ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

~ PLAY ~

happy day!

MIND YOUR BEESWAX

Modeling with beeswax is so CALMING.  It takes patience too, as it takes time to soften the beeswax in your hand. Many worthwhile conversations can take place while creating with beeswax . I like to offer the children beeswax while reading a story to them. It's especially helpful for the wiggly children who need to move to in order to focus. Warming the beeswax in their hand and forming shapes allows that movement they need. And it's FUN !      Even the smallest children make the coolest things!                                                                                 a carrot                                                           an apple                                                       a baby                                                        friends All ages enjoy working with beeswax. Sometimes their creations have to do with the story we have read or something we have talked about.                                                                                         a seabird                                             a loon                                              a sea turtle                                              a snail                                        a flower Sometimes we use beeswax to add to our wooden peg "people". . .  And then the children play with their characters. Perhaps you would like to try using beeswax, if you haven't already!  happy day!

IMAGINE ICICLES

                     Do you have icicles hanging from your house? Try to reach one from an opened window and bring it inside for the children.


Touch it and hold it. How does it look? How does it feel? Is it smooth or bumpy? Does it glisten in the light? Is it heavy? Is it COLD?
               
                                       What can you do with it? 
                                How long would it take to melt?

                                      
                            happy day! happy winter!

OH NO NOT THAT!

Does your child ever want to do something and your insides cringe? You want to immediately say no, and perhaps you do, or you may quickly squash the idea in a gentle way.


It happened to me, it happens to the best of us. Even mindful parents can have those moments. It is how we learn from them that matters.


You would think what my daughter wanted to do was something huge. You would think I would have to play a big part in it, the way it bothered me. 


I had to dig deep. WHY did it bother me? What was the big deal? Why did I have to let her sense my negativity when she was so excited?  Isn't that a smaller version of stepping on someone else's dreams? 


I was multi-tasking, had a deadline, was not in the best of moods, but that shouldn't play any part.


She is twelve. She could gather everything she needed herself. She and her friends could do it together without my help. She is able to climb ladders safely. She knows how to fold and do the laundry. I didn't have to be a part in it at all. 


She didn't bring it up again and I forgot all about it. . . 


until this morning.

And all I could do was stand there and smile. . . and grab my camera!


They made a tent with all our available blankets tablecloths and sheets. I stood there with my mouth open, and truth be told, I wanted to crawl in myself. 


It was held together with a multitude of clothespins.

And beneath the tent of fabric and warmth, three friends were fast asleep.

It was terrific and I loved it . . . 

and then the guilt seeped in.

Why did I have to be such a poo about it in the first place? 

Why couldn't I have been upbeat and cheery and given her words of encouragement?


Was it because once she takes it down, the blankets will just stay all around the room? (which is like an open invitation to allow the rest of the room to become messy. . .  have you ever noticed how that happens?) 


Did it bother me that all the blankets would be piled next to the washer and perhaps sit there for days?


Seriously. 
This was my child. 
A child, children actually, who had immense joy in constructing this and using this. In the scheme of life, what IS a mess of blankets in a room or a pile of blankets needing to be washed.


I have to tell them the moment they awaken, how glorious it is. And it can stay there for as long as she wants, and I am thankful I am stocked up on laundry detergent. 


It is a lesson to all of us. to breathe before we answer a child. It gives us those few milliseconds to respond in the best way possible, in a positive light, to encourage and allow their dreams to flourish and their imagination and ingenuity to take hold.


Every day is a new day.  We have a chance to start over, to change our responses, to look at life in a new light, and always strive for happiness.


happy day!

LOOK TO THE CHILDREN

I haven never given much thought to our Blueberry bushes in late Autumn. They are bare of leaves and bare of fruit, and while newer branches have a pretty reddish tint, they are just there. 

Not so for the children!
They see tunnels, and forts, and mazes! 

When I turned around, this is what I saw :

with voices that called :

We're hibernating!

Come hibernate with us!

as they lay ever so still under the Blueberry bushes.

Be still my heart! It was so very precious. 

This is where the children belong. . . 

in nature. . . 

becoming one with the earth

playing together 

 using their imagination.

If you are unsure about something, look to the children, they will probably have the answer.

happy day!

MY EQUINE JOURNEY- Early Love

It is funny that I have a photo of my daughter and one of our horses as my header (I adore that picture!) but have never posted much on horses. Every now and then I say to myself, you really should write more about horses. But we all have to wait until the time is right, to be *inspired*, and to actually have something to say. 


It was today, while mucking and raking hay, that repetitous movement that allows our mind to wander and think, that it all came back to me. And I did have something to say.

My equine love started when I was a child. So typical right? A young girl's fascination and adoration of horses! Magical, mysterious, glorious creatures that could fly like the wind, their sight and smell took a hold of me from a very young age. 


Try as I might, I cannot remember the very first time I became enamored, but I do remember as a little tot my sister and I received matching black fabric, comfy horses to sit and bounce around on . I remember it so vividly and was in love.


 It wasn't long after that I got one of those bouncy horses on springs . I would pretend it was real and spend hours on it with my imagination. I must have shown a love of horses from an early age because of all the horsey gifts I received, OR perhaps it was all the gifts I received that increased my awareness and love of horses. I will have to ask my mom.


Soon a collection of horse figurines entered my life. I remember the Palominos with the flowing manes, one rearing and the other eating grass. I played for hours with my horses, on the grass and in a dirt square which was their paddocks. They even got numerous baths.


It was out of the question that we own a real live horse. We lived off the center of a small town on a very tiny lot, but was fortunate enough to have that borrowed landscape to look at and to romp in. Over the stone wall, a meadow beckoned us and we ran like horses, played hide n seek and discovered bits and pieces of the natural world. 


I was the oldest of six children and my mother always needed my help. I would often ask her if I could please have *outside* chores instead of inside ones, but inside was where I was needed the most even though Nature and horses and the outdoors called to me.


We lived in an old house, a mix of colonial and victorian. Most of the intricate inside and outside mouldings were taken down by my parents as they tried to *modernize* it, much to my dismay when I grew older.  We had a big attached barn with large wooden sliding doors in the front. It was used to house a carriage the century before. Around the back of the barn and underneath were two horse stalls for the horses who pulled the carriage.


Underneath the barn was HOME to me. It is where I felt I belonged. It was where my imagination and my life with my horses flourished. The horse stalls had an earthen floor and many hours were spent  down there. It was imagination on a grandiose scale. You see, I did have horses, they just weren't real live ones. They were old wooden saw horses, the kind used in building and carpentry work.


I had four of them, their names lost in my memory now, but each day they were turned out to *pasture* on the grass, saddled, bridled and rode, given fresh water and baths, and tucked back into their stalls each night. I used old blankets and towels as saddles and cotton ropes as bridles and lead ropes.


I really don't remember how old I was when I stopped playing with those horses but it would be quite old by today's standards, as children grow up too fast now as many things aren't cool . 


I remembered trading my horsey days to nature days with friends, picnicing, fishing, hiking and catching frogs all day long behind a house at the end of our street, full of ponds streams, woodlands, and paths to connect with nature. Years later that same area gave way to an apartment complex. We went on to being secret agents and spying on people around town on our bikes and holding clandestine meetings, based on Mission Impossible. We each had our own briefcase.


But my love for horses never waned, just took different forms. I read horse books, collected horse figurines and went horseback riding at a local stable, and knew someday I would have my own. Looking back I wished I had become more involved with horses on a personal level, even volunteering my time at a barn or just going to observe them on a regular basis. But I was extremely shy and new situations were hard for me. My mom couldn't always go and stay places with me, having five younger children to tend to.

 Little did I know, that IF I had gone to horse barns a few times, I would have realized horses were my comfort zone, my  *home* ,  and would have probably been the best place for me and a great help to overcome my shyness. Animals accept us and love us unconditionally.

Then there was high school and college and I never gave much thought to my dream of horses, although every time I saw one, my heart skipped a beat, and I was transformed back to that magical world, if only for a few minutes. It still didn't seem possible I would ever have a horse of my own.


In hindsight, it would have made perfect sense, as I became more independent, to go after my dream and become more involved with horses in some capacity even if I couldn't own one. I  *could* have done it, but I didn't, and I think that was a big mistake. 


It never entered my mind to do what really made me *happy*. The mission was to go to school, graduate from college, get a job. Dreams and happiness didn't really enter in. It wasn't until years later, when I had my last two children, and we unschooled, that I realized what a vital part happiness and dreams play in one's life. If it had, then art, children, animals 
(horses!) and nature would have been my life's passion and work from the very beginning!


It IS a huge mistake not to think about our dreams and try as much as possible to attain them. Perhaps we can't always have exactly what we want but we *can* take steps to make our lives richer and more joyful and can include some part of our dreams in our lives.

"Dream your dreams with open eyes and make them come true."

~ T. E. Lawrence

                         happy day!

A FAERIE WALKABOUT

We began our new *Faerie Walkabout* (a faerie trail) that meanders through the woodlands. Along the way we built faerie houses and will also plant shade plants. People will stay to the path so as not to disturb the plant life, wild life and faerie houses as they enjoy our walkabout.

You know children are engrossed in the moment and enjoying themselves when they spend an hour and a half in the woodlands building faerie houses, and even work straight through lunchtime. When you're having fun who thinks about food??? 

 The children used bark, moss, sticks, pinecones, acorns, leaves, stones and other natural materials to construct their houses. Only natural materials are allowed to be used in faerie houses.

THE GALLERY 

                                             Tables and Chairs:

Table and Chairs:

                                             Lamp Post:

MAKE UP A STORY

Storytelling is universal. Children are born storytellers with their immense imaginations and their sense of wonder.

Marilyn, The Toymaker, has some delightful puppets to print out for the children. 

The finger puppets are adorable and so are the mermaid and friends.

Imagine the little children having a magical time , creating dialogue with their characters outdoors on the grass, under the trees or even in the sand. The children can play while  parents tend to the garden or other outdoor tasks nearby.


To make the puppets last longer with little children, print them on heavier paper and cover with clear contact paper. And if they don't work well on little fingers, you can always tape them to popcicle or craft sticks, and even stick them in little balls of clay to stand upright.


Savor each moment with the children and enJOY ! 

SETTING THE STAGE

Setting the stage can be as simple as rolling a fat log next to the tree stump, in the small clearing among the white pines, and bringing out the children's cooktop and dishes.

Then you sit back and wait.

It will be discovered sooner than you think

And you might be served some delicious cherry pie

                                          or some plain oatmeal 
                                           without milk

                                        or some scrumptious pasta

                                       topped with cheddar cheese

                                          

    Offer nature to the children. . .  

 they know what to do :)

                                              

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

DAY 16 in the Great Outdoor Challenge.  

VISIT the others who play!