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!

At our beach, at our magic beach...

With not much of a summer to speak of this year, we spent the first few week of term making the most of what was left. Inspired by Alison Lesters Book "Magic Beach" we kicked off the term with a splash at Wellington Point exploring Our Magic Beach. Thankfully Father Sun came out to play and we had a beautiful morning and weeks to follow.

The water held an irresistable pull ...
"At our beach, at our magic beach, we swim in the sparkling sea,
surfing and splashing and jumpin the waves, shrieking and laughing with glee"

Then a bite to eat with a refreshing fruit salad and some wonderful healthy picnic treats - and a birthday to celebrate.

A play on the wonderful playground

Then a fossik along the shore...
"At our beach, at our magic beach, we walk when it's cloudy and grey,looking for driftwood, feathers and shells washed up on the edge of the bay"

A search for the hundreds of tiny crabs that we never quite got to as they disappeared down their holes before we could even get close...
"At our beach, at our magic beach, we search in the clear warm pools,peering at starfish, limpets and crabs, and tiny fish darting in schools"

__________

In the following weeks back at home we drew on our beach experience to create some beautiful experiences, play spaces and craft activities.

Our nature table held a collection of shells, coral, sea creatures and the beautiful Ocean Queen

A magical playscene and shells to play with in the playroom

A log, shells and seaweed from the beach formed a lovely backdrop to our circle time where we listened to the song of the sea.

Can you hear the seas song in this little shell?
Hold it up to your ear and listen, listen well
Swish-oo, swish-oo
The seashells song is from the silvery sea,
Where the waves roll in wild and free
Swish-oo, swish-oo

Shells in the sandpit become natural scoops and drawing tools.

We stitched and sewed with love some magical little felt seahorses at craft night.

We painted with watercolours inspired by the blue greens of the ocean
Blue wave from the sea, come and wash all over me

We also used some of collected items to create some interesting prints.

The shells we pressed into disks of clay to make shell fossils.

The children then chose some beads and pieces of driftwood from our collection to create beautiful beach mobiles.

A sweet reminder gently swaying in the breeze, of our Magic Beach!

All things new at playgroup...

A new year, new faces and some lovely new treasures as well...

As our first day of playgroup drew nearer I stitched and sewed, prepared and painted (well hubby did the painting), so that everything was just perfect for us and all of our playgroup friends.

Our playroom was painted and cleaned up, and our lovely new playstand and cloth set up. I love having this special space to set up playscenes, and display things with beauty and care.

Some beautiful new treasures were found - the two crystal gnomes are from Winterwood, handcarved in New Zealand (http://www.winterwoodtoys.com/) and the flower and mushroom fairies and gnomes are hand carved and painted in the Czech Republic (http://www.rjabinnik.etsy.com/). I wanted to create a mood of beauty, simplicity and possibility and I think these do that beautifully. As Sandra Frain reminded us last year, we need to be mindful of the way in which we convey images to children of what a gnome or a fairy for example looks like, and not limit them to set ideas and images. I also whipped up these little forest gnomes.

Two new swans were made to swim majestically upon the pond.

Our home area was uplifted with this fantastic new all in one kitchen (from Phil at http://www.enjoymakingtoys/) He came to visit us at playgroup last year, and made this at our special request. He is now selling a lot of them I believe. The teaset is bamboo, and is beautiful to look at and play with. I found that online at http://www.fishica.com.au/ in WA.

These two new handsized rainbow babies were a joy to make, arms outstretched just waiting to be picked up, and a cuddly new baby for our home area. Her body is made out 100% cotton (similar to dressing gown material) and is oh so soft.

My "All Seasons Garden of Plenty" Birthday crown is bursting with life - oranges, apples, plums, butterflies and bees all adorn this. And here are just some of the lovely new birthday treasures awaiting our special children.

And finally, we have some new chickens as well - India, Abigail and Persephonie have recently moved in to our hen house.



Our first day back was just beautiful. It was a joy to watch as the children played and explored, and every bit of effort was so worth it. All the love that was put into creating these special spaces was given back tenfold.