the story tree at honeybee...

How to make Palm Sunday branches

2012-03-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Palm Sunday, and in our family we have always prepared for Easter by making Palm Sunday branches or an Easter tree.....now my children are getting older (teens) we will plan to bake bread, but we will always have wonderful memories of making our branches and then hanging our handpainted eggs from them.

First find a suitable pot and two sticks, then bind the sticks together with wool to form a cross, and place in pot with soil and rocks to create a stable support.

Using florists wire, bind greenery around the cross to symbolise the life and resurrection.

Place an orange on the cross to symbolise the sun and the life forces. And a dough rooster on top. The rooster of course relates to the cock crowing three times when Peter denied Christ, and the rooster who calls in the dawn of the first Easter Sunday. You can then hang painted eggs from the branches. We have also used streamers in red, orange and gold, and cotton threaded with dried fruits, as decorations.

Our dough roosters, all ready for the oven.

Out of the oven, all nice, fat and golden.

Full instructions for Palm Sunday branches can be found in Festivals with Children.

May you enjoy the richness of Holy Week and Easter with your families.

Welcome Winter...

2011-06-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

It was 2 degrees at our place overnight and on this the first day of winter our pipes decided that we could do without hot water!!! The things we take for granted!!!

Still, what a lovely first winter morning it was, soft fog with the pale sun breaking through...Jack Frost was definitely nipping at our toes...I still remember as a child I would walk up the hill to school and on frosty mornings the crunch of the frost beneath my feet would amaze me...and Jack Frost, well he seemed as real and magical as Santa Claus and I loved it when he covered the world in glistening white!

Little Jack Frost went up the hill
Watching the stars and the moon so still,
Watching the stars and the moon so bright,
And laughing aloud with all his might.
Little Jack Frost ran down the hill,
Late in the night when the winds were still,
Late in the fall when the leaves fell down,
Red and yellow and faded brown.
Little Jack Frost walked through the trees,
“Ah”, sighed the flowers, “we freeze, we freeze”
“Ah”, sighed the grasses, “we die, we die”
Said little Jack Frost, “Good bye, Good bye.”
Little Jack Frost tripped round and round,
Spreading white snow on the frozen ground,
Nipping the breezes, icing the streams,
Chilling the warmth of the sun’s bright beams.

Turning Tears into Laughter - Tip 1

2011-04-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for your great parenting tips (here and on Facebook) - I've had so much fun reading them. As parents we have an incredible amount of tried and tested wisdom between us, don't you think? The lucky winner of Lou's book Turning Tears into Laughter will be announced soon. In the meantime, here is the first of Lou's tips. Hope you enjoy this new series, I will be posting a new tip from Lou each fortnight.

Include your child in all your home tasks each day, to a child work is play and keeps the young child happily playing and connected to you. A little broom or dustpan and brush next to your big broom in the kitchen, a small washing basket to carry their own socks and pants to a little washing line next to the big one! A mail bag or trolley is special to a young child to collect the mail - like a post person - each day from the letter box. A little shopping bag to look for one or two items in the supermarket, whilst shopping, or pay for a piece of fruit. A step to help to chop (soft foods with a butter knife at first) and stir in the kitchen is an essential home item with young children, and to help to wash up with bubbles.

by Lou Harvey-Zahra Skip to my Lou Parenting.

Turning Tears into Laughter - Giveaway!!

2011-04-04T04:31:00.000-07:00

Now here's a book that's very close to my heart. Not just because the title is a phrase that every parent yearns after, but because the author is an inspiring teacher who I have had the privilege to watch and journey through the last seven years of life with.

Lou Harvey-Zahra is a gifted teacher who has also trained in special needs education and Steiner teacher training. I first came to know Lou personally as one of the founding members of the Steiner stream at Briar Hill Primary School, where my daughter's began their primary school adventure. I had the pleasure of watching Lou's absoloute passion for all children as she helped birth a school and went on to run a Steiner playgroup for many years. Lou now teaches in a variety of schools as well as running a series of parenting courses.

I've listened to Lou at story-telling time, I've attended her incredibly imaginative children's parties, I've witnessed her incredible warmth and love for all children, I've been inspired by her patience and imagination in her mothering role, and I've shared in her labour of love - this wonderful, practical book Turning Tears into Laughter: Creative Disciple for the Toddler and Preschool years.

Lou's book if jammed packed full of useful and practical advice for parents with young children, this is not your usual parenting book, but a clear and thoughtful look at how to understand your child better and turn what seems like a negative situation into a positive and creative one! In Lou's own words:

"When toddlers display inappropriate behaviour, rather than pointing a finger, perhaps we should ask the question ‘Why?’ Behaviour is a means of communicating. Is my child tired or hungry? Does she need to slow down and have some special time with me? Too much excitement can lead to undesirable behaviour. Are children in fact being creative and inquisitive, and their loudness or messiness is not purposely disruptive? Asking ‘Why?’ allows you insight and understanding into your child’s life. It stops the parent from reacting harshly, giving time to respond in a compassionate way."

Lou will be joining the Honeybee Toys blog every fortnight with tips on Creative Discipline and Conscious Parenting. To celebrate we are giving away a copy of Turning Tears into Laughter to one lucky reader. To be in the running simply share with us your own piece of parenting wisdom...

The Twelve Blessings (and One in Disguise) of Childhood

2011-04-04T03:42:00.000-07:00

The Fourth Blessing: Riches
By Amber Greene, Mama Moontime

Here is part 4 of a 13 part series, where we will delve into the delightful kingdom of childhood. Each month, we will receive a gift from the Wise Women who so blessed the young girl Briar Rose. Some of you may be more familiar with her common name, Sleeping Beauty. Enjoy!

The veins of gold run deep in a young child. Snaking their way throughout the heart and soul of a child, each boy and girl must learn to balance caring for their precious resource and knowing when to shout ‘Eureka’!

Their riches are not vain piles of inanimate resources such as cash or silver coins, a dowry box of linen or a milking cow. Their riches cannot be measured in pounds or kilograms, by their shiny glean or date stamp, or by the colour of their robes. Their riches are veiled, hidden behind youthful eyes, deep in the bowels of the spirit.

Youthful exuberance is one such richness and glory, a commodity that many an aging grandparent would trade the world for. A young child relishes the ability to speak their own truth, to embrace growth and change, and to be immersed in a world of total choice. It is a gift that can never be regained. Their wealth also lies in having a clean slate, where each choice leads them on a new adventure and toward a new direction, with limited or no baggage at all. Oh, for the freedom of light “life-travel”!

A young child glows gold with their wonder at the world they will one day inherit. They see no limit to their potential, and seek to become everything. One day a ballerina, the next a truck driver, or teacher, artist or singer, zoo-keeper or sailor. They seek the pearl inside the oyster, trusting there will be a pearl inside every shell. Yet should that belief be quashed, they quickly shed disappointment because they also find beauty in a grain of sand. Their most valuable wealth though, resides behind the eyes, veiled and cloaked in the finest of silk. This richness is individual, quirky and unmeasurable. It is the soul of the child, the rare gifts that converge in this unusual matrix to create a one-of-a-kind being, NEVER seen before or to be repeated again.

There is a pot of gold that sits at the bottom of the child’s own rainbow. No matter how hard we try to secure the rights to that chest, their pot remains slightly out of reach for every other person in the world. We can come close, we might even catch glimpses, but the breadth and depth of the trove can’t ever be fully grasped. (Nor, by rights, can anyone steal or squander ours!) Only the child may sit and count coins, share the gold among family and friends, or bury it deep behind a tree. Their soul’s deepest riches are a treasure that no one else can keep but may only borrow if offered.

Why we love Fairytales...

2011-03-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein observed, "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be geniuses, read them more fairy tales. When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking."

Some parents worry that fairytales will scare their children, or even provide "sexist" role models. However, I have found (using traditional not Disney-fied versions) that they provide rich food for the mind and allow discussions about feelings to be expressed. Fariy tales speak to a place deep within us, or from the "subconscious" as Jung would say. Unlike movies or television they allow the imagination to do it's own work, teaching us about ourselves and the world we create around us.

In is book The Power of Stories Horst Kornberger, a writer, artist and Steiner-Waldorf teacher explores the power of particular stories such as Odysseus, Parsifal, Oedipus, Bible stories and fairy tales, and explains how to apply that power to help a child develop, or to heal and transform a child with difficulties. He also includes ideas on how to create new stories to help children with particular needs, and shows storytelling to be a universal gift that we can use to benefit those around us. This is a thoughful and inspiring book for teachers and parents wishing to take a deeper look at the purpose of the fairytale.

We are always adding more fairytales to our collection...

What was your favourite fairytale as a child? Mine was Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

I am reliving my childhood at the moment after discovering the most beautiful version of this treasured book by Gerard Muller, which is so much like the one I had as a child - it's just delightful! The old worldly illustrations include lots of wonderful extra detail for children to discover in the theme of big, medium and little: big, medium, and little versions of birds, squirrels, mice, plates, umbrellas, slippers. You discover something new each time you open the pages....just beautiful.

ART - WALDORF - NEW VERSION!

2011-03-26T01:38:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Steiner teachers!!!

The Twelve Blessings (and One in Disguise) of Childhood

2011-03-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

The Third Blessing: Generosity

By Amber Greene, Mama Moontime

Here is part 3 of a 13 part series, where we will delve into the delightful kingdom of childhood. Each month, we will receive a gift from the Wise Women who so blessed the young girl Briar Rose. Some of you may be more familiar with her common name, Sleeping Beauty. Enjoy!

A child is full of a generous heart. They long to share, and do share freely, no matter if you are their parent, friend or a stranger at the bus stop. Children are “noble-minded” and abundant, their love and friendship knows no boundaries.

The adult world of hurts and anger and dislike and fear and loathing, have yet to break the spirit of the child. The child can mend broken hearts and bruised egos just by being open and non-judgemental. They live to love, to cuddle, and spend time by your side. A child’s desire to laugh and play and run and swoop and swing and dodge and eat and cook and dance is matched only by their need and want for you to join them in the fun! They cannot understand our need to work, or clean or make phone calls. They know life is more than that, and desire to share this wondrous life of exploration and adventure with those who have seemingly lost their way. Most of us could pay more attention to their generous nature and heed their gifts!

Not only are children generous of their time and spirit, they too are generous with their curiosity. Never again do we see a fountain of desire sprout so highly in wanting to know every single little thing about the world. They want to know why the sky is blue, why the man over there has only one leg, why caterpillars and worms undulate like waves and the name of every single kind of truck. My son knows no bounds when it comes to sharing picture books or hearing me sing him songs. A child’s energy and will for living a ‘big life’ is unstoppable.

And if we are too busy and cannot answer them, or, purposefully leave a whisper of a breath before answering, their generous nature serves them once again. They make up their own answers! Little ones, so close to the angelic realm from whence they came, hold tight to the golden cable of imagination and creativity and Do Not Let Go. They swing from the cables, and delight in any and every possibility of thought and art. And it is here, in this moment, if we take time to heed their words, that we may be generously gifted with a golden drop of “truth”. Truth is a rare, yet wonderful, gift to treasure for life and children generously share.

So our goal as parents could be to preserve this generous heart. We can heed their natural gifts of childhood by striving to be more like them in nature. When we live by their rule of generosity, we become role models worthy of their imitation, and thus, living a generous life remains natural and normal. (What a wonderful paradox! This idea that by trying to be more like them, we actually help them to be the best they can be, full of beauty and goodness and generosity towards others. ) Our personal quest calls us to leave our preconceived ideas and hurts and endeavour to regain trust in the goodness of people, to know that things will work out for the best, to believe in our own abilities, to see the world of possibility and to recognise the abundant gifts in nature. If we were somehow able to reclaim our childhood generosity and bring it back as adults, just imagine the world we would be creating.

Old Freedom Train Alphabet Frieze

2011-03-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

Old Freedom Train began when Shayne Jackman went searching for a Steiner / Waldorf alphabet frieze for her children's playroom, and couldn't find one…so she decided to make one herself. Using colourful pencils in soft shades, to draw sweet images, was so soothing to the soul, energising and satisfying, that she decided to also make a book. Adding special words from her experience as a mother of children in a Steiner playgroup and pre-school seemed the perfect fit.

Steiner education introduces letters as “characters” that bridge from the picture consciousness of childhood to the abstract letters we know that symbolise various sounds. This philosophy of reading has its roots in the way human beings developed a pictorial alphabet beginning with hieroglyphs and other symbolic pictures. Children find it very easy to learn the alphabet in this way. Watching my own children learn in this way has been richly rewarding.

Thank you Shayne, for creating such nourishing and alive images of the basics of language!

If you would like to purchase a copy you can find it in our website here and in store.

Anticipating Easter....our new window

2011-03-10T03:20:00.000-08:00

The time leading up to Easter is one of my favourites of the whole year - the mornings are more often than not crisp and bright, the afternoon shadows are long and peaceful. It's a beautiful time of the year to be outside with the family walking or bike riding - enjoying watching the trees slowly start to turn colour. While in the Northern Hemisphere they see in Easter with traditional images of budding flowers, spring lambs and blossoms; in the Southern Hemisphere our images are of Autumnal tones: oranges, yellows and reds mixed with the renewed sense of green after the long summer.

Last week while walking through Westerfolds Park we saw several bunnies, white-tailing their way through the bush...perhaps that's not the best sight to see in the Australian bush, but still for me they always manage to conjure up the childhood magic of the Easter Bunny! I spent the first 10 years of childhood in Venus Bay every Easter, and bunnies running through the seaside bracken were a regular and delightful sight!

Autumn tones and bunnies are therefore the inspiration this year for our Easter window. The beautiful bunnies, hare and mother hen and her chicks, are all part of the lovely Folkmanis range of puppets. I do love puppets for their ability to allow children to create a world and character out of themselves - every puppet always takes on a life of it's own. Remember the beautiful story of the Velveteen Rabbit that came alive through the imagination and love of the child?

Pancake Day!!!

2011-03-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

Pancake Day always brings great excitement at our house and big decisions: should we have pancakes for breakfast, afternoon tea or supper??? And shall we have lemon and sugar, fresh berries or real maple syrup??? We enjoy celebrating simple traditions like this in our home for the sense of rhythm they bring to our year. Personally for me it calls in my favourite time of year: Autumn, the lengthening of the afternoon light and the hush of the time before Easter.

Years ago when many people fasted for the forty days of Lent they would use up their eggs and milk the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent began. In England this led to a Lenten-festival including pancake tossing races! All Year Round - a calendar of celebrations is a wonderful treasure trove of ideas for bringing meaningful traditions into your family life, and has a great pancake recipe as well!!!

“The Twelve Blessings (and One in Disguise) of Childhood

2010-12-05T03:08:00.000-08:00

The Second Blessing: Virtue

by guest writer: Amber Greene, Mama Moontime

As a child grows up, they are enmeshed in a social fabric that weaves around them. Parents play the part of the Unit Commander, holding taut the foundation threads that stand like guards around a fort. The horizontal threads are woven by culture, social norms, friendship groups and questionable judgements in a wave like manner, travelling forwards and backwards as though the mind is not quite made up.

Virtue is the role of moral goodness, concerned with the child’s developing character. Their ability to tell right from wrong, to sometimes make the harder choice or take the high road, and their strength to act upon their chosen path with conviction, regardless of peer pressure or the need to be liked.

Virtuous habits are learned through the lessons of life. Just as it takes a solid month to take possession of a new healthy habit such as exercising or eating salad for dinner or restricting chocolate to weekends only, so too it takes continuous repetition or exposure to good quality influence for the new thoughts and actions to take effect. As parents, it is our job to grab hold of role models of excellence and to share stories of boldness and greatness. Children need to believe that the path to victory is open to them too, never more so than when they are enticed with a poisonous apple. A virtuous character shines an inner light which illuminates the way forward and also exposes the shady characters that lurk behind dark walls.

Sharing stories or incidents is one way to till virtuous soil so it becomes moist and rich and teeming with life. A story can free the heart of tangled emotion. Unlike an instruction or a dry statement of intent, stories, over time, help to place choice back into the palms of the child. Feeling heard and free, there is no need for them to react against a heavy load. Instead they feel entitled to be a part of the decision making and character construction in their life, usually with positive results. Some Grimm’s and Aesop’s stories are useful, easy to understand tales of virtuous choice and consequence. This can be an easy place to start, however stories of your own making, including stories from those near and dear to you, play just as an important role. The layers of story and incident act as a rich and varied selection of thread colours from which the child makes their own character designs.

St Martin's Day

2010-11-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

Ostheimer St Martin and the Beggar

November 11 is St Martin's Day, a day I also just happen to celebrate as my birthday! It's no wonder therefore that St Martin holds a special place in my heart. In Steiner schools across the Northern Hemisphere they will be celebrating the turning inwards of the season with lantern walks, which in Australia we celebrate at mid-Winter.

So what does this ancient Saint mean for us in our world today, and what can he teach us? And how can we celebrate this with our children? And is it meaningful to children in Australia?

St Martin was a fourth-century Roman soldier in southern France, who made a spontaneous charitable gesture when he shared his cloak with a beggar outside the city of Tours. His subsequent dream in which the beggar appeared to him as Christ on high was the decisive event in his life. Afterwards Martin tried to make peace instead of war and was granted a discharge from the army. After a period of solitary contemplation Martin founded a monastery in France – one of the first Christian monasteries – which included a library of the very best of Greek and Roman philosophical texts. At his death, his popularity was so large that as his coffin was carried by the river for the funeral, people flocked to the banks carrying lanterns (which is guess is how the association with the lantern walk came about).

Martinmas comes just over 40 days before Christmas. In religious customs the number 40 has always been associated with a time of preparation. There are 40 days of Lent leading to Easter. It is the perfect time therefore to begin discussion and sharing as a family in preparation for Advent and Christmas. The story of St Martin can teach children the value of giving and caring for others, and for creating peace in our world.

I have been reflecting this evening that this year as my two girls are growing older they are very much ready to step into the "giving" aspect of Christmas. The young child is full of the "magic" of Christmas, the anticipation, the excitement of receiving the gifts from Santa Claus, which is part of the joy and wonder of childhood today. But perhaps for the older child it can be a time of greater maturity (as well as enjoying some magic still!) and of thinking what can be "given", not just in material things, but from our hearts and souls.

...for us I think St Martin's day will become the "turning towards Christmas", the time we will begin to think of what we can make for those we love, what we can clear out and giveaway in terms of those possessions we no longer need or use.

I would love to hear how your family celebrates your special festivals and days, so please feel free to share...

These lovely books have been an inspiration to me over the years...

Festivals with Children
Festivals Together

“The Twelve Blessings (and One in Disguise) of Childhood”

2010-10-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

I feel very privileged to have the lovely Amber from Mama Moontime writing as a special guest on our Blog over the upcoming months starting today!. Amber is writing a 12-part series on the Qualities of Childhood called “The Twelve Blessings of Childhood”; one blessing will feature each month. Amber is a Steiner Kindergarten teacher, loving mum, and very creative soul. She reminds us of the special gifts that each child brings the world, and the innate qualities within each of them. You will find her reflections both insightful and heart-warming read.

Here begins a 13 part series, where we will delve into the delightful kingdom of childhood. Each month, we will receive a gift from the Wise Women who so blessed the young girl Briar Rose. Some of you may be more familiar with her common name, Sleeping Beauty. Enjoy!

November: Goodness

The world of the child is good. Providing there are the rightly qualities of shelter, food, warmth and love, a child is like a seed planted in the warm brown earth. With a little sun, a little rain and a drop of nourishment, the child begins to develop a kind heart, wishes to cares for the creatures of the earth and deeply loves family and friends.

The child imitates the qualities in the world surrounding him or her. If their world is reliable, safe and considerate, so they too carry these traits. If their world is filled with exuberance, artistry, creative imagination and good story, they too embrace these simple joys.

Life is an undulating traverse over mountains and valleys, yet a solid foundation of goodness helps the child to see the mountains as healthy challenges and the valleys as places of wisdom and growth. Rarely do we find a plateau, a place to sit and rejoice and contemplate our next move, yet how delightful this plateau is when we rest in a field of goodness.

We can foster goodness in our homes through story, song, puppetry, drama and the stage. The artistic pursuits remind us of our need for goodness. We can reach down deep into the archives of libraries and bookshelves to find poets and authors and songwriters who have captured on paper the essence of goodness. Rumi, Keats, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Kahlil Gibran and Henry Miller are just a few names worth mentioning in our quest for words of goodness. In more recent times, the words of Maya Angelou, songwriter Jewel and Sarah Ban Breathnach enliven the essence of what it means to be good. Be inspired by their poetic delivery and pull down your own stars.

Take children outside for a moment or two each and every day. Feel the breeze stroke your hair, the sun kiss your cheek, the birdsong and chatter. Goodness lives among us in every form. We just need to remember to see it.

Be gentle with their world. Make efforts to exclude drama, violence, undesirable talkback radio and questionable lyrics, at least for a moment or two each day. Embrace local content, community gardens, kind playgroup or kindergarten friends and good food. Make good your world through the actions of your hands. Dig, paint, hug, welcome and craft goodness with every ounce of your being. Create ‘good’ with every stitch and snip. Determine your barometer of goodness and accept nothing less.

How Cute!!!

2010-10-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Little Lochie's mum just sent this gorgeous photo to us, she says: "
I would lay Lochie down like this on his tummny for his naps as he seemed to sleep really really well this way. His older brother, Mitchell, who was 2 1/2 at this time, would come and quietly surround him with his favourite toys. Anamalz remain a favourite with both of them." I like the little zebra in the background too, and the stripy pants - what a sweet photo.

At last a natural pacifer for baby...

2010-10-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce the new arrival of the Havea Pacifiers into store today. Finally a pacifier that is made from pure latex which means you are not exposing your newborn to nasty BPA, PVC or phthalates.

Natural rubber is also biodegradable so Hevea are good for the environment too. What's more Hevea use soy ink on their packaging which is a renewable resource, using less energy to produce than other inks, & its post-production waste is not hazardous. Hevea use recycled paper in their packaging too!

The Hevea pacifier is made ethically of 100% pure natural rubber from the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, hence the name Hevea.

So, Hevea wins on all three counts for us: kind to your baby, kind to the environment and kind to the people that make them too!

Welcome Spring - we love you!!!

2010-09-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Isn't it a wonderful relief when the Spring sunshine starts poking it's head out? I am feeling so grateful today for: Spring rain, Spring sunshine, morning light, the snowdrops and crab apple outside my kitchen window.

These charming little Ostheimer flower children would look lovely on a Spring Table.

Sarah and I enjoyed the creativity the first day of Spring sent us with our new Spring "Alice in Spring Wonderland" window. We love these beautifully dollies from Kathe Kruse. The Mini it's Me Princess is made in the Waldorf/Steiner tradition using all natural materials and she can be dressed and undressed making her perfect for an older child. Lolle is a very special soft-bodied doll, filled with natural wool and she comes with her own gum boots for splashing in the Spring rain!!!

I hope you enjoy the blessings of a new Spring!

Your Stories - The Princess and the Pea

2010-08-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

I'm often asked by parents how they can encourage their children to play more "imaginatively". I have always found that providing children with simple open ended toys (such as coloured scarves, blocks and simple dolls) will allow them plenty of scope to create imaginary lands, if you have time to get down on the floor with them now and again and interact - even better!! Extending a book you are reading, or an outdoor activity (such as a trip to the zoo) is another way to assist them children to "relive" the experience or story through play and allow it to work more deeply into their imagination.

Karen over at Earthly Joy Ride has kindly shared with us the wonderful and creative time her daughter Annalise had with her wooden bed and Evi doll princess from Honeybee. I just love Karen's creativity, her blog is dedicated to children's reading and creative play!!!

Here is Karen's and Annalise's story:

Last year for Christmas, I gave my three-year-old daughter Annalise three different versions of the story, "The Princess and the Pea". I bought her a small princess and wooden bed, and sewed ten mini quilts, and of course, made a tiny green felt pea.

Rachel Isadora's "The Princess and the Pea" is the standard version and has beautiful illustrations of African princesses with African greetings.

“The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas” by Tony Wilson is about a prince called Henrik who wants to find a princess to marry. Prince Henrik’s test involves not a canopy bed with 20 mattresses and one pea, but a thin camping mattress, an old sleeping bag and a whole packet of frozen peas!

“The Princess and the Pea” by Lauren Child is an amazing piece of artwork. Lauren painted cornflake packets for the paneled rooms and set up the paper-dressed characters inside with tweezers, before Polly Borland, the photographer, took the photos. The language used is just as wonderful –

You see,” said the king, “a real princess is not only mesmerisingly beautiful and fascinatingly interesting but, most important of all –"

“She has manners,” said the queen.

“No one should ever travel without them,” said the king.

“No, never, never go anywhere without your manners,” agreed the queen, taking her elbows off the table.

Playing with the princess and her bed has really added another dimension for Annalise when reading these stories

Winter Winners!!

2010-07-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, oh dear, where did Midwinter go? Our family has been having such a lovely time - starting with two school midwinter festivals and a midwinter play. Then there's been the school holidays: we've washed the dog, cleaned out the chook pen, read curled up together on the couch, redesigned the back garden, started a mosaic, baked cakes and learnt new recipes, revamped the dollhouses, sewed dolls clothes, and mostly just spent lots of lots of lovely time just being together. A big thanks to Emily who has taken care of the shop for us!

In the meantime I have so enjoyed reading your comments about your favourite schoolyard games. Thank you so much to everyone who contibuted here and on Facebook. Like a couple of you I too played Jacks. My Dad would save the knuckle bones from the lamb roast and then dye them with food colouring! And, I have to admit to playing kiss chasy too, although no kissing did ever occur at our school either :-).

These lucky three were drawn out of the hat, I know your little ones will all have alot of fun with your Kinderkram skipping ropes. Please email me your address details so we can pop them in the mail to you.

Carolyn from over at Seed

Jem from Mummy Jembelina

And the very creative Messy Fish

Winter Special Offer

2010-06-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Winter is the month to...learn how to skip!

As I know so many of you will bemoan, increasingly our children are becoming more and more passive in their daily activities with lots of time spent in the car driving to and from school, not to mention sitting in front of the TV, computer or Playstation. I am often asked how can I get my children/grandchildren off the computer (not just teenagers either, children as young as kinder age.)

Cast yourself back to your childhood days? What was your favourite outdoor game? Marbles? Hopscotch? Skipping? If we introduce our children to these games they will love them just as we did, childhood is timeless in that sense, it is just a matter of providing the right ingredients.

There is so much more to simple childhood games than meet the eye. Learning how to skip for instance is not only a great way to warm up on a cold winter’s morning, it is also great for fitness, learning how to count, and assists children to develop balance, spatial awareness and co-ordination. In Steiner schools the children skip as part of their morning routine – learning rhymes, maths and rhythm in the process.

Remember the old skipping rhymes? Here are a couple I hear around our house at the moment:

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump the fence, fence fence
They jumped so high, high, high
They touched the sky, sky, sky
And didn't come back, back, back
Till the fourth of July, July, July

I'm a little Dutch girl, Dressed in blue.
Here are the things I like to do
Salute to the captain, Bow to the queen,
Turn by back
On the submarine.
I can do the tap dance,
I can do the split
I can do the holka polka
Just like this.

To celebrate the onset of winter we are giving a way three Kinderkram skipping ropes – one to each of three families. Handpainted in Germany they are a really good quality rope – the rope that is well weighted (a light weight plastic rope will not turn properly and make your child frustrated), and we think they are really gorgeous too!!! Sorry, you have to be in Australia to enter.

To enter just share with us (in comments) your favourite schoolyard game.

Winners will be announced on 20th June, just in time for Midwinter.

Slippery dips and rainbows of colour...

2010-04-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

Look what Sarah and I built in the shop today!!! Putting together this new marble tower from Grimm's Spiel and Holz was just the thing to do on a cool Autumn day. We immersed ourselves in the colour and the smell of new wood - it was so meditative! It's a lovely thing that Grimm's have designed it so that it doesn't come ready made but has to be built - you can choose which way you put the colours together, and when you have finished pop the little bells into the cup at the top and they run down the slide with a joyful tinkling! It reminded me of the old style slippery dip I rode by the seaside in England (yes, I was 30 at the time!).

New horizons...

2010-03-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

It's been very quiet here on the blog I know, but there's a reason for this...I have been busy preparing our Montmorency store for it's new owner. This change has been in the wind for about a year, as I have grappled with the juggling act of running two stores, as well as being a mother, and the many other various hats I wear.... So it is with great joy that I spent my last day at the Montmorency store yesterday. Robyn the new owner is a good friend of mine, and it feels wonderful to pass my baby into loving hands.

I am so looking forward to having more energy and being able to be more present in each moment of the day, and to ensuring I find time to nourish my children (who inspired this journey in the first place) and myself!

TV free time

2009-09-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

"The TV has spent much more time raising us than you have" Lisa to Homer in The Simpsons. Ironic isn't it.

Christie from Childhood 101 made the interesting observation that this week is "turn off the TV week" in the USA. What a wonderful thing!!! I'm all for encouraging Australian famlies to do the same.

Research has found that too much exposure to the electronic media may risk developmental blocks in young children, not to mention:

Difficulty switching off

Blunted senses, visual strain, understimulation of the brain

Social isolation and withdrawal

Less creativity and imagination

Commerical exploitation

Inability to concentrate

Attention deficit

Desensitisation from information overload

Exposure to violence

There's so much to be gained as a family from switching your TV off or even limiting the time to once a week. For instance in the evening you could try:

reading novels together;

taking up a craft like knitting or crotchet;

playing board games;

telling a story by candlelight;

putting on a puppet play or a concert.

Just eating dinner and talking around the table instead of having the TV blaring in the background has so much to offer - sharing each other's days, listening to your kids and knowing what is happening in their lives, relationship and communication skills.

I guarantee that once your children have more TV or computer free time you will stop hearing the words "I'm bored".

I know for some families it might pose a challenge at first, but the benefits are really worth it. For more information on research into children's development and eletronic media, and for ideas to support your family in turning your TV off, I can highly recommend Set Free Childhood a parents survival guide for coping with computers and TV.

Your stories - Immy and her Treeblocks

2009-09-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I received the second of our new stories - families sharing their play - I know I am really going to enjoy this new series of posts - I love seeing children at play - they have such a innate sense of wonder and joy, that should be cherished, nourished and protected. Thank you to Immy's mum for sharing this with us. I love the look of concentration on Immy's face.

There is nothing nicer than opening a big orange bag and finding it filled with...
Tree Blocks!

Last night, Immy had a lovely time unpacking her brand new, big bag of blocks and stacking and re-stacking them. They were a gift from her lovely Aunty Beef. As well as building, she banged them together, drummed on them and tried using the big rounds as stepping stones!
This morning, the first thing she went to was that lovely, bright orange bag. With a very little assistance from me, she did a great job of building with them. They are so divine... they smell good and have great texture and I love their irregularities. What fun we will have!

Find Treeblocks at Honeybee here.

Sarah's Silks

2009-09-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

At our house we have baskets of beautiful playsilks, which are used endlessly for the dollhouse, dressing up, the seasonal table, and more recently...the toys dressing up for book week.

Brownie as Snow White...
Grey Rabbit as Little Red Riding Hood...

And Teddy as Dumbledorf (by the way this is the first toy I ever bought my daughter just before she was born 11 years ago and she still hugs him every day!)

Sarah's Silks who are responsible for making these beautiful playthings have just produced a wonderful new slideshow to show how their products are made ethically in China, it's really interesting. We are very careful about what we buy from China as conditions are often so poor there for workers, but it's a fine line because these families need to put food on the table too, so it's inspiring when I see that with a little extra effort change can happen.

You can view it here: http://www.sarahssilks.com/slideshow.html