Craft Workshop October 2013

 

                Some of the creative work carried out at the crayon and watercolour workshop.

Spring Festival 2012

Our Spring festival this year was held at Nature's Nest Community Childcare Centre. We started with some lively spring songs and a game of "Lady Spring", then we all sat down to make some flower garlands.

 

 

Our Seasonal festivals are enjoyed by all ages.  Steiner playgroupers past and present along with those who come to the Nest.
 



 

The story told of a boy who was lead by two sun fairies to lady spring where upon he was given a gift

….it was more than one it was more than two and when he saw what was in his hand he knew

what to do…….

 

 

And afterwards……..We were lucky enough to share in a beautiful birthday celebration



Winter Lantern Festival 2012

Each year we hold a lantern festival at a local camp ground in Moruya Heads.  We gather in the afternoon by a roaring campfire.  Everyone brings something to go into the big soup pot and while we are playing the soup boils away on the fire.  We sup on our shared soup and whatever other treats that may be available.  At dusk we all join together to sing songs and then as darkness falls we are treated to a magical story told by candle light.  We walk a spiral and have our  lanterns lit, then they become our guiding light as we journey on our lantern walk.  

 

 

This year the children made lanterns from recycled jars.  First clean the jars and take off any old labels.  Decorate with tissue paper using simple paper glue.  We also used paper cut outs, done with a craft punch.  Fix some wire on for a handle and use a tealight candle

 

 

Mother Earth appeared in this years story knitting away in her Earthly home 



 

 

 

Here are some pictures of some of the little lovelies with their lanterns..

 



 

 



Play

Free Play

Play is the serious work of the child

"Creative Play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child."

It is refreshing and enlivening

The importance of play

Child doesn't have the goals of the adult.  Play is a time when there are no goals beyond the activity itself.

Play helps children weave together all the elements of life as they experience it. It is an outlet for the fullness of their creativity, it is an absolutely critical part of their childhood.

A child playing is:

• Perceiving and exploring situations

• Learning about self and world

• Initiating and exacting possibilities

Play is an experiment into the nature of reality. Play is like a brave adventure into the possibilities and limitations of things. It is the true basis of problem solving.

Adults who are convinced to "teach" children, instead need to set an example in all kinds of activities. They should create appropriate spaces to play and learn and honour the innate capacity for learning that fills the souls of every healthy young child. Young children are born with a wonderful urge to grow and learn. If allowed to set pace, they will work in a tireless and playful way.

Look at toys as "tools" of play - 90% chid, 10% toy. A toy can have an infinite range of uses rather than one purpose.

In children under 3, the play is realistic - they imitate the world around them. They need the involvement of adults to imitate or to play with and are involved with the activities of adults around them. They play repetitively - with joy, each time before emoting onto the next thing and interact enthusiastically with their surroundings, finding each experience fresh and exciting.

In ages 3 to 5 play is stimulated by the toy or object.  Play is stimulated by external events. That is why it is so important that there are toys or objects available to the children that can be transformed by them into anything they wish it to be - multiple uses.  Play is more social - stimulated by each other's ideas and experiences. They begin to negotiate, learn boundaries and limitations, investigate possibilities, build their language and communication skills and hopefully learn to empathise and care for each other. Being involved with domestic activities also stimulates play at this age.

Around or after age 5 - play begins to change - "boredom" - don't know what to do - as if no ideas left. This is when they can be stimulated directly by the adult work. They can be encouraged to join in with the work in the room - cutting up veggies for fruit, tasks such as sewing, weaving or woodwork - always tasks which need to be completed.  It doesn't take long for this phase to pass - hours or days and the transformation from one type of play to another takes place. Now the initial idea comes first, followed by the attempt to find the right materials. They have a mental image of what they want to do or be. Imagination is ready to work again. For children who are getting ready for school it is important that they begin to take responsibility for themselves, their actions and for others. Children have tasks which contribute to the well-being of themselves and of others and of the works around them. They tidy, clean, cook, sweep, decorate, take care of plants and animals, run messages, help the "little ones" and develop skills and co-ordination.

Play is most beneficial for child if it is initiated and directed by the child and accompanied by a play facilitator who is on a path of self-development.

The ability to facilitate this kind of play is not a natural gift, but to be learned. The involvement of the teacher alongside the playing child is to facilitate play through structure of appropriate space and time and with specific materials and toys in which this play can unfold in an undisturbed manner. Play needs facilitation or "guidance".   Guidance does not mean adult initiated or

adult-directed play activity.

To help facilitate / guide children's play, the educator’s role is to:

⁃ set up a well-structured play area

⁃ work with a focus and presence of mind

⁃ observe and listen to children and make an effort to understand children's play

⁃ reduce intervention

⁃ Have trust and empathise with the children

"There are precious places where children can freely develop their own culture and where the creative spirit of childhood can perform its magical transformation… A Steiner kindergarten tries to be such a place, a place where the echoing voices of children at play can still be heard" - Sally Jenkinson

Article by Vanessa Cole

Our Autumn Harvest Festival

On Sunday we celebrated our annual harvest festival.   We hold our festival at our local community garden, where as a group we manage a plot.  It is a beautiful space, and an amazing project that is an education and demonstration site for sustainable agricultural and horticultural practices. 

Read more at http://sageproject.org.au/

HARVEST

It was golden, golden, golden, as the harvest table was laid

We started with some songs and the story of the Giant Turnip

An egg hunt yielded some welcome surprises

Then we all sat down to find some fairy silk amongst the corn

we even found some star shapes!

 Impromptu corn dollies were born while we waited for our cobs to cook

Garlic Bulb planting

And to finish off, an egg and spoon race (with boiled eggs!)

And Time just seemed to stand still…….

Pasta Making at the Southeast Harvest Festival

Last weekend we attended the Southeast Harvest Festival in our home town of Moruya.  It was a muddy start to the day, but a few tarps down and a roll of carpet and we had made our little home for the day. 

Rolling, rolling roll the dough..

We set up our children’s pasta making table and away we went.   Children flocked to the table and enjoyed rolling out the pasta dough while they waited for their turn on the machine.  It was as much a pleasure to watch as each ball of dough was turned through the machine with the rhythmic whirling of the handle, a joy that could be experienced from the smallest of hands.  A few rolls through and…. voila! Fresh pasta ready to be cooked on the spot.

A bowl of pasta ready to be cooked

One minute in the boiling pot and the pasta was ready to be topped with fresh home grown herb and garlic butter, South Coast Cheese and fresh cherry tomatoes picked from my home garden.

We rolled and rolled all day long until the last of the dough was gone.

Many of the parents were surprised about how easy it was to make pasta with children.  I thought that I would include the pasta recipe’s we used on the day so that you can try it at home:

Pasta Dough number 1:

Kylies Duck Egg pasta:

Ingredients:

Duck eggs

Organic Durham wheat flour ( you can use normal wheat flour, but Durham wheat is much nicer and easier to manipulate)

Method: Put required amount of flour into a mixing bowl.  Add enough eggs to make smooth dough.  The general rule is one egg to 100gms of flour, but you may need to add flour if it is too wet or a dash of water if it is too dry.  Knead the dough until smooth.

The duck eggs made beautiful rich pasta with a tasty flavour that was easy to manipulate.

Pasta dough number 2:

Melschooks Pasta

Ingredients:

Fresh chook eggs

Organic Durham wheat flour

Method: As above only using chook eggs instead of duck eggs.

Pasta dough number 3:

Jayla’s Gluten free pasta

There's Jayla making the gluten free dough while I worked the "Melschooks" dough

Ingredients:

Eggs

Gluten free flour mix

Method: As above.  When rolling the gluten free pasta, we found that rolling it just a little thicker than the wheat dough worked best.

We used a hand operated machine that can be purchased easily from a kitchen ware store.  We took pieces of dough about the size of a ping pong ball- not too big or it is too hard for the children to manage the dough.  Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, adding sprinkles of flour if it is too sticky.  Put the machine on the widest setting and roll through, sprinkle flour on both sides and fold in half.  Repeat this at least five times.  Then you are ready to make the dough thinner, set the dial a little thinner each time you roll the dough through the machine, adding flour as you go.  You don’t want the dough to be too sticky or it will be hard to cut into strips.   Too dry and it will break apart.  If you roll it too thin for gluten free it will break apart.  When you have made the dough thin enough to your satisfaction you can put it through the cutting part in your machine; we used the fettuccini setting mostly, as it is the easiest to make and cook.

Put the fresh pasta straight into a boiling pot for 1 minute or 2- not too long or it will melt away into sludge. 

You will be surprised how lovely fresh pasta is on its own or with a simple accompaniment of fresh tomatoes and cheese or just a dash of olive oil and crushed garlic.   It is also a nutritious meal for children providing a great amount of protein and nutrients from the eggs and the complex carbohydrates of whole Durham wheat.  Besides the fact that they love the taste!

We would like to thank the Southeast Harvest Festival for having Nature’s Nest, and Harris Scarfe Moruya for the donation of the pasta machine, it will certainly become a well- loved activity at Nature’s Nest for years to come I am sure!

By Mel Turner

A Great New Parenting Website

www.mamatierra.com.au is a new website, just launched to support parents in raising holistically healthy children from birth and beyond. Mama Tierra has hand-selected hundreds of eco-friendly products including cloth nappies, organic skincare, BPA-free baby bottles, organic and bamboo clothing, toys and bedding, books on conscious parenting and more. On the Mama Tierra site, there is also a natural parenting forum, a growing directory of child specialists and health practitioners and blogs on topics relating to children's holistic health and wellbeing. It’s definitely worth checking out! A hardcopy catalogue will be available at Nature’s Nest for you to view.