Wednesday, August 29, 2012

SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (B)


Our 'B' page was inspired by a classic Winnie The Pooh story. Here you can see the bear in the 'B' and if you look closely you will see the wings of the bees are 'B' shaped too.

Seraphina decided to draw a home for her bear too. So sweet x

Earlier in the week we did some traditional butterfly paintings where you fold a sheet of paper in half and put blobs of paint on one side only. Then you fold the paper closed and smooth over the top, spreading and mixing the paint underneath. The girls really enjoyed this activity and they couldn't stop at one or two. They made sooo many.. My logical brain kicked in and I started thinking, "time to wrap this up, they've experienced the concept.. Seriously, how many butterfly prints do you really need?" (I have a thing about "wasting" paper) but then I relaxed and went with the flow letting them get what ever they needed from the moment. The result was lots and lots and LOTS of gorgeous, colourful pieces of paper.

I knew that they would come in handy one day for decorating gifts or being a gift in itself or even perhaps morph into some other fabulous crafty creation... I was right :)

Going with our 'B' theme, I folded the prints in half again and cut an outline of half a butterfly. I let the girls open them and to their delight they saw beautiful colourful butterflies appearing before their eyes. They also commented on how each side was exactly the same. There's our lesson on symmetry!!

Lucy helped punch holes in the top of each butterfly and with the help of a dear friend, we made a garland of butterflies to decorate our living room.

We made Honey Bee muffins and played the Bongos and I finished our 'B' week with a tale from The Brother's Grimm - Snow White and Rose Red...

 

SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (A)

Seraphina has really been wanting me to spend more one on one time with her doing "school stuff". Not that she knows what goes on in a classroom at school, but never the less, I took her request as a sign to start some formal kind of academic work.

She is already familiar with most of the letters of the alphabet but I have been secretly waiting for the day I could introduce her formally in a Waldorfy kind of way.

For 'A' we read two picture story books written by Neale Donald Walsch (author of the famed "Conversations With God".

The first book was "the Little Soul and the Sun" and the second, "the Little Soul and the Earth - I'm Somebody!".

These books are beautifully written and illustrated. The first story gentle describes our connection to God, the light and explains that all we see as "good" or "bad" is ultimately LOVE. It provides an understanding and awareness that we are ALL eternally connected.

It touches on life purpose ideals and that we make an agreement with God to have an experience on Earth. Depending on that choice, or choices, other souls will incarnate and help us to experience the feeling or lessons that we have agreed upon.

The second story is when the soul is born to Earth and guided by her personal guardian angel. It shows how as we begin our journey on Earth we are still aware of where we came from and WHO we are. Then as we begin to feel and think in our human bodies we tend to lose sight of this and forget why we came. That is when the guardian angel comes in to support and remind us of our purpose and our universal connection to God.

So, for us, these books were a great inspiration for our 'A' page...

Other things we did to reinforce 'A' was to listen to an old record of Johnny Appleseed, produce some Apple Cider and Apple Peel Vinegar and bake an apple pie. Lots of apples that week!!




Now we wait three months for the vinegar. It smells fantastic already!