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Make snow for Modeling or Painting–it’s Easy!

Happy new year–whether it’s snowing outside or not, let’s make snow inside. You just need some Ivory soap, warm water, and possibly some toilet paper. Plus a few odds and ends for decorating your snow scene/snow person if you want.

Ivory snow–3 ways, the movie!

In this video, I demonstrate 3 ways to make snow–2 are for sculpting and one is for painting. I’ve also put together a pdf with the recipes, that you can get below.

In the old days, I used to buy Ivory soap flakes. But for some reason, they stopped making them. So, after doing a little research, I found that the best thing to do is to get Ivory bar soap and grate it.

You could be annoyed by this, as I was at first–until I realized that grating the soap made for one more fun step to do in making and sculpting or painting with snow.

2 kinds of snow for modeling

The difference between the 2 recipes for modeling snow is that one has toilet paper in it and the other is just soap and water. I had never tried the recipe using toilet paper before, but I really liked it.

It seemed almost sacrilegious after our recent TP shortage, but I did it anyway. Ripped up about half a roll of toilet paper into little-ish pieces and mixed it with the soap and water. I really liked how it felt for modeling. I liked it better than just soap and water, although that was fine, too. It just had a different texture. You can try them both if you like.

For both you add about 1/4 cup of warm water to about 2 cups (1 bar) of grated soap. Then you add the toilet paper, if you’re using it. You can just mix all of this together with your hands.

One bar per person makes a nice amount to work with.

Or for painting with

You can use this paint on windows, sturdy paper–like watercolor or finger painting paper, you could paint on plates. I used my fingers and a painting board. Any hard smooth surface would work well.

For the paint, mix the soap and water one to one. One cup of each makes a good amount of paint.

You’ll probably want to mix this with something other than your hands. I used my immersible blender. But if you have an egg beater (the old-fashioned, non-electric kind), that could be one more task for your little one to do. You can also use an electric mixer. You want to mix until until it’s nice and foamy.

After that, you can divide it into smaller bowls and add food coloring or water color paint (just a little at a time). Then paint away with a brush or with fingers.

If you’d like a pdf of the recipes, you can get it here.

A note about Ivory soap-

I’ve done soap snow sculpting at home and at school and have always used Ivory soap. So I don’t know if other brands work or not. But you could certainly give it a try. If you do, let me know how it goes.

Happy New Year

Here’s hoping that 2021 will be a better one that 2020.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know how your snow sculpting or painting goes! And even though Christmas is over, if you haven’t heard it yet, check out my post with the story I wrote about Mother Mary and the Star Child coming to visit the earth children.

In the meantime, I wish you health, joy, and love.

xoxo

Celebrate with a little Waldorf Christmas Magic

Here’s a little Waldorf Christmas magic for you and your little ones. A sweet song and story about Mother Mary and the Child of Light.

In this season of light, I love to share stories about the light every child brings to the world.

I wrote the story in the video–it was inspired by a story in the Winter book from Wynstones Press. It’s one of a series of 6 books–one for each season and 2 for year-round– that all have wonderful songs, verses, and stories. Check them out if you’re looking for some Waldorf inspiration.

Celebrating the season of light and the long, dark nights

I love that we celebrate the light during these darkest days of the year. We need to celebrate. And I feel the darkness this year more than ever–maybe you do, too.

We had our family Zoom Hanukkah dinner last Saturday. It was so lovely to be together with the family–but it left me feeling sad, too. I’m so grateful to the magic of technology that lets us be together. But I miss really being together–in person. I miss the hugs, laughing together, and I really miss cooking with my daughters!

(I shared some fun Hanukkah dreidel songs last week)

I’ve learned to let myself feel sad–and happy. We need all of those feelings, like we need both the darkness and the light.

All the more reason to share some Christmas magic.

A Little Christmas Magic–the video

Over Stars is Mary Wandering

Here are the words to this lovely song–

Over stars is Mary wandering;
In her mantle’s flowing folds,
Radiant threads of starlight woven
For the little child she holds.
Throngs of stars behold her passing,
All the world is filled with light
With her hands she weaves and gathers
Blessings for the first Christmas night.

Stars, Hills, Merry Christmas, Christmas magic

Thank you so much for stopping by. I wish you all happy holidays–whatever holidays you celebrate. And I wish that you find light in the darkness.

Celebrate with your precious Child(ren) of Light

xoxo

Two dreidel songs to dance with your little ones

To celebrate Hanukkah, here are two dreidel songs to dance with your little ones. These are traditional Hannukah songs that I sang when I was growing up, but I didn’t add the movement until I became a Waldorf teacher.

What is a dreidel–and what do I do with it?

If you don’t know what a dreidel is, it’s a top that has four sides. On each side, a Hebrew letter is written. The letters stand for a phrase which means “A great miracle happened there.” But mostly, it’s used to play the dreidel game.

Everyone gets some pennies or chocolate coins or stones–and puts one into the “pot.” The first person spins the dreidel–which is great for fine motor development. This is what happens, depending on which letter is up:

נ | hebrew letter nun | Times New Roman, Regular @ Graphemica
dreidel — Meet nun–if the dreidel lands here, you get none

Gimmel – Ephraim in the Land — This is the letter gimmel–if the dreidel lands here–you take everything in the pot

Hey--one of the dreidel letters — Here is the letter Hey–if you get this, you get half the pot

The letter shin on the dreidel — This is the letter Shin–if you get this, you put one in

When I had my older classes (3-6-year-olds), we always played dreidel around this time of year. It was often an activity we did first thing in the morning while waiting for everyone to arrive–before we started our morning circle. The littler ones often couldn’t spin the dreidel yet, but they usually had fun trying. It was interesting to watch how the older children could or couldn’t spin the dreidel. Also interesting–letting them practice taking turns.

The Songs!

In Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures: Therapeutic Support for Early Childhood, Volume Two by Nancy Blanning and Laurie Clark, these amazing teachers offer a Hanukkah circle. The movements that I share here were inspired by this circle.

These are spinning songs. And spinning is so healthy for children. I’m sure you’ve noticed that children love to spin in circles. It’s really healthy for them to do it (up to a point) as it helps develop their vestibular sense–the sense of balance. You can read more about the four foundational senses (which include balance) here.

The first song

I had a little dreidel is a classic Hanukah song for little ones. It has a couple more verses, but we’re just doing the first one here.

For this song, you just sit on your bottom and spin first one way and then the other–with a few claps at the end. It works best on a hard floor–or maybe wearing your shiniest pants!

Here are the words (with directions in parens):

(Spin on your bottom, legs up)

I had a little dreidel, I made it out of clay,

And when it’s dry and ready, my dreidel I shall play.

(At this point, I pause and say something like, “The other way!” and spin the other way)

Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay,

And when it’s dry and ready, my dreidel

I shall play (Stop spinning and clap your hands three times for this line).

The second song–S’vivon sov, sov, sov

The second song is in Hebrew.

Here is a pretty literal and not very poetic translation (I don’t know about you, but I like to know what I’m singing):

Top spin, spin, spin; Hannukah is a good holiday.

Hanukah is a good holiday; top spin, spin, spin.

A happy holiday for the people, A great miracle happened there.

A great miracle happened there; a happy holiday for the people.”

In this video, I present this as a dance to do with a partner. You can do it with more people, of course. But less people means more spinning (I’m not sure if that’s better or worse–you can decide for yourself. )

The words: (Again, movement directions are in ( ). But have fun and make it your own!)

S’vivon, sov sov sov, (Hold hands and turn around)

Hannukah hu chag tov, (stop and clap on last three syllables)

Hannukah hu chag tov, (Hold hands and turn around)

S’vivon, sov sov sov. (Stop and clap on last 3 syllables)

Chag simcha hu la’am (Hold hands and turn)

Nes gadol haya sham

Nes gadol haya sham (turn in the other direction if you want to)

Chag simcha hu la’am (stop and clap for last 3 syllables)

Happy Hanukkah! Have fun spinning –dreidels and yourselves!

If you’re looking for a fabulous gluten-free latke recipe, here’s my favorite (which I’ll be making on Saturday) from Martha Stewart.

Let me know if you have any questions–or how it goes when you try the songs and dances.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

How to: Enjoy Waldorf wet-on-wet painting at home

Have you ever tried wet-on-wet painting? What is that? Well, we soak the paper in water and use watercolor paints to paint on the wet paper.

When you paint this way, the colors flow. You get a real experience of color in motion. I find it relaxing and rather meditative.

This is the kind of painting I’ve done with the children in my classes and with parents and children in my parent child classes.

Wet-on-wet painting-an opportunity for quiet enjoyment of the colors

It’s hard for us grown-ups not to explain about colors mixing together or to not ask our child what they are painting or to tell them what we see.

Resist! and Be Still!

Allow your child and yourself to enjoy the experience of color flowing over water. Set the tone for your child. Immerse yourself in the experience of color.

If they speak to you, answer as briefly as possible–perhaps just with a smile and little nod. Or maybe, “Yes, I see.” and then go back to your painting.

If you do this, your child will find their way–maybe over the course of several painting sessions–to quietly enjoying the flow of color, as well.

Learning to find inner quiet is challenging these days. And it’s really important for children and for us.

Wet-on-wet painting: the video

In this video, I share a lovely Waldorf how to: wet on wet painting with your little ones (or by yourself). I’ve done this kind of painting with kids as young as 1-1/2, as long as they are old enough to not drink the paint to pour it all over. I always paint with them–and I encourage you to do the same.

There are lots of benefits to this:

You get to paint!
If you feel that you’re not artistic, no problem! The idea is to experience the color moving on the paper, not to create a masterpiece
You get to spend time with your child doing something fun
Since young children learn through imitation, you can teach them by doing it yourself

Materials needed

It’s easy to do this kind of painting at home, but you will need a few supplies.

For wet-on-wet painting, you’ll need:

Painting boards (one for each person–and, as I mentioned above, I encourage you to paint with your child.) I prefer the plastic ones over the wood ones, as they don’t warp. You can find recycled ones, like these from Bellaluna toys--they’re recycled and biodegradable.
Watercolor paper–it’s worth getting good quality paper, so it won’t bubble or pill. I recommend 140 weight cold press paper. You’ll want to get paper that will fit onto your board, although you can always buy large sheets and cut them to size. For the little ones, I often round the corners–it gives a softer feeling.
Watercolor paint. I’ve always used Stockmar brand paint. It’s kind of expensive, but a little goes a long way. You only need the 3 primary colors. In Stockmar, I use–lemon yellow, carmine red, and ultramarine blue. These colors mix together nicely. (Stockmar carries other colors but these work the best for mixing.) You can also use watercolor in tubes if you prefer–you can get it at an art store or online. You’ll have to figure out which colors on your own for that.
Watercolor paintbrush–1 for each person. Again, I recommend getting good quality brushes–at least an inch wide up to 2 inches.
Jars for mixing and storing paint (store extra paint in the fridge if you can), jars for painting out of, and jars for rinsing water. You can use recycled jars for this–larger ones for mixing, storing, and rinsing, and smaller ones for painting out of (I like to use baby food jars for this). You can also purchase a set of three jars with a wooden stand. I’ve never used them, but they look nice and are more stable than just jars–I’ve mostly used recycled jars myself.

Where to get the supplies

Bellaluna toys, mentioned above, carries everything you’ll need–as do other Waldorf stores online (or in person if you have one of those near you). I know Bellaluna has a lovely set of jars for holding paint with a stand if you want to invest in something like that. Amazon carries all of these things, too–although I’m not sure about the jars and stand.

The painting song

Here are the words for my painting song that I share in the video:

My lovely rainbow,

See it span,

So lovely shining,

Over the land.

You are so red, gold, green and blue,

I’d like to climb it now with you.

Painting stories

A lot of Waldorf teachers tell a painting story before they start painting. You can try it if you like. In my experience, the children are so excited to start painting, that I often just sing the rainbow song and maybe tell a really short story and then start painting.

I usually don’t give the children the brushes or paints until I’m ready for them to start painting–I do have everything ready to go, though before we start!

I did share some painting stories with my last class in Chicago. They were stories about Rainbow Land. I’d sing the song and then tell these little stories–I’ve shared a few on the blog.

Rainbow Land: The red fairy

Rainbow Land: the golden fairy

How many colors should you use?

I always started wet-on-wet painting with my classes with one color. Since we started in September, and it was still summer, we started with yellow. This was my progression through the year (except for special occasions when I might bring in more colors)

September–yellow (1 color)
October–red (1 color)
October-November (I often started this around Halloween)–red and yellow (2 colors)
December-January blue
Late-January-February or early March blue and red (with some plain red around Valentine’s day)
March-June red, yellow and blue

I did this with my mixed age classes. With my parent-child classes, we often only used 1 or 2 colors. The littlest ones will usually paint until all of the paint is gone (a good reason to not give them too much paint!). If you do use three colors–which is fine–expect them to end up with a brown painting. This is a good reminder for us adults that this is about the process not the product.

As the children get older–and for you, too–the colors will be mixed more purposefully. It’s fun to watch the colors mix and change.

Soothe your child: a simple, silly burrito roll game

Calm your child with this soothing, silly game–the burrito roll. I learned this technique from an occupational therapist. They use it with children with sensory integration challenges, among others, but it works really well for most young children. I used it often in my classroom, especially in my 3-year-old classes. I’ve used it with children from age 2 through 6. And almost all of them really love it.

What does it do?

Did you ever swaddle your little one when they were a baby? It’s quite soothing. This game has the same idea–but since it’s a game, it’s more fun for both child and adult.

I find that it soothes me as well as the child. I don’t know about you, but when I’m around little ones who are out of themselves, it tends to pull me out, too. Playing a game relaxes all of us.

I do suggest doing this for the first time when your little one is in a playful mood or when they are wanting some attention from you. Once they know what it is, it will probably be really fun. But start something new in the middle of losing it–probably not a good idea.

When I did it in my classroom, I often started with a child who was calm or just wanted some attention from me.

Burrito roll–the video

If you just watch the video: Please note! I forgot to mention this in the video, but when you massage your child in the burrito roll, always use a FIRM TOUCH. A light touch may be irritating or tickly and may have the opposite effect–stirring them up rather than calming them.

What materials do you need for this activity?

All you need is a blanket, sheet, or play cloth that’s big enough to roll your child up in. It should at least be wide enough to go from your child’s shoulder to the bottom of their feet. It’s ok if it’s wider than that. And it should be long enough to wrap around them at least 2 or 3 times.

Besides that, all you need is enough floor space to lay it (the cloth, that is) out flat.

Some people also use a pillow under the child’s head. I never did, but I always did the burrito roll on a carpeted floor.

How to do the burrito roll–

Lay the cloth flat on the floor.
Have your child lay down close to one end–or lay them down–arms by their side or crossed over their chest.
Roll your child up firmly, as if you’re swaddling a baby–making sure to not wrap the cloth around their neck or cover their face. Wrap their arms inside, but If they want their arms out–just let it be.
Once they’re wrapped, start adding the toppings. Yes, I know that you don’t really add toppings to a rolled up burrito, but just play along! They can tell you what toppings they want, or other children can make suggestions, or you can choose for yourself. Add as many toppings as you want–and don’t limit yourself to what you’d really want to eat. Add chocolate sauce, bananas, grated cheese, leaf mold, crunchy stones– anything you or they can think of. As you add the ingredients, touch the child firmly with different gestures for different toppings. You get extra points for silly noises to go with the sound effects.
To finish: When the child is done (or you are) pretend to eat your burrito–still avoid tickling, though. I always touch with my hands while making num-num sounds. (Your child may be done and just get up and leave–that’s fine, too)
You can unwrap them or let them unwrap themselves. They may do this before you are finished–and that’s fine.

Burrito roll variations

If you prefer, you can make up your own story about why you’re doing the rolling. Some people tell a story of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, which works well.

For me, the burrito and toppings is more fun and engaging for the children. But that’s at least partly because it’s fun for me, too. Trust your own inner guidance on this one or just play around with it and see what happen.

Last but not least

If you are having challenges with your child–they’re going wild or just out of themselves–first of all, that’s not unusual for little ones. If you think it might be something out of the ordinary, talk to your doctor or a trusted friend.

Otherwise, the burrito roll can be really helpful. But it’s also useful to look at the bigger picture. Are you trying to do too many things or is your life unpredictable for your little ones. Look for ways you can bring more rhythm into your days. Here’s a post I wrote about the importance of rhythm.

Also, if you haven’t yet, read the book Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. I wrote about Simplicity Parenting here (for one–I tend to write and talk about it a lot!).

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Give this one a try–and let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

xoxo

A Silly Waldorf Hand Game from Wilma Ellersiek

This funny little hand game is from Dancing Hand, Trotting Pony by Wilma Ellersiek.

Because this is a whole hand game, done with the fists, I’ve used it in my parent child classes. The littlest ones aren’t really developmentally ready to do finger games themselves. You can do finger games as touching games with them, though.

And they sure enjoyed bouncing their hands around with this silly hand game!

It’s a rhyme, it’s a story, it’s a hand game!

It took me a while to really get the words down, although as I look at them now, they seem pretty straightforward.

My challenge was that I didn’t really think of it as a story. As a story it’s easy to remember. Pum and Pom like each other. They go for a walk and come home. After a little rest, they jump and then climb. Finally they fall in the mud and run away.

You can do it, too! And have fun with it. Keep the words handy the first few times, if that helps.

When I did a new circle in my classes, I usually kept a copy of the circle in my pocket so I could pull it out and take a look if I forgot something. It happens!

Here’s another story/song about the gnome’s day–one to act out or make into a puppet story, if you want. It’s another one that still makes me smile even after knowing it for many years.

Here’s the video!

Pum and Pom Hand Game–the words

Here are the words for Pum and Pom-have fun!

Pum and Pom, each brother
Is fond of the other.

Pum and Pom, they walk together:
Walk-walk-walk-walk
Into the world they walk.

Turn around and walk together:
Walk-walk-walk-walk
Back, back home they walk.
And from their quest they rest.

They’re jumping now; just see how.
Pum over Pom, Pom over Pum,
Pum over Pom, Pom over Pum,
Pum-Pom-Pum-Pom.
Hop-hop-hop-and stop!
Now once again, to and fro,
Pum and Pom jump no mo’e.

They’re climbing now, just see how.
Pum on Pom, Pom on Pum,
Pum on Pom, Pom on Pum,
Pum-Pom-Pum-Pom.
Higher-higher-way up high,
Oh, my!
They sit there dizzily,
All fearfully.
Thud!
They lie in the mud!
Pum and Pom do not stay,
They run-run-run away!

Thanks for stopping by

I hope you try this one out. Wilma Ellersiek’s verses sometimes seem a little strange to me, but the children have always loved them. Let me know how it goes.

And have a great week.

xoxo

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Make snow for Modeling or Painting–it’s Easy!

Ivory snow–3 ways, the movie!

2 kinds of snow for modeling