We did some fabulous math the other day as we folded (and folded) away. We couldn’t quite believe that we could make window stars from taking 1 already small square of kite paper and cutting it into… 8! But you can. The beautiful rainbow stars we learned about here were well worth the effort. And if you take 8 different kite squares – to make stars with 8 colors… you end up with 8 tiny piles of 8 stars each… Such beautiful math manipulatives!

And a wonderful treat for the little man cub’s eyes these days too.

What kinds of elving are going on in your home?

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Gardening has been a tremendous unschooling scholastic activity this spring and summer (and even late winter, when we began to grow seeds on our windowsill).  From seeds to plants, my little one is harvesting, watering (thanks to a lovely new, long-awaited rain barrel), pruning and savoring all of these plants.

To learn more about how plants take in the nutrients of our compost, and the water from her watering can… we fashioned a see-through root garden with carrot seeds.  It’s still in the process of growing, so I can’t show you final photos, but thought I’d share it when there was still fabulous sunlight to use in creating your own version.

First we cut windows into the top of 2 sides of a coated paper juice container.

Then we cut up a big Ziploc (BPA-free) freezer bag and taped the plastic “windows” securely around the holes in the juice container.

Then we filled it with soil…

Planted some carrot seeds (beets would also work well)…

Watered… and waited

The carrots are growing and we’re starting to see the roots through the windows now.

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Right now, my daughter is all about thinking and building in 3D. There’s a fabulous clay studio in Ottawa she goes to once a week, and shapes away, and spends lots of the rest of the time making paper sculptures, and combining wooden blocks and paper… and I guess I feel really fortunate to be able to travel on this ride with her.

Her grandma (and my shop partner) came up with a sweet little idea for a 3D spring craft – building a garden. First she started with a small box. She painted the top green, and used green construction paper glued along the other sides.

Then out came the wooden popsicle sticks, and she painted these green too – for stems.

Next she used various colors of construction paper to cut out flower tops and shapes.

And then Grandma used a pair of scissors to make holes across the top of the box so that the sticks could be arranged in whatever placement was preferred. No glue necessary!! Yay!

She added a little green tent in the middle for the lucky garden inhabitants. Perhaps an elf, or a fairy, or a sweet little insect. It sat for awhile in the light of the sun in our back room, and has now found a comfy home on the (getting-awfully-crowded) spring nature table.

p.s. you can still enter the spring giveaway here

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A few weeks back, we noticed this stunningly beautiful flower craft here and ended up with a different, sweet version of our own. There’s such beauty in watching the wonder and fantasy of a child as they go about making an idea their own. I now see that as one of my primary roles and goals as a parent – helping my children learn not by rote but with their own imaginations.  Instead of teaching them a set of discrete, defined, repeatable tasks, my job is to foster the space, love and conditions for her own ideas to take flight. I’m still working on it. Every day.

We started by cutting up a cardboard egg box, leaving many of the single egg cups as is, but cutting others in flower shapes.

Then, using paint (real Tempra paint as the watercolors just didn’t seem vibrant enough), my daughter painted them in her favorite neon colors.  Layering paint, especially on the edges and inside.

Then, using a large circular piece of cardboard, she painted the background and then decided to add some free form birds – a mama and a baby (of course).

Using hot glue, she arranged the flowers around the cardboard, and we used my biggest needle to poke a hole and attach some hemp string for hanging.
Now her art is hanging on our sapphire-blue painted 100 year old wooden front door where it seems to be telling spring to “hurry up just a little bit” (this baby really needs to come out!

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In a not-so-subtle request for spring sun and summer rainbows… we decided to make one of our own. That, and the bag of tiny bits of colored tissue papers from the last few years seemed to be calling our names. Ends of birthday wrapping, bits of tissue paper from parcels…. we seemed to have just the right colors.

She started with our set of incredibly useful super-small stainless steel bowls from Lee Valley (they have the most fabulous things).  These bowls, while perfect for sorting tissue paper buds, are also perfect for just-the-right amount of ice cream, food prep and kids’ sized homemade chocolate pudding.

My 4 year old cut a piece of cardboard paper, and put glue around the outside edge, choosing pink to the first color (of course).

After all the time it took to make tiny balls with the tissue paper, glueing was most fun, I think.

And there were some sweet minutes to make Waldorf doll heads in between taking these photos. Very sweet, indeed. Wishing you some sweet minutes, and many rainbows today.

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A few days ago, spring came out of her slumber and gave us a beautiful glimpse of what is to come. Melting snow, incredibly warm sun, mittens off, and windows wide open.

And I started to think of camping.

I grew up camping, and have missed it during the last years when we’ve struggled to figure out how we can camp without the usual (unfortunate) spate of toxic chemicals that come along with – lots of PVC, waterproof coatings and other chemicals that I’m just not OK using anymore.

And we’ve got it figured out – so excited to share our little eco camping project with you.

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about sleeping bags, and we’ve been meaning to put some organic versions in our shop for the longest time.

A fabulous handful of recent customers finally prompted us to finalize an organic sleeping bag design.

Unfortunately, many (most!) outdoor gear manufacturers add chemical treatments like “GORE-TEX”tm and Teflon to fabrics to help them repel insects, water adn odors. But these chemicals do break down in our environment, and in our bodies. Recent studies have found multiple PFCs in human blood, and even in breastmilk.  In children this is a huge problem – particularly as kids under 6 simply don’t have the physiological capacity to detox at all from the chemicals that are ingested or absorbed into their little bodies.

This sleeping bag is for warmer weather and indoor use – it has beautiful organic cotton quilt batting inside. Lined in organic cotton flannel, with organic cotton outside. Custom made for a 4 year old, but will fit her generously for many years to come.

I’m thinking that with one or two layers of wool batting inside, our design would work quite well for camping.  Now, off to wait for spring… and baby.

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 Unbleached coffee filters are the most wonderful arts supplies, and they are in abundance around here ever since the coffee drinker in this house (my Mister Mister) switched to a French coffee press and freshly ground organic coffee beans.

And hearts, well, who doesn’t love a few hearts? Especially on Valentine’s Day!

Here is how we made them.

First we used unbleached coffee filters, and drew hearts (well, half hearts) along one of the folded edges.

Then we cut out the heart shape, and folded the heart in at least half, or more. While still folded, my daughter cut in small shapes along the (folded) edge of the heart.

When she unfolded them, we had hearts with little cut-outs in them.

Here they are on our very favorite dining room table cloth.

Then it was time to paint. Using her watercolors, she painted the coffee filter hearts in different colors.

And then we let them dry (being coffee filters, it didn’t take them more than about an hour or so).

Then we hung them up on a sweet little (too frequently neglected) window near our stairs, so we see them every time we go up, or down. They add a sweet little smile to our faces.

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