Creating a natural inspired home

So I thought I'd share some pictures with you all and take you on a tour of creating some natural play spaces in your home. So come and follow me:

So It is nice to have a reading/book corner, with a few books that are easily assessable. 

A play kitchen is rather nice too. My kids spend hours with theirs and we have had a few different ones over the years. 

Some playsilks of different colors are nice too. Here we have a blue silk that we created a rive/pond scene with:

Ribbit...Ribbit....

Create your own nature table that follows the seasons of the year. Add little items found outside from your nature walks to sprucen it up a bit ...Here we have a Autumn inspired area...

Playstands we built ourselves. These are pretty much a must have as there use and open ended play is limitless.

But to be honest the best way to have a nature inspired home is well mainly this:

Oh yes and we must include some of this too....

You need to climb trees !

and learn about animals....

Do some berry picking with your little sister....

and if you are lucky enough to get snow where you live then by all means play in the snow!

and when it is late at night way past the little ones bedtime and a snow storm is happening , head out side and make a snowman cause those are the memories that will never be forgotten....

Blessings everyone and have a beautiful day

Meditation Tuesdays! Children's Meditation

CHILDREN’S MEDITATION

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This is an exercise to teach your children how to still their minds and focus their attention, enhancing their self-confidence.
The meditation helps them to concentrate through visualization and expanding their creativity. Children also develop their inner calm, security, self-confidence, and self-awareness.


Try this meditation at bedtime, and your kid will sleep more relaxed. It will be a magical experience.


MAGIC FRIEND
Sit or lie in a comfortable position and close your eyes.
When there is, something that, you think it is impossible for you to get in your life, or when you feel you need some magic to do something very special, and very unlikely to happen, ask for help to your Magic Friend.
Your Magic Friend is someone who lives in your heart. He is always with you. Only you can see him, and only you know who he is. And he is your special best Friend.
Who would you like to be as your best friend? Think of one person, one animal, a God or Goddess, some mystical entity, something or someone you feel as the most powerful being to help you to fulfill your dreams and overcome your fears.
Now, close your eyes and think of your magic friend… He is far away, in a place where only you know the path to get there. He is so special and magic as you need him to be. And now you would like to be with him a lot … So, you put yourself on your way there!
You leave your place and walk in the direction of the mountains. When you get there, look around, chose the tallest one to climb.


Start your way up to the top of the mountain. Climbing up and up you reach the top where you find the most beautiful rainbow you ever saw waiting for you.
You climb into it and it goes up, slowly … and gently…! You look back to the mountain, and it is getting far away, as the rainbow goes up.
Now, tell the rainbow where it should head, to your special place where your Magic Friend is waiting for you. Give it the instructions to get there, and enjoy your journey.
When the rainbow stops, you are at your special place. Look who is there waiting for you, smiling with his arms opened, willing to hug you, to cherish you. It is your Magic Friend … he is there, willing to help you to fulfil your wishes, to overcome your challenges.
Take your time… and remember you are there for a reason, so … Be you, with confidence, faith, and certainty. Be just you!
Talk to your Magic Friend, feel his friendship, notice the soft way he uses to talk to you, how he understands you.
You know, he is always there for you,
You know, he always helps you, to get successfully what you need,
You know, he is only yours friend,
You know, that is yours special place.


Stay there enjoying your friend and let your heart talk to him about what worries you.
When you feel it is time to come back thank him for his help, and tell him you will come back soon. Then, climb the rainbow again, and do your way back to the mountains. In the next moment, you are arriving in your room.
When you are ready, bring your awareness to your body and breathe deeply a couple of times, stretch your back and open your eyes.
HAVE A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP!

In the land of Toys

What our children are playing with...and what we are teaching them by the choices we make each and every time we make a purchase and bring something new home... We have a responsibility as parents to introduce them to a better way than the way we we have been programmed to "shop & buy!"

So what to get ? Where to Begin??


The question isn't usually what toys to acquire, but what toys to get rid of. Most mainstream programs for children have way too many toys. Bins and Bins of brightly colored plastic toys. Besides being messy and disorganized, it sets the kids up for a life-time of materialism. I'd get rid of anything sharp, broken, or ugly. I'd also get rid of things that don't foster creative play.

Books:For a home with younger children (4 and younger) I wouldn't get a lot of books because their eyes aren't mature enough to scan them. If you love books, you could have a few of your more beautiful ones around for them to look at the pictures, or maybe a few board books, but toddlers don't take good care of books, so I'd get rid of them in general, or put them away until later. Once they hit 4 years old books are wonderful way to build upon their imaginations and inspire their creativity.


Plastics and other synthetics: These don't promote the healthiest development in children. It's hard, but purge the plastics. (There are, of course, exceptions - for instance I like plastic slides (outdoors) better than metal ones for safety reasons. I also prefer plastic shovels for outside because they are durable.) I think limited plastics or getting rid of them all together is the way to go!

Take your clues from the places where children thrive.

The Beach: Children don't need toys at the beach. Just water, sand and maybe a shovel and pail - maybe a ball as well. To bring these elements to children, be sure your space has access to water (a large bowl or tub full of water outside is fun) and earth (a sand box or better yet, a hill of sand - or just the dirt in the yard). Water and dirt are difficult in pre-school/day care settings because usually there are too few adults to help clean-up and change clothes, but in parent/child classes you can get away with it. Sand is nice because it's relatively clean. Have plenty of shovels and pails and stainless steel bowls and such to play with in the water and sand. Kids this age can't be asked to share constantly, so have lots of the same thing. (Lots of the same shovel, for instance.) Access to the outdoors and this sort of play are essential. Even in cold weather, large amounts of time can be spent outside if the children are dressed well. Yes, and I'd get some balls.



The Woods: No toys needed here either. Kids love to build forts and play imaginative scenarios in the woods. To bring these elements to the children, I like to see homes and places with all sorts of odd pieces of wood outside to play on. Maybe some logs or stumps. Maybe some planks (well sanded ones are best). Maybe some tree limbs. Things you can help them move around to create castles, or barns, or houses or stores or an endless amount of things.

The Home: Just regular things around the house are used by children for play. Do you remember making huts out of all the couch cushions as a child? Or draping sheets over the table to make a house? To bring these elements to children, I love to see furniture that can be used by the children when they play. Chairs turned on their sides. Tables that aren't too heavy to move around. Large silk and cotton cloths have endless uses for creative indoor play.

Round it out with items from nature, such as pine cones, stones, feathers, seed pods. Children find endless ways to play with these.
 

Think Tools rather than Toys: Some of my favorite "tools" for children are: child sized mops (the kids love these - I like the ones with wooden handles and cotton yarns, rolling pins (lots of the same one so children aren't asked to wait or share), child-sized baking dishes (real ones) such as pie tins, bread pans, little whisks (I happen to like these, but they aren't necessary), a washing board.

Just Toys: I happen to like well-made, wooden dump trucks (but I don't let them go outside). Also things you've made, or someone else had made for the children - dolls, doll clothes, ropes (from finger knitting), knitted animals, felt balls, etc.

I Really Enjoy Montessori and Such to get items or we just shop at thrift stores or make our own ;)

Backyard Discoveries

I have always kept my eye out for anything that may look like a little fairy house at craft stores, yard sales, etc...

Not too long ago, Michael's was having a sale and my husband had the afternoon off, so I got to go alone. In their floral section I found little "nests" and birdhouses, which didn't really look like functioning bird houses, but were made of wood and covered with moss, etc..

I purchased several items and kept the bag hidden in the car until they went to their grandmother's and I again had some free time. I carefully placed all of the items I had found all over the backyard, into hiding places within the bushes, on branches, etc...

Some they discovered right away, some are still awaiting discovery. It was interesting to watch from my window and see how they reacted when they suddenly made a discovery - precious!

It was also interesting to see what had happened to the ones who sat in the elements for weeks - how they became a part of the landscape and truly came to look like fairies had moved into them! It was an idea which has brought many hours of joy to my children...

All back yards have the potential for great discovery and activities. You should try to keep the area as natural as possible, and yet have a variety of "tools" on hand. These would include any of the following: a place for digging, a vegetable or flower garden, some wild growing plants (vines, wildflowers) wind chimes, windsocks, wind wands, pinwheels, prisms to catch the sun, gazing balls, a bonfire pit (obviously with supervision), planting sunflower houses or bean tents so children can experiment with light and dark, a water table, watering cans, seeds, potting soil and pots, scraps of wood (no nails!) for building, a long log for a balance beam, a hammock or comfortable chair, tree stumps which could be used for chairs & tables, cotton gauze cloths which could dirty, clothes pins or play clips, ropes, etc...

Simple Garden Magic:

Additionally, keeping a garden is a large part of the Waldorf curriculum. Even if you have an apartment in the city - try to keep a window box of herbs for your children. they will love it. It's also fun to take a drive out to local farms and farmer's markets.

Steiner said:

"Although it may seem absurd, it must be stated that a person who has not learned to distinguish an ear or rye from an ear of wheat is no complete human being. It can even be said that a person who has learned to distinguish between rye and without having observed them growing in the fields, has not attained the ideal. As teachers we should avoid going on botanical expeditions to collect specimens to be shown in the classroom. The children themselves should be taken out and wherever possible, be brought to understand the plant world in its actual connection with the earth, with the rays of the sun, with life itself. Through this we can find the transition in a quite naive way to something else which is very important."