Learning Land Forms

 

While I'm sharing about activities that reside on top of my refridgerator, I thought share about another favorite educational activity: clay land forms. Years ago I made a set with clay and disposable plastic containers. But this fall, I acquired this sweet little set from Michael Olaf Montessori: earth-toned waterproof clay and eight little pie pans are matched with cards so that little students can see that an island is land with water all around it, and a lake is land with water all around it.  I keep the materials in a storage bin with a washcloth and tiny water pitcher.

The child can mold islands, pennisulas, and isthmuses of any shape she chooses, and then pour a little bit of water into the wee pie pan to see the relationship between land and water.  The earth-toned plasticine clay is superior to salt dough in that it sheds water easily and never dries out.  And the matched black pie pans are sturdy beneath the pushing and poking of child fists.  After years of making do with my own homemade materials, I'm very pleased with this set, which has a modest price tag for its beauty: $22 for pans and clay.  The rather comprehensive card set is only $8 additional: it will last beyond the preschool years well into grade school.  It's a wonderful preschool introduction to Classical Conversation's geography program.

So if you're looking for an additional activity for your little one, consider this set. It's a simple, straightfoward way to demonstrate what a strait is!  (Forgive the triple pun.)

Painless Painting

Ever since I visited a Montessori classroom, I have been using this method to enable my small children to paint pictures as often as possible with as little trouble for me, and without a permanently messy table or corner.  I keep individual colors of watercolor paint, cut-up rectangles of paper, a small brush and a bottle cap on a small tray on top of the refridgerator. When my children need something to do, I take it down and let them paint.  The key to low mess is keeping the amounts of paint and water small.  Like the Montessori teacher suggested, I cut up plastic strips of watercolors from the store into individual colors so that small children can focus on one task: using the brush correctly.  I show them how to 'tickle' the paint gently with the brush with the very end of the bristles in order to make a painting. 

Older children can have more colors so that they can experiment with mixing colors (what do yellow and blue make when you put them together?) or with creating their own masterpieces.  The tiny bottle cap of water ensures that there's not much mess to clean up, and the small paintings don't take up much space on the table for drying or on the wall for displaying.

Random Moments of Beauty: Friend's Porch

We just visited a friend on our way home while on a trip, and I couldn't resist capturing this beautiful view of the autumn colors.  It strikes me how welcoming it is to have a chair or two on your front porch, inviting friends to sit and talk.

Random Moment of Beauty: Eggs

Just a few chicken eggs collected by my daughter from our chicken, in a bowl made in pottery class by another daughter. I love the combination of greens and browns with the purity of white, so restful. And I also love how home-grown eggs can be different sizes. Just a snippet of our daily life around Shirefeld.

Flowers for the Resurrection

Our family was recently saddened by a miscarriage. The baby was only about a month or so along, but of course, it was still sad. Fortunately, we have been supported by so many friends. Today I was amazed to receive this beautiful flower bouquet from a group of friends, so lovely that I had to display it on my dresser and post a picture. The delicate pink roses remind me of the new life so recently lost, but the butterfly on the top brings to mind the eternal life where we will hopefully someday meet again. We christened the little baby Timothy, and it is comforting to think that he is with Joshua and the other baby we miscarried, Ann. Many thanks to all of you who prayed for us and grieved with us. When even a miscarriage is memorialized in such a kind manner, it makes sorrow easier to bear. Thank you.

Girl Dresses out of a Woman's Skirt

When we were preparing for a family wedding in July, I was doing a lot of sewing for my girls, and came across this pretty rayon-wool one-button-on-the-pocket gathered skirt in a thrift store. I decided to cut it into a skirt for my youngest girl. I cut the gathered waistband off the skirt at the correct length for a little-girl skirt but wasn't sure what to do with the beautifully-patterned bottom of the skirt, so I put it aside.

Next I had to cut the gathered waistband to the correct width for my toddler girl's tummy. I decided to cut it off at the pocket so that she could have a pocket in her skirt. (Note: I wouldn't do this again: the pocket's really too large for her to really use!) When I was finished, I had one width of skirt about 8" across. Not sure what to do with it, I decided to fold it in half to see if I could make a bodice for a dress. Here it is below. Notice that the gathered top is so much more narrow than the full bottom. (Click on any photo to see the details.)

So, taking a gamble, I decided to see if having a narrow front piece and a wide back could make a succesful bodice. I narrowly hemed the sides of the skirt piece and joined them together at the bottom, leaving ample armholes. Then I carefully cut and hemmed a neckline with a keyhole snap closure at the back. It seemed to fit my daughter, so I reattached the lower part of the original skirt to make the bottom of the dress. It worked like a charm.

Though my original project of a toddler skirt: wasn't as successful (the toddler is wearing it in the boat picture in the post below: click on the photo to see it up close), the toddler dress was a dream! Another thrilling episode in the ongoing adventure of converting adult clothing to child-size wearables!

Picnic Table=Boat!

Autumn breezes swept over our land this morning, scattering leaves from trees and pulling our younger children away from homeschool to the outdoors. And I, trusting nature to be a wise educator of her own, let them go. Among their adventuring, they overturned our picnic table, and we realized (perhaps due to our nightly sojourns with the Horatio Hornblower movies) how much it resembled a boat. In short order I had temporarily erected a wooden pole as a mast, a sail was procured, and the children set sail across a sea of leaf-strewn lawn.

Special Hands Jewelry

Above is a picture of my new favorite earrings, which I bought from a very neat jewelry-maker, Susan Myers. I met Susan when she lived in Front Royal, Virginia. Despite a birth defect that left her with hands half the size of a normal person's, she creates beautiful jewelry with only five fingers. Recently, Susan began a website to sell her creations online, and I'd like to help her spread the word. As she mentions on her website, she can customize almost any design: I asked her for a pair of these red heart earrings, and she made a pair just for me. Check out www.specialhandsjewelry.webs.com and if you like what you see, pass on the link to your friends!