Seasons Natural Toys

JUNIPER TREE PUPPETS! The Magic Elf Garden, and Advent story

2011-12-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

I Love Juniper Tree Puppets and used Suzanne Downs stories with my son since he was three years old! What Fun! Be sure to check out her website and this sweet story! You can also sign up for her news letter! Happy Holidays!
http://junipertreepuppets.com/the-magic-elf-garden-and-advent-story/

DANDELIONS!

2011-08-25T02:28:00.000-07:00

This Summer, Seasons Natural Toys has been very busy studying the local medicinal plants of the Pacific Northwest! Here is a wonderful story to share with Children and a recipe as well. Happy Summer! Stay tuned for more medicinal plant stories and recipes from Seasons Natural Toys! http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=bailey&book=hour&story=dandelion

Dandelion Lemonade!

2 quarts of freshly picked dandelion flowers

gallon sized jar

four lemons

honey

Place the dandelion flowers in the gallon sized jar. Fill the jar with room temperature water plus the juice of four lemons. Add fresh honey to taste and then chill in the fridge. It is ready to serve in about four hours. You can strain off the flowers, or leave them in as a beautiful addition to your dandelion lemonade.

Summer Fun ~ Fairy Houses!

2010-06-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Looking for some Summer fun? Introduce your child to the wonderful, imaginative, creative world of building fairy houses! Use only items from Nature to construct an enchanted fairy abode! I know some wee dolls that would love to spend the day outside in a house like this! Once you get them started..they will be creating out of doors all Summer long!

SPRING NATURE TABLE

2010-02-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Beeswax flowers are a fun and easy way to add a touch of spring to your nature table! Warm beeswax under your arm while reading a seasonal book and shape into whatever your heart desires. Borrow from your Birthday ring decoration stash as well! Add stones and fresh flowers, gnomes and fairies, anything that feels like SPRING! Two Wonderful books for inspriation are Making Flower Children and The Nature Corner.

Autumn Nature/Seasonal Table

2009-10-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Collecting treasures from your nature walks with your children and making seasonal crafts from natural materials is a wonderful way to honor the changing of the seasons. Display these on a nature/seasonal table and allow your children to arrange imaginative scenes. Pine cones become trees, branches become fences or benches for wee folk. We have a variety of wee folk that can live on your Autumn table. Or make a doll from one of our doll kits, such as this wee Chinese lantern doll. A wonderful book for nature/seasonal table inspiration is The Nature Corner. Share photos of your Autumn nature table on our facebook page! Happy Autumn!

Witch stage Puppet for Halloween Story Telling

2009-10-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

I love this witch stage puppet . Is is a wonderful , larger sized puppet and not too awfully scary for the little ones especially if they get to touch her before the puppet show! Use this puppet to act out any classic fairytale where a witch is involved! Or make up your own! She could also sing any of your favorite Halloween verses. What a wonderful Halloween treat for the children! Here is an example of a fun Halloween witch verse:

Witches' Brew

Dead leaves, seaweed, rotten eggs, too.
(Children pretend to throw ingredients in cauldron.)
Stir them in my witches' brew.
(Children do stirring motion.)
I got magic, Alakazamakazoo.
(Children pretend to cast spell using hand movements.)

ooo ooo
My witches' brew.

Spider web, moldy bread, mucky mud, too.
(Children pretend to throw ingredients in cauldron.)
Stir them in my witches' brew.
(Children do stirring motion.)
I got magic, Alakazamakazoo.
(Children pretend to cast spell using hand movements.)

ooo ooo
My witches' brew.

Floor wax, thumb tacks, purple paint, too.
(Children pretend to throw ingredients in cauldron.)
Stir them in my witches' brew.
(Children do stirring motion.)
I got magic, Alakazamakazoo.
(Children pretend to cast spell using hand movements.)

ooo ooo
My witches' brew.

Wrinkled prunes, mushrooms, motor oil, too.
(Children pretend to throw ingredients in cauldron.)
Stir them in my witches' brew.
(Children do stirring motion.)
I got magic, Alakazamakazoo.
(Children pretend to cast spell using hand movements.)
I got magic, Alakazamakazoo.
(Children pretend to cast spell using hand movements.)

Midsummer's Eve Book

2009-06-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Flowers' Festival is a perfect midsummer's book! A little girl is lucky enough to spy on the flowers and vegetables getting ready for their midsummer's celebration! Even the house plants join in! It will become a family summer tradition!

May Fairy Flower Garden

2009-05-06T21:28:00.001-07:00

We used fairy garden seeds to plant a beautiful fairy flower garden. We also attracted many lovely butterflies as well. A fun project to share with your children.

Waldorf Alaphabet Cards

2009-04-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

These beautiful Watercolor alphabet cards are a playful entry into the otherwise abstract world of letters. we have included them on our nature table and my son , who is a beginning reader, just loves thinking of Spring words to spell out with them. Some words we have included so far have been, "rabbit", "blooming", flower" and "chickadee". Included in the deck, there are other suggestions for using the cards as games as well. Buying two deck will allow you be less limited in word choices for spelling. For the bunny garden, we added some potting soil to the bottom saucer of a clay pot and planted some cat grass. We Kept it watered and had grass within 5 days! This works nice if you want to display a tabletop Lenten garden, bare before the Holidays, transformed and full of life afterwords.

Tell Me A Story Cards!

2009-03-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

These cards are perfect gifts for girls or boys! A Story Adventure! Shuffle cards and turn over each card , one at a time, to create a different story every time you play! Here is an example of a beginning of a story from the Mystery in the Forest deck.
"Once Upon a time there was a beautiful and peaceful kingdom. But on the night before the fairy princess' Birthday, the people of the kingdom realized that all of her Birthday Presents went missing! Raccoon decided ,since he was a creature of the night, that he should take the key to the kingdom and search high and low for them...."
Each time a new card is turned over you continue to add to the story line! SO MUCH FUN! Children will ask to "do it again" and again! Eventually they will want to try their hand at being the story teller!
Also available in a deck called Fairy Tale Mix Up.

Candlemas: Spring is coming when winter is through

2009-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Candlemas (Feb 2nd) marks the midway point between Winter and Spring. This is a great time to share the book The Story of the Root Children with your young ones. Mother Earth takes a candle in hand as she awakens all the little root children so they can prepare their flower dresses for spring!
Another way to bring this story to life is to craft these root children sack dolls for your nature table.

Advent

2008-11-24T15:11:00.001-08:00

During Advent, we light a candle each evening ( starting Dec. 1st) to mark the path to Christmas day. We use a nightscape playsilk over a small round table and spiral 24 tea light candles towards one golden star candle in the center ( representing Christmas Day) We also decorate the spiral with pine branches and little wooden stars that we have painted golden. Each Sunday during the month of December we add something that represents each of the four kingdoms the to the spiral.
1st Sunday : rocks and minerals
2nd Sunday: plants
3rd Sunday: little wooden animals
4th Sunday: wooden human figures or (wooden nativity set)
We also read from the book Christmas Roses, Legends for advent, which contains some of our family's favorite stories.

Wooden Hand Cranked Spin Art

2008-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

These are not only amazingly fun but are wooden and hand cranked (which means no batteries and no wasted electricity!) An investment worth the money! Great for Birthday Parties and Festivals or any nice day outdoors. Also fun for all ages child through adult! Experiment with different color paints and papers! Available through special order from Germany.

Natural Toys Play Scene

2008-10-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Natural Play Tips:
Use natural materials :
Pine cones can be used as trees
A boat can be made from bark, a stick for a mast and a leaf for a sail (use some modeling beeswax to connect the stick mast to the bark boat bottom)
Rocks and stones can be used as sea treasures or double as food for the animals.
Each half of a cracked walnut shell can be mad into animals. For example: Cut out a turtle shape from stiff paper and glue on walnut shell as the turtle shell. A crab can be made in the same manner. A mouse can be made from drawing a face onto the pointed end of the shell.
Playsilks can be used as water (blue) , grass (green) , sand (yellow), snow (white) sky (night or rainbow).
Create play scenes From familiar stories or create stories together !

Add A Birthday RIng To Your Birthday Celebration

2008-10-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Add a Birthday ring to your child's Birthday celebration! The Birthday ring is wooden circle with 12 holes for candles representing each year your child is celebrating (6years old=6 candles) the remaining holes can be filled with representational birthday ring decorations (possibly representing stories you have read, a trip, something that has meaning to your child and family). Each candle is lit while sharing a few experiences from that year. For example: "And (child's name) turned one ( light candle) and learned to smile and cuddle and to crawl and walk." This continues each year. On the current year something to the effect of: "We are looking forward to what this year will bring" can be said. Our family uses "The Birthday Story" from the book Gateways from Wynstones Press. We also choose to use our Birthday ring on the morning of the Birthday ( before we go out and about or celebrate with others). It brings reverence to the day and is a lovely bonding experience for the family to share!

Use A Cardboard Display Board As A Puppet Stage

2008-08-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

I found a three fold cardboard display board at the office supply store and we have been using it as a puppetry stage. Using a box cutter, I cut an arch at the top of the board for visual interest and trimmed a couple of inches off the bottom to reduce the height. We make many of our characters from wool and use play silks, wooden trees, and wooden animals for the scenery. Beeswax can also be used to make interesting props and characters. Dyed or painted play silks or even painted paper can be secured with play clips as a backdrop! A Great resource for making characters and scenery for puppet shows is the book PUPPET THEATRE by Maija Baric! Happy storytelling!

Make A School Cone For the First Day of School

2008-08-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is our last year of Kindergarten so I wanted to do something special for the first day "back to school". I decided to make a school cone to present at breakfast. Traditionally, school cones are given on the first day of first grade in Germany and are filled with supplies and treats. I decided to adapt this tradition to the First day of our last year of Kindergarten.
Directions:
*Take a square piece of sturdy paper ( I used poster board) and turn paper so you are looking at a diamond shape. The larger the square, the larger the cone.
*Draw an arc across top portion of diamond shape at cut long the arc.
*Roll into cone shape and fasten the end of cone with tape.
*Secure the rest of the cone upwards with tape and or staples.
*Decorate
*Put in play silk or other fabric with four edges coming out of top so that it can be tied with ribbon to hide the contents.
*Fill with age appropriate treats, art supplies, crafts, beads for stringing, even small books.
*Tye up the fabric with a ribbon and present to your child on his/her first day back to school!

Summer Nature Table Sand Castle

2008-06-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

SAND CLAY SAND CASTLE

Today we made a sand castle from sand clay for our Summer nature table. This was so much fun and we decorated it with our sea treasures such as driftwood , shells and beach glass (which the mer-children throw ashore to share with children who walk above). These handmade mermaids would love to reside on a summer seasonal table as well! We will continue to add the natural treasures we find throughout the summer to our nature table.

We used this recipe X 6 and I wish we had even more to play with! :

Sand Clay
Ingredients:
1 cup sand
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup hot water

Mix sand, cornstarch and cream of tartar in an old saucepan. Add hot water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is very thick. This will only take a few minutes. I had to pour off the excess water. When slightly cooled, form clay into castles or structures. press in shells or beach glass. Allow several days to dry.
We may try to make some sea shell animals as well like a crab and a turtle.

Old Mother West Wind And Animal Stories

2008-06-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

BOBBY COON!

Has anyone read Old Mother West Wind? Thornton W. Burgess wrote some of the most charming animal stories out there. It is so much fun to share these stories with Children and then take a nature walk and actually see one of the characters!! And for indoor play and maybe even a little puppet show, Folkmanis finger puppets can be used as the characters from the green forest and the green meadow such as REDDY FOX and JIMMY SKUNK !

Make A Natural Bark Boat

2008-05-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

Summer time is on its way and that usually means more time spent by the water! My son and I made this bark boat with some friends and we set them sail on the river. We used flat bark for the base and a stick for the mast ( secured by some beeswax). To make the leaf sail, we poked the stick in and back out through the leaf. You can also use a, carefully cracked, half of a walnut shell as a base. These types of natural boat are featured in many of the classic children's books such as Woody Hazel and Little Pip and Peter in Blueberry Land.
The children were so happy and proud that their boats were out there sailing on the waters: just in case one of the wee folk might need it!

Fairy Houses EVERYWHERE!

2008-05-07T19:38:00.001-07:00

"Building fairy houses can be addictive for all ages. Symptoms include exploring the outdoors, being creative, sparking the imagination and discovering Nature’s enchantment. You know you’re really hooked when you start building fairy houses ... everywhere!"
For more inspiration be sure to check out the amazing photograph book Fairy Houses Everywhere. And for a lovely picture book for children, the book Fairy houses.

We are hooked and so are most of our friends! This is our indoor fairy house. We were working with a story in which four friends go into the woods and built a house from sticks, mud and moss. So here is our attempt. We used air dry clay, sticks from the yard and moss. We stuck in the flat glass jewel in as decoration before the clay hardened. The Hibiscus flowers on top are also from the yard. This held up very well and will be used again and again for other stories.

An outside fairy house, my son made, for the mayday fairies in our front yard. We left some fairy food out (dried fruit) and the fairies! Last year , for a small May day gathering we made fairy sized donuts. We took oat -o- cereal and painted frosting on and then added some sprinkles and left them for the fairies. They really did look like mini fairy donuts! The children were so excited after having their own snacks to find that the fairies had enjoyed the donuts and left a fine trail of fairy dust (just on that very special day!)

See, Fairy Houses are everywhere! Even the beach! Sea shells, seaweed, beach glass, driftwood, all make fine fairy furnishings!

Don't Forget About The Gnomes!

2008-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Boys (girls too) love to make gnome homes as well! This little wee gnome would surely like to spend some time in this natural outdoor abode. Don't forget to bring along his gnome things as well! But don't forget to pack them up and bring them back inside!

Fairy Terrarium

2008-05-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

This was an enchanting little project. You can use any manner of glass container with lid. We put a layer of pebbles, a layer of activated charcoal ( found in the fish aquarium section) a layer of moss and then some potting soil. Most indoor house hold plants make good plants for closed terrariums. My son added this little elf fairy , we have flower fairies available as well. The frogs came from the fish aquarium section. There are also some stones and branches , collected from our yard and nature walks, in there as well. Add a few drops of water and close. If you see that your terrarium is drying out, you can open it and add a few more drops water, but we have not had too. You will have this little reminder of spring all year long!

MAY DAY

2008-04-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

It is time for Mother Earth to wake up lady spring! Good bye Jack Frost, your services are no longer needed! As lady spring walks over the earth, flowers spring and bloom, trees blossom.
My son and I made puppets for our May Day story time. I needle felted the faces and needle felted some more wool under the clothing (burlap for Mother Earth ans silk for Lady Spring) to use as a handle. We found a branch in our yard and glued pink tissue paper on to make buds. Then we inserted the branch into some beeswax so it could stand on it's own! This is a very simple and fun project for children and the blossom branches can be used for story time as well as a seasonal or nature table.
We will use fresh flowers as story props as well and allow the children to press the flowers from the story in these small flower presses.

Our pressed flowers turned out wonderful! Those little flower presses worked great! We already have a second round pressing now. We will save them for a special project in the future. Possibly to decorate some handmade paper.

Natural Easter Egg Hunt

2008-04-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Our Waldorf home schooling group decided to have an Easter egg hunt for the children.
Of course, we wanted to keep it as natural as possible so we all made eggs, some out of wool and some out of papier mache. We chose to wet felted ours. We found wooden egg forms (from the craft store) , layered on the wool ( thin strips in a criss cross pattern works best) and used nice warm soapy water to press and squeeze and form the eggs. Then we put them into a cut up nylons tied at each end and tossed them into the washer and dryer. When they were finished I cut a slit along the side and removed the form, filled them with treasures and sewed it back up with embroidery thread. We filled ours with a few of these little stones ( gnome's treasures) and fairy garden seeds.

St. Patrick's Day

2008-04-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we used the Story A Pot of Gold from the book Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures and searched for Tippery Tim the leprechaun. We searched the back yard up and down and all around our wooden swing set until at last we found Tippery Tim's camp in our very own garden! He must have scurried away in a hurry because he spilled some of his gold coins! I used 100% wool felt for the camp. This concept would work for searching for garden or flower fairies at a spring party as well!