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Soul Blossom Kids

compassionate support for holistic parenting

Cycle of the year

5 songs about 5 frogs–a simple, silly summer circle

Moving to Colorado has brought me closer to many wonders of nature. Some are large, like the mountains. And small, like the crickets that careen madly out of my way as I walk along the dirt path I like to hike on most days. I also love the frogs, although I rarely see them–but I hear them!

I’m pretty sure it’s these frogs–they sound like it and live in my area

The froggy circle video

After listening to the frogs singing in the little pond I walk by on that same trail, I started singing frog songs. Kind of silly! As I sang them, they formed themselves into a little story–which is what I share here. You won’t see me hopping in this video–my knee has been a little achy and didn’t want to hop–but you can hop if you want!

You can get the words to the frogs songs/verses here:

Boreal chorus frogs - Wikipedia

If you’d like the words, I’ve made a pdf that you can download (for free) here. If you want more critter circles, check out my Peter Rabbit circle.

A few words about circle time

Putting together a circle at home or at school can be intimidating, but it can be really simple. Just choose a few songs verses that you like–even two or three is plenty and, if you want, find a way to link them together into a little story like I did here. But you don’t have to do even that. Taking a minute or two to sing or recite a poem with your little one is delightful for both of you! Have fun and make it easy on yourself. Start with something you already know and like. Your child will catch your enthusiasm.

Let me know how you like the frog circle–and if you have any questions.

As always, thank for stopping by!

xoxo

A new story from my heart to you–to celebrate spring

Many years ago, when my daughter Gabrielle was in 3rd or 4th grade, she made a felted finger puppet of Gloria the gnome–and now Gloria has returned to celebrate spring with a whole series of stories.

You’ll find the first story below, and I share a whole series of them as audio recordings both as a separate offering (with pdfs of the story) and as part of my DIY parent-child class.

Meet Gloria the Gnome

celebrate spring with gloria
Gloria the gnome

My daughters often gave me the wonderful things they made in their handwork classes (at the Chicago Waldorf School) to use in my early childhood classroom. I loved having the things they made in my classroom. Because not only were they wonderful things, but they also warmed my heart as I thought of my daughters whenever I saw or used their gifts.

I especially loved Gloria the gnome– such a quirky little gnome. Gabi’s teacher insisted that even though she was a girl gnome, she had to have a beard–and she does. For some other reason that no one ever explained to me, she also has a tail.

But the stories don’t tell about her appearance. I share stories about a kind gnome and her friends. Simple tales of love and friendship and springtime. More like vignettes or prose poems.

I also shared a fun gnome song a while ago, if you’re looking for more gnomey fun!

Celebrate spring with Gloria–the first story

Enjoy Gloria’s first spring story, along with a little introduction to Gloria, much of which I’ve included in the section above. I hope you enjoy this story of early, early spring.

Gloria’s stories–a list

Gloria Loves Spring includes the following stories:

  1. Meet Gloria
  2. Lady Spring arrives–and Philomena fairy, too
  3. Pussy willow fairy and Gloria wake Mother Earth
  4. The rabbit babies visit Gloria
  5. Snowdrop and Snailyman are friends
  6. Fairies washing day
  7. The shy violet
  8. Lady Spring’s ball
  9. Planting a garden
  10. The baby birds hatch
  11. Fairy cradles in Gloria’s garden
  12. A visit to the pond
  13. Dandelion crowns
  14. Picking strawberries for the tea party

Celebrate spring!

Spring has arrived!–enjoy the sunshine and the new life springing from the earth.

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

Feel the love with this Waldorf Valentine’s day circle

I love to celebrate Valentine’s day with little ones. They’re so full of love–and they fill me with love and joy, too.

Valentine's day hearts
Lavender filled hearts–for Valentine’s day or birthdays, or anytime

February–the warmest month of all?

February used to be the dreariest of months for me–the month where I felt like winter would never end. Even Valentine’s day wasn’t enough to lift that feeling of never-ending winter. I lived Chicago for most of my adult life, and if you’ve ever spent a winter there, you know it can be long and dreary,

But then my daughters arrived. Rachel arrived on February 23 and 4 years later, Gabi joined us on February 5. February became (and still is) my favorite month! The whole month became all about love.

And celebrating Valentine’s day became much more fun with them–and later with the little ones and families in my classes.

A Valentine’s day birthday party–or learn from my mistakes!

Well, there was the one year that I decided to celebrate their birthdays together–a Valentine’s day party since it came right between they’re 2 birthdays.

I think they were turning 3 and 7. And they were both mad at me–they wanted their own parties not one together. And then, in my own DIY way, I made 2 piñatas for the party–heart-shaped, of course.

Unfortunately, I made them too thick and after much whacking, they didn’t even have a dent in them. I finally cut them partway open and the treats came out. Sigh! Live and learn, I guess.

Valentine's day piñata
This is not the piñata I made! But it’s beautiful–and I bet it can be broken open!

The Valentine’s day circle

I’ve recorded a Valentine’s day circle that you can do with your little ones. The time stamps are below, if you just want to listen to certain songs.

I demonstrate the game/song “A tisket, a tasket” which is a game that needs at least 3 or 4 people to play. I did my best to demonstrate and explain all by myself–but let me know if you have questions.

If there’s just 2 of you, you could use the song to play a little game of hide and seek with a letter or some other small object–I used a pom pom.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:39 We make a circle of sons and daughters

1:26 The earth is firm

2:07 Good morning, dear earth

3:49 Mail myself to you

5:30 The queen of hearts

6:57 A tisket, a tasket

9:16 How many Valentine’s do you see?

10:09 Five little Valentines

11:34 Lavender Blue

13:18 Some thoughts about this circle–explanations for why and ideas for some variations

You can get the words here:

Waldorf Valentine’s Day Circle for February

Also, here’s a link to my post on how to make paper heart baskets. I originally posted it for May Day–but they’re hearts, so perfect for Valentine’s day, too!

paper heart for valentine's day
They look complicated, but they’re pretty easy (for adults and older kids)

I hope you enjoy this Valentine’s day circle–and that you have a warm February regardless of the weather outside.

Let me know if you have any questions–and I’d love to hear if you enjoy this circle.

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

Waldorf Winter Circle–find joy in the magic of winter

winter circle
Photo by Simon Matzinger on Pexels.com

Here’s a winter circle–celebrate the beauty of these cold, snowy days. I put together a whole circle for you to use all or part of. The circle is about 10 minutes long–and there’s about 10 minutes at the end where I talk about the circle–some things for you to consider, some different ways to work with the songs–stuff like that.

Here’s the winter circle

The time marks are listed below in case you’re looking for a specific part.

  • 0:00 Welcome
  • 0:40 Round and round the earth is turning (song)
  • 1:34 Like a leaf or a feather (verse)
  • 1:52 Good morning, dear earth (song)
  • 3:18 Brrr, it’s cold (verse)
  • 4:18 Let’s put on our mittens (verse)
  • 5:14 open the door and out we go (verse)
  • 5:24 let’s go walking in the snow (verse)
  • 6:28 two little yellow birds (verse)
  • 7:27 sledding verse
  • 8:15 Little Jackie Frost (song)
  • 9:25 Round and round the earth is turning (song–lullaby version)
  • 11:39 discussion and tips

And you can get the words here:

Here’s a link to a pdf of the words, if you’d like. It includes all of the words to the songs and the verses, but not the “patter” that goes in between.

Waldorf Winter Circle 2021

More winter fun

For more winter fun, make some snow out of ivory soap! It’s easy, fun, and inexpensive.

Happy winter! There’s nothing like sharing any season with your little ones to help you remember the magic. I still find that the falling snow fills me with wonder, even if driving in it doesn’t.

And if you need some inspiration or practical ideas to help your little ones get ready to go outside, check out my YouTube video on this very subject!

Thank you so much for stopping by. I’d love to hear how this circle went (or if you have any questions or comments).

Until we meet again, I wish you and yours joy, warmth, and health.

xoxo

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.

make snow
Make it snow!

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

make snow

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

Christmas magic
Christmas Magic

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