Spring Celebration

Finally the weather gave us a break, and we were able to hold (although a little belated) our Spring Celebration. Mother Nature blessed us with a divine spring morning, in the words of Margaret Wise Brown "The sky was wild with sunshine" and the garden full of spring blooms.

We set off to find a perfect picnic spot.

Through the meadow let us walk

See what wonders spring has brought

Skipping skipping let us go

As the breeze blows to and fro

The children recieved their crowns and wands with a sprinkle of glitter and a magic verse

A faery crown and a faery wand

A sprinkle of faery glitter

You become a faery Queen/King

Flutter flatter flitter

Then time to walk and skip around the maypole as we sang some simple maypole songs

A delicious spring feast fit for Faery Kings and Queens

We planted seeds of beans, marigolds and sunflowers, the seeds of which we collected last Autumn.

And the creation of our Garden Goddess (lady scarecrow) complete with magic wand, to protect our wonderful new vegetable gardens

And finally the face behind the camera, one of our wonderful mums Cat, who took these gorgeous pictures for us. It was so hard to choose which photos to include! Check out her site www.celebrationstudios.com




What a beautiful morning we had!

Craft Night

Here also are our Spring Maidens from our craft night a few weeks back. They all looked so beautiful, a look just lovely adorning our nature tables.

Caterpillars in our garden

Who's been eating all the vegetables out of our garden???

And my biscuits and CHOCOLATE!

It must be this cheeky little fellow in the middle, who grew and grew with everything he ate!
The children loved listening and watching as the tiny caterpillar popped out of his egg and proceeded to "eat" a hole through each piece of food, and grow a 'beadsize' bigger (which was hiding inside the hole in the vegetable), each time.

Then he rolled himself up into a silvery cocoon, and emerged a beautiful butterfly which fluttered around the childrens heads!

(This was a combination of two ideas for the story posted on mamamoontime - thanks Amber)

Then a whole host of wriggling caterpillars emerged from the clever little hands of our children, who loved beading and sewing felt circles onto elastic threads.

Now my garden doesn't stand a chance!

Welcome New baby, Spring, and Phil the toy man

Welcome new baby

Finally we have a beautiful new addition to our playgroup. It was cuddles all round for this sweet little spring blossom, and we look forward to sharing many beautiful moments with her.

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Welcome busy Spring

We have been busy the past few weeks welcoming in the coming spring. Our story has been based on "The Story of the Root Children" by Sibylle von Olfers.

Mother Earth wakens the sleeping root children with her candle - yawn and stretch, yipee - and they set to work sewing some beautiful new clothes for spring.

Mother Earth (myself) also took around a basket of cloth for our own circle of root children to sew some lovely new "clothes" whilst singing some spring songs.

The beetles, and ladybirds and bees also need to be painted and polished for spring.

At last they are ready. Mother Earth unlocks the keys to the ground, and out come the procession of ladybirds and bees and root children with their lovely new flowers, to play in the sunshine all spring and summers long. The children also got to take home a lovely flower each.

Making gumnut crowns and wands for our spring celebration

Crowns

Cut some wire to fit around childrens heads, and twist to form a circlet. Cover the join using florits tape. Add gumnuts using florists tape to hold. (Note this holds better if you stretch it as you bind it around). Add any other extras (paper flowers etc) the same way.

Finish by winding ribbon around the wire, cutting and retying it every so often to create all the flowing bits of ribbon hanging down. Add any extra colours.

Wands

Drill a hole in the end of a stick approx 30 cm and lightly sand. Glue a gumnut (with small stem) in the hole. Add any extras using florists tape. Some very creative mums added tufts of palm bark, sticks etc.

Add ribbon to decorate, creating bows, curly bits etc.

Some beautiful crowns and wands for our spring elves and fairies. Stay tuned for photos from our spring celebration!

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Phil the toyman

Phil the toyman(http://www.enjoymakingwoodentoys.com.au/) came for a visit to show us all of his lovely handmade wooden toys. The toys are fantastic quality, and have lovely soft curves to them. The children had a fantastic time testing them all out. We bought ourselves a lovely new ironing table, and Phil is also going to make us a playstand.

The kitchen set is gorgeous

The cradles were very sweet, and the cars and trucks are made with amazing detail.

This aeroplane rocker which converts to a ride on with wheels was a big hit as children wizzed and twirled around the verandah.

The digger was another big favourite.

Thanks Phil for sharing your lovely creations with us!

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Steiner Early Childhood Workshop and Regional Meeting

And finally, I had the pleasure of attending the above on the weekend. It was a fantastic day, the workshop with Sandra Frain was inspirational, full of stories, songs and biodynamics, and I have come away completely reinspired and revitalised, with so many wonderful ideas for our playgroup. Can't wait for next term!

It was also a great opportunity to meet some lovely people who are so dedicated to Steiner education. In particular it was great to chat to Tanya and Meg from Wonderland and Amber from Moondew (mamamoontime), who are running playgroups such as ours. It has given me a sense of community and support, so thanks to all.

I had the sweetest most creative dreams that night!

September Monthly Nature Group

Last week we held our monthly get together in the parks at Indigescapes in Redland Bay.
What a beautiful meeting place! The children had the opportunity to play on a lovely wooden playground and sandpit, as well as balancing on some rocky garden edges.

After morning tea we set off on a short walk, with so many magical things to discover. One lucky little one even managed to hitch a ride!

Beautiful places to see, with tiny moths and butterflies all around, and the sweetest tiniest little bird flitting in and out of vision in a flash of blue (he was too quick to catch a photo)

Some secret fairy writing perhaps?

Watching the birds, ducks and fish

Ferny swords and secret caves

Then just before leaving we discovered a a little spot where the children could pot up their own native seeds to take home

And even a little lizard to say farewell!