ideas, try them out and then pick our favorite to mass produce.  I made all of these at night while Naiya was sleeping so we could decide in the days following which we'd like to choose to do together.  Sometimes our pick is based on love of the end result.  More often we make decisions because of time available or interest or skill of the participants.  (Naiya is often excited to make one or two of something but not so keen on fashioning 12 or 15.)
In year's past we've stuck mostly with two dimensional versions of the classic little Valentine card.  (You can see inspirations from previous seasons here, here and here.)  This year we're trying a few non-traditional trinket options as well.  Perhaps a little something for friends to hold onto even when the day has long passed.  A number of these are beyond the skills of my six year old.  Some she can help with only to varying degrees.  Maybe we'll save a few of these ideas for the future...

This cute little charm was made with copper wire and beads.  Pretty simple but perhaps not the most appealing for a few of the boys in class.  Kindergarten boys seemed to be a mixed bag when it comes to this kind of thing.   There are a few who would love it and some who would just be confused.  Naiya nixed this option for this reason but still thinks it's super cute.

The single piece of molded wire starts and ends at the bottom with a twist.  The bead there at the bottom covers that twist and is secured with a bit of glue.

Here's an alternate treatment of the classic painted ladybug.  The underside contains her simple Valentine note: "love, Naiya".

This is fiddly paint work not so suited to small children but a fun one if you're an adult preparing something on your own for your child to give away.

Also a great addition for seasonal play on the Valentine Nature Table.

We do wet-on-wet watercolor all the time.  This is a little variation made by placing stickers on the page prior to painting.  When the watercolor dries, we remove the sticker to reveal the pure heart.  We mounted it on burgundy card stock using a glue stick.

Another fun use for all those watercolor paintings is this little greeting which Naiya will be able to make almost entirely on her own.  She paints and does the sewing while I cut out the heart and pre-punch the holes (with a large needle) for her threading work.

(I think this is the one we've actually chosen to make by the dozen for the classmates this time around.)

Our last idea is this festive felted bracelet.  It's got a bit of elastic in back so the kiddos can get them over their hands. 

Decorative options are endless.

felt finger puppet valentine

   With Valentine's Day coming up, Naiya and I have been trying out a few ideas for little classmate gifts to share.  Since we're planning ahead this year, we decided to tackle some things that might be a bit more challenging.  This took rather a lot of time and my dear six year old wasn't able to help much so, I'm guessing, in the end, this won't be what we'll create twelve of to pass out on that special day.  We did like it a lot though and Naiya said I should "totally put that on the blog."  But of course.
   I did this all in the midst of playing and so all the sewing was done by hand.  To reduce project time (and if we did decide to make more) I would instead use a machine for most of the stitching next time around.

I based this pattern on a tri-fold concept.  The face/body will reside in the center piece, the ears slightly behind and the tail will line up with the center of the back when its folded and sewn together.

I traced the pattern and cut it out from wool felt.

Onto the center third (which will ultimately be the front of the raccoon) and around both sides of the tail, I sewed various felt pieces.  The raccoon required these extra color flairs but if one is making a cat, mouse or some simpler-faced critter, this step would be skipped.

Onto the back side of the felt (which will face forward once folded), I sewed some ear highlights.

I then embroidered on nose, mouth, eyes and some little paws to hold the heart.  (I think my eyes are a little wonky and somewhat hostile looking.  Embroidery is obviously not my forte.)

I folded it into thirds and sewed it up with the tail sticking out in back.

I figure there are lots of animals that can be made in basically this same fashion:  bear, mouse, bunny, cat... whatever suits your fancy.

With a little effort, my second go will likely look much sweeter and more polished than this one but, chances are, I won't get any pictures next time around.



Turns out Naiya isn't letting go of this one.

She said she would like a piggy next.

transparency silhouettes

   Back when I had just finished up with our school's Advent crafting festival, I mentioned that I would do a little how-to post on the transparency silhouettes that were such a hit there.

   I've since discovered that directions for these can be found in the popular Waldorf calendar of celebrations book All Year Round and it's likely that instructions appear elsewhere online as well.  I'll go ahead and offer up how I put them together anyhow (because, you know, I already started).  Also, if you're looking for some images for inspiration, you can check out a collection I've gathered from crafty folks the world over on my Pinterest page.

   To make these sweet seasonal and story-telling pieces of window art you'll need card stock, a pencil, tissue in various colors, small scissors or a craft knife, a glue stick, a steady hand and a lot of patience.  The product is lovely and the principles are simple but the cutting of the image can be quite fiddly and time consuming.  (Let it not be said I gave no warning.)

   Drawing the desired scene directly onto the wrong side of the card stock is the easiest way to begin.


One can harvest images from favorite picture books or, of course, simply forge them directly from one's own imagination.

I have a hard time free-handing drawings, so I borrow those I like by pasting them onto a Pages document on my computer and then tracing the image onto a piece of paper.





Unfortunately, the heavier card stock desired for the finished product is thicker than can be easily seen through in this way so I've traced like this, cut out a pattern and then re-traced the pattern onto heavy card stock.  (This is extremely time consuming and I only did it because I needed patterns for others to use at the crafting gathering anyway.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing all that cutting twice!)  

So...  Working on the back side of the heavy paper, draw the chosen silhouette remembering to leave at least a 1" margin around the perimeter and to attach all figures to some edge.

(Note that silhouette figures not attached to an edge could be directly glued onto the tissue backing in later steps as seen in some of the collected inspiring examples.)

With a craft or exacto knife or small scissors (I prefer the latter), cut the design from the paper and trim the outside edges as desired.

(Remember to leave that 1" exterior frame to have something to attach your tissue to!)



(If you'd prefer to create a free standing display that can be placed in front of a candle or other light source, leave 3-4" of the card stock on each side of the image.  This excess can to be folded (on the dotted line) to a 70° - 90° angle to help the piece stand on its own instead of being taped or propped against a window.)

When the cutting is complete, prepare a piece of the lightest color tissue (in this case the lightest blue) to be placed over the entire back side of the image.  Cover the back side of the frame (and perhaps some of the larger figures) with glue stick or craft glue and gently press on that first layer of tissue.

Continue adding progressively darker tissue colors and variously shaped highlights and layers as desired to make the color effects you choose.  (Layering from lightest to darkest seems to work best.)
The subsequent layers can be kept to the edges or be carefully glued directly onto the first layer of tissue.

Even one color of tissue layered many times can create an interesting effect.  Combining colors as seen through light is an art of its own I think.

Once complete, turn the silhouette right side up and display it in a brightly lit window or in front of a protected candle.

   If the tissue outline can be seen because of strong back light (as shown above) or if your finished product is too floppy, the whole project can be "cleaned-up" and reinforced by adding an additional card stock frame piece on top of the tissue on the back side.

   I can see us producing a library of these to have for each season or even creating scenes to gift to our friends with images from their favorite stories.