Wild Child

We have been busy playing with the colours, tastes and textures of Autumn.

Our story (based on the book Wild Child by Lynn Plourde, and one of my favourites) also created a feast of sounds and imagery for our senses.

Crinkle, crackle, leaves snapple.
Snapperly, dapperly, cidery apples. Puckery, smuckery, crimsony cranberries.

(which the children got to sample during the story - yum!)

A fiery, flaming, reddish nightgown.

A whooshy, whirlishy, windswept snuggle.

Our Nature table reflected Autumns hues, and many of Mother Earths gifts of Autumn - pine cones, sunflower heads, pumpkins, apples, chestnuts, and multicoloured leaves. Mother Earth herself is beginning to feel the cool, warming herself with her knitted shawl woven with feathers and leaves.

We painted autumn leaves in shades of yellow, orange and red.

We made crunchy, munchy, spicy pumpkin seeds.

They were so delicious!

Recipe from "A Childs Seasonal Treasury" by Betty Jones

2 cups dried pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds are just as yummy)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon tamari

Salt

Melt butter and comine all ingredients. Spread over an oven tray on a low heat for approx 1 and 1/2 hours until seeds are crisp and brown, stirring occasionally.

The children created an Autunm nature collage using bits and pieces collected from around the bush.

And finally we built a bamboo and stick cubby. The bamboo was used for the frame as it is flexible, then sticks were woven in between. Some large pieces of fallen bark from one of the palm trees covered the floor.

I love all the possibilities of Autumn, and the sensory feast it provides!

Autumn Gardening

With the rain slowing down and the weather cooling down, autumn is a beautiful time to be spending in the garden. And so thats just what we have been doing...

First we planted some lovely new eucalypts. The children had a great time throwing in scoopfuls of gypsum and compost

before carefully placing in our trees and shovelling and scooping in the soil,

then give it a good stomp, and wait for the afternoon storm to come and water it all in.

Nice job everyone!


Autumn is also a great time for TREE PASTING. I took inspiration from Sandra Frain at a workshop last year, and again in the latest issue of Star Weavings, and wove a lovely little story about healing our gum trees using tree paste. Tree pasting protects trees from disease after damage (eg animal scratches, pruning), and also from the cold of winter (although that is not really an issue here). Through this the children are engaging in meaningful healing work and develop a positive relationship with the plant kingdom, and it is a positive way to approach any issues with children treating trees harshly eg peeling off bark, hitting with sticks.

All you need is

a bucket of clay...

a bucket of sand...

and a bucket of cow poo!

Tip them on the ground, mix them all together...

then back into the bucket with a bit of water (the children got a bit carried away with the water), and give it a good stir.

Dip your brush in,

and away you go!

The kids even got resourceful and started using bark and sticks to paint with while they were waiting for a turn with the brush.

Ewh, cow poo on my hands...

But what a fantastic time they had!

Playing with the wind

For the past few weeks we have been playing with the early Autumn wind, enjoying the lovely sunshine and (sometimes)balmy days.

The children loved story time - based loosely on "The Story of the Wind Children" by Sibylle von Olfers. As the windsprite blew (and the children helped) the little boat sail past kites, bubbles (this was the childrens favourite part), and parachutes.

And we have been very busy making lots of wonderful toys to play with outside in the breeze.

Bark Boats

You will need a sturdy piece of bark, a small stick, some modelling beeswax, sand paper and polishing beeswax.

Lightly sand your bark and stick (mast).

Warm up the modelling beeswax in your hands. Use this to hold the stick in place on the bark. This is the mast.

Cut a leaf shaped sail out of a piece of green felt.

Here is a finished boat.

And a flotilla of little boats just waiting for a wind sprite to set them sailing!

Parachutes

You will need a square of muslin (around 30cmx30cm), 4 pieces of string each 30cm, a little bead (ours were pieces of wood cut off a tree branch with a hole drilled through) and a small piece of modelling beeswax. The children first got to choose which colour their parachute would be.

Tie a piece of string to each corner of the muslin.

Thread each piece of string through the bead and tie a knot at the bottom. Then wrap the beeswax around the knot (this both stops the knot from sliding through the hole and gives it a bit of extra weight)..

Then take your parachutes out to fly!

(Tip - make sure all of your threads are untangled, and the higher up you are the better)

Autumn Sun Balls
Finally we made Autumn Sun Balls/Comets

You will need 2 circles of thick fabric around 8-10cm in diameter, ribbon (ours was cut around 70cm long), rice, needle and thred. We use lovely Autumn colours. Sew your 2 circles together leaving a small gap, then turn inside out.

Fill your 'bag' with rice until quite full. The kids loved this bit.

Or just have loads of fun playing with the rice and funnels!

Tie your ribbon (we used 2 pieces) together and insert into the bag opening. Stitch it closed.

Your sunball should look something like this.

Now go outside and THROW!!!

Our Sun Balls went hizzing through the air, tails streaming - narrowly missing tree tops(although we did lose one up there), chickens and children! They went amazingly high and far!What fantastic fun!