Story Dolls

In many of our stories a few simple props or even just hand gestures can captivate and capture the imagination as the tale is spun, and often helps to hold the youngest members interest in storytime  in our mixed ages playgroup.  I have seen some beautiful table plays or stories told in other steiner settings with marionette puppets, but for our simple stories (and a single storyteller) I have found props which can stand themselves are easier to use with less fuss and free up a spare hand or two as you go along. 

One of my favourite alternatives for people characters are wood and wire type dolls which I sew clothes onto (from wool felt mostly).  They are slightly posable and stand well on most surfaces.  These are two I have made recently,  Joanne and Peter.  Of course they can easily be called other names and be other characters, and they often are in the traditional tales I tell.  But I have found the stories I write myself tend to take on the characters of some of the storydolls I have sewn.  I can easily see how commercialised toys could limit the play or storylines a child spins for themselves, being so heavily invested in a set character, and find it interesting I have the same tendancies with my own handmade supposedly open ended dolls!  I need to make a conscious effort to shake myself up a little and let Peter be the little boy or the wise old farmer, or the proud father, and Joanne to be the big sister, the crafty aunty, or the strong harvester … Not always an easy thing to do!

Alphabet pictures

My eldest son has finished all his big and little letters as we have only one more term until the end of the first grade school year.  We made some mini pictures of his letter work from his main lesson book to cut up into a wall frieze.  It makes a neat summary for us of his letter stories through the illustrations, and is an easy acess visual reminder of those words and sounds, not just hidden away in a lovely and cherished, but cumbersome MLB. 

I have taken close up photos of the letters/pictures if anyone is interested, but I didn’t want to overload the post with photos, and I’m sure you all have your own stories and letters that captured your imaginations.

Peter and the Willow

A story to share from playgroup that I told,  inspired somewhat by the traditional tale of the giant turnip, the recent making of spring crowns or garlands, and some little hands that want to grab and play with something that another is already holding on to, and others holding on too tight to things they could share  

Peter and the Willow tree

Once upon a time there was a little boy called Peter.  One of Peter’s favourite places to go was the weeping willow tree across the field from his house.  He loved to go and play there so much he even made up a little song he would sing and hum when he was there.

I love to sit beneath the willow

The willow bending low

To sit and watch the little birds

Go flitting to and fro

It’s a lovely secret cubby with its branches bending low

I really love the willow and it’s where I like to go

 

And sometimes he thought he could hear the willow whisper “my dear friend Peter” as the long fronds brushed gently against his face in the soft spring breezes. 

One day Peter noticed lots of lovely spring flowers growing in the field on his way to the willow, and he thought he would pick a long frond of willow to weave himself a crown to thread the flowers through, so when he got to the Willow he grabbed one of the fronds and he heaved and he pulled, but it would not budge.  The willow cried out “Oh! Oh! Oh! Who is pulling my branches so!” and Peter called out “Its me, your friend Peter!” but the Willow was so upset she didn’t seem to notice.  Peter tried again, and just as he was doing so Stickly Prickly echidna came past and asked what Peter was doing.  “I’m trying to pull down a willow frond to make a spring crown and fill it with flowers”

“Oh I’ll help you” said Stickly Prickly and together they pulled and pulled

“Oh! Oh! Oh! who is pulling my branches so!” said the Willow again and Peter called out “Its us, your friends Peter, and Stickly Prickly!” but the willow was so upset she still didn’t seem to notice them. 

Peter got ready to try again when Hoppity Floppity rabbit came by.  “What are you doing Peter?”   She asked .

 “I’m trying to pull down a willow frond to make a spring crown and fill it with flowers” said Peter 

“Oh I’ll help you” said Hoppity Floppity and together they pulled and pulled and pulled.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Who is pulling my branches so!” said the Willow again more loudly than before  and Peter called out “Its us, your friends Peter, and Stickly Prickly and Hoppity Floppity!” but the Willow was so upset she still didn’t seem to notice them. 

They were getting ready to pull a third time when Slibberslack snail came slithering past

 “What are you doing Peter?”   He asked .

 “I’m trying to pull down a willow frond to make a spring crown and fill it with flowers” said Peter 

“Oh I’ll help you” said Slibberslack and together they pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! who is pulling my branches so!” said the Willow again more loudly than ever before and Peter called out “Its us, your friends Peter, and Stickly Prickly and Hoppity Floppity!” but the Willow was still so upset even now she didn’t seem to notice them. 

They were getting ready to pull a fourth time when Little Wren hopped up. 

“What are you doing Peter?”   He asked .

 “I’m trying to pull down a willow frond to make a spring crown and fill it with flowers” said Peter 

“Oh are you going about it the right way?” said little wren

“Is there a right way and a wrong way to pull a willow frond?” Asked Peter “I didn’t know!” 

“Well of course” said little wren, “all you need to do it the right way is to ask!”

“Ahhhhh!” said Peter and he carefully stepped up to the willow tree right under its weeping green fronds and called “ Mistress Willow?” 

“Yes, Peter is that you? I’ve been so distracted this morning trying to hold on hard to all my fronds as something is pulling and tugging them so”

“Oh” said Peter, a little embarrassed “that was me, I came to ask if I might please have a frond to make a spring crown with the meadow flowers.” 

“What a lovely idea, of course you may, why didn’t you say so!”

“I’m sorry” replied Peter

“Well, try again now” said the Willow, “and I will help you.”

So Peter and Stickly Prickly and Hoppity Floppity  and Slibberslack all got ready and pulled, and Willow let go of the frond and over tumbled Peter, Stickly Prickly, Hoppity Floppity and Slibberslack in a laughing heap with enough willow for all of them. 

Peter gathered up the fronds and raced off to the flowers when suddenly he turned and raced back to Mistress Willow. 

“Thankyou” Peter called all breathless and rosy cheeked

“My pleasure” replied the Willow and bowed low to Peter, who turned and once more raced off to begin his springtime crown.

Snail trails

A lovely surprise found its way to our mailbox today.  A Syrendell snail from Rick Tan in return for some poetic muse.  I think I was a double winner, having been inspired to write a poem, and receiving a gift for participating! 

It is right at home in our garden, and the boys have already taken it to search out four leaved clovers, and smell the pansies, before it returned indoors to take pride of place on our spring nature table.  You will discover many inspirations if you take the time to visit with Rick and his lovely family at their blogs.  Thankyou Syrendell!

Birthday season

In our family, the second half of the year heralds birthday season as all the cousins start celebrating  birthdays, a run that seems to go all the way up until Christmas.  So how to avoid constant visits to toy shops, or crafting burnout to make that special something for everyone?  Here is my little list of treasured ideas that I constantly add to and peruse for inspiration as the birthday season rolls around.  Packed in a nice thrifted basket or sewn drawstring bag, these ideas have been well received by various cousins over the years.  What would you have on your list?

circular tree stumps/offcuts and sandpaper/ beeswax polish (or sanded and/or polished depending on age)

plank of wood, ends rounded, sanded/ broom handles with rounded off ends /old clean sheets for cubby building

seeds and flowerpot

dustpan and brush/ straw broom

trowel, garden fork

paintbrushes

bicycle bell/ basket/ pannier

cookie cutters

wooden rolling pin

apron/oven mitts

basket (lined/ribboned/decorated?)

dancing skirt/dressup

dressup shoes/hats/bags

jar of buttons

wooden bowls/eggcups

pottery jug/ teapot

cotton tablecloths/ picnic blanket

silk scarf

wooden pegs

buckets

hand  tools /hammer/screwdriver/sandpaper

pieces of soft wood and nails

handdrill and bits/tape measure/ saw and rasp

toolbox

soaps

shells

marbles in a bag / pebbles and dice in  a bag with printed rules for some games like tom thumb, knucklebones, mancala or thunderhole dice. 

balls of wool

gift ball of wool (wound with tiny tresures inside)

chalks/ sidewalk chalks

torch and batteries

candle holder/ snuffer

candles

rope with ends spliced in

padlock and chain (and spare keys for mum/dad)

vase

clay

beeswax (for modelling)

chopping board

magnifying glass

photo album

drawing paper/ crayons/pencils

needle case with needles

coloured cottons/ felt pieces

blank recipe book with two or three favourites written in to start off

rope pulley

wheelbarrow

fruit trees/vege seedlings

bedspread/pillows/pillowcase/sheets

beeswax sheets and wick for candlemaking

maps of the local area with walks etc.

binoculars/ compass

waterbottle and holder

…….

If you leave your ideas in the comments, I’d love to add them to the list.

Wet-on-wet wonders

I love to watch the shapes emerge when painting wet-on-wet, starting out just playing with the colours and seeing what comes into form.  Sometimes we use a story to guide our painting, today we were just playfully using up the last of some mixed up paint from the back of our fridge. 

One child found a pine forest and the moon

another found a  giant peach with a pip inside

I found a snowy tree in front of a starry sky

What can you find?

Snowflake garland

 

We have had a lovely time in a cabin in the snowy mountains for our winter holidays, and tried our hand at many crafts in between the igloo making, tobogganing, snowman making, snow train and train track making, coloured ice ball making, skiing and snowballing,  …. and one of the favourite indoor crafts was snowflake cutting.   We have ended up with so many paper snowflakes, we selected the best ones and strung them up as garlands by threading ribbon through the holes. 

 

our winter gnome was kept busy each night collecting up the stray paper scraps that eluded tired and busy fingers and left neat little paper trails to the fireplace to be discovered in the morning.  Our eldest declared that if you carefully collected the paper trail and threw it in the fire with one go, you could make a wish.  I think he wished for a weeks worth of snow, and he couldn’t have been happier with the result.

Thou Gabriel

Thou Gabriel!

Bring me the white stars of winter,

Of thy lillies and snows:

Till the blessing of life-giving water and moon-beam into me flows

-from Seasons and Archangels by Isabel Wyatt

 

Midwinter is here, and it is still so mild.  The darkness is encroaching on both ends of our days, and yet we celebrated our midwinter festival wearing only shirts (no jumpers needed!)  I hope some snow comes to the mountains soon, or the early falls will be melted away by the mild weather and rain.  Snow is just such a magical and miraculous experience in Australia, as it is so often fleeting, and only occurs in very few places across our broad expanse of continent.  May some of the deep peace of our midwinter reach you wherever you are around the globe.

Whitsun dove

I tried a little tutorial for our whitsun doves this year… of course you can just make the simple versions with just body and wings, but we added a few firey embellishments to ours which don’t look out of place with the last of the Autumn colours on our trees right now. 

Step 1 – gather your materials

wooden bead, wool with needle for threading, small paper doily, two matching dove shapes cut out of paper, tissue paper in flame colours cut into leaf or flame shapes, sticky tape, and glue

Step 2 – thread the bead onto the end of your wool and tie in place.  this will give a little weight to the bottom so it hangs nicely and stops the dove sliping off. 

Step 3 – hold both bird shapes together and snip a cut from the middle of the back down to the middle of the birds. (This will hold the wings later)

Step 4 – tape the end of the wool and the wool above the bead onto one bird cutout, so the bead will hang just below the bird

Step 5 – glue the second bird over the first to hide the wool ends.  Make sure the length of  wool comes out at the slit.

Step 6 – fold up the doily concertina fashion, and thread the wool length through the middle, making a hole with the needle. 

Step 7 – hold the concertina folds together in the middle and slide down the wool until it sits in the slit you made in the body of the bird for the wings.  Once in place, gently fan out the ends of the doily to create open wings.

Step 8 – thread tissue paper flames onto your wool above the dove, poking holes through with your needle as you go. 

Step 9 – unthread the needle, tie a loop at the top of your wool and hang. 

Dewy Dewy Dew

Soft and new, dewy, dewy dew

Soft on the grass is the morning dew.

(a simple circle song we sing through Autumn, tiptoing rhythmically around the circle with “dewy” feet)

Today (after an early morning wash of dew on my feet, hands and face) I returned inside with a handful of daisies.  Before I knew it a few had braided themselves into my hair… old habits and sweet childhood memories linger on and oddly meander into the Autumn of another hemisphere…

For last year’s may day see here