PLAYING WITH POKEWEED

Do you have Pokeweed growing at your house? 


 The plant is poisonous to humans, from its roots to the leaves and berries.
Did you know it is only in the very early spring, that the very young shoots are edible? 
But you need to know exactly where the pokeweed grew to be able to identify the new growth. You will notice the hollow dried stalks turned white and bent over from the winter and the new shoots will be emerging right there. If you are not 100% sure, never never eat it.

We love watching the transformation of this perennial plant. It can reach 10 feet tall and leaves can be 12 inches long. The stems starts out green and turns a gorgeous magenta color, 
The berry cluster starts as white flowers then green to dark purple berries.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

Even though the plant is poisonous, with awareness and caution, children CAN come in contact with this plant. Tell them all about the plant and why they shouldn't touch it. When children know the reasons why, it all makes sense to them.

Pokeweed is a value to wildlife and quite attractive in the landscape. It would be a shame to rip it out in fear of its poisonous aspect. 

Pokeweed berries are an important food source for wild life. American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Mourning Dove, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Cardinal, Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, European Starling, Brown Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing, Red Fox, Virginia Opossum, Raccoon, and White-footed Mouse all eat the berries.

We drew the plant in our nature journals. It was fun coloring the bright colors of the stems and leaves.


Then . . .we donned disposable gloves, picked the leaves, scrunched them and made designs on paper. The berries were the best part, we squished them and drew with them noticing which berries made the brightest color.

                    

Some other fun activities with Pokeweed: 

• make dye from the berries and dye wool roving, yarn or muslin
• make ink from the dye and write with a quill pen. It is said they wrote the Declaration of Independence with Pokeweed ink. 

happy day!

AUTUMN TREES, AUTUMN ART

The children were excited about our art activity today, but first we went out to explore real trees in the woodlands and by the pond. Most of the leaves have fallen and whole trunks and branches were quite visible to them.

There was still some color here and there.

The Autumn tree art was a hit. The children chose a light blue or dark blue cardstock paper for their background. 

Next they twisted long strips of 2 inch wide brown paper into their tree trucks and branches.  They cut the strips for the smaller branches.


We always try to use what we have and the strips of paper came from the bags that the shavings come in, that are used in the horse stalls. 

Their trees were first assembled, the way they wanted them, on paper and then glued down. 


They added leaves to their trees, which were scrunched up pieces of red, green, yellow and orange tissue paper.   The inspiration came from here.

                  
         AUTUMN TREE ART
                  GALLERY

I love how each tree is unique as each child is unique.

happy day!

MANDALAS OF AUTUMN

The trees are almost bare here in New England, but there are still various colors, sizes and textures abound. I encouraged the children to look beyond the typical maple or oak leaf for their Autumn mandalas.

It's not too late where ever you live. It can be made in all seasons, just use what is available to you.

What is a mandala?
" The word mandala is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit, meaning circle or center. With circular patterns representing life and growth, they're found almost everywhere: in nature, contemporary design, science, and psychological and spiritual study.

 A mandala is an ancient symbol of wholeness, integration and transformation. Today, this art form endures as a tool for expressing the essence of our creativity."


We gathered our supplies of frosted contact paper, scissors, pencil, hole punch, yarn

 and our "nature finds" . . . 

and drew a circle on the contact paper, using the wall clock as our template. Any large circle will do, or even the use of a compass  . . . 

Then we arranged them (leaves, flower petals and grasses) around and within the circle on the contact paper.


Once arranged to our liking, we very carefully  covered them with another square of contact paper, putting the center down first and spreading it out to all sides gently with our hands to minimize any creases.


We cut out the circle . . . 

punched two holes a few inches apart and tied yarn to hang them.

Then we hung them in the window to thoroughly enJOY!

 Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950 said:

"Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.

The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children." ~~  

The children also enjoyed an online mandala maker. 
You can play it here.

               happy day!