“Buy lots of fuzz!” the women at the gate says to us. We chuckle and answer with an enthusiastic “We will!” This was our first time attending the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival in Tunbridge, Vermont…and our first Wool Festival, ever.



Other than thinking sheep & their fuzzy companions were cute barnyard animals, I cared not about wool until I discovered Waldorf. I am not a knitter although I admit after watching spinning in person I would love to own a wheel; and I find carding a calming, satisfying process. Maybe I will take up knitting after all! :)

It was finding craft ideas for children via the Waldorf Inspired community online that I was introduced to wool as a wonderful textile that could be felted either via water or needle, or transformed into yarns…it has such a versatile purpose and felt so good to work with. I was hooked immediately & enjoy sharing the art form with my daughters as I learn. By the time the wool festival rolled around, I was definitely in the mood to “buy lots of fuzz” as my purchases in the past were either online or in small shops with a small selection.



We entered the fair grounds under a beautiful, blue sky. If this small picture is any indication to you of the scenery in this state, you may understand why we love it there so much!









The Icelandic & Shetland sheep were by far our favourites. The Shetlands being the tiniest of breeds, and the Icelandics for their wonderfully crinkly coat.



This is a real alpaca, even though he looks like part of the banner. :)



Cashmere anyone? There was a whole barn of these wonderful goats!



Sheep shearing demonstration. I couldn’t get over how calm & patient the sheep was as there was lots of pauses to explain what was happening. He just…sat there between dude’s legs just chilling out. LOL!



Of course if there’s sheep, there’s got to be the sheep dogs. :) We missed the herding demonstration…



Back to the van for a little lunch. There was some fabulous food being served at the show. Home cooked bean burritos, organic pizza…the lamb burgers kind of creeped me out, though…



Up next…a tour of the bounty. :)

We headed to the park today to find items to add to our nature table.

But first, a swing… :)







We live in a suburban area so there is no forest within walking distance for nature walks. We are very lucky to live by a park which has many trees, so there is a still potential to find natural objects in this highly populated area.





Colorful leaves, acorns & flowers were ready for the taking. Once we had enough items we headed home to add them to the nature table.



I light the candles on the table & Sophie & I get to work, quietly arranging the items to our liking. Ava (almost 18 months) tends to not be interested in the nature table as far as set up is concerned, but she does like to visit it throughout the day.

Today we started getting the house ready for fall, inside & out since the equinox starts officially this evening after 11pm. The yard needs a lot of work in general but we at least made the front step look festive. :) The nature table was prepped so that it would be ready for any new treasures we find on tomorrow’s nature walk.



We have a new nature table! The set up we had before was not ideal, and this table is the perfect size for items & the best use of space.

Here is my interpretation of wet-on-wet watercolor, which I introduced earlier this month to my almost three year old. The color is able to move more freely on the damp paper than it would on dry paper, so the child is able to experience the color with purity of movement. The goal is not artistic technique but to experience & get to know color. Therefore, in very young children you introduce only one color at a time, starting with the primary colors.



The painting is done on painting boards. You can buy actual painting boards or simply find supplies at the hardware store or art/craft store that would work in the same manner.



We soaked a high quality water paper in water for several minutes. Then, after being placed on the boards, sponged off any excess water.



Then we added paint to water in small jars. Baby food jars work well, or you can buy actual painting jars. We are working with yellow.



I explained to Sophie that Peter Paintbrush needed to get his hair wet before he gets to work. The Peter Paintbrush analogy is taken from Rahima Baldwin Dancy’s “You Are Your Child’s First Teacher” – an excellent book I cannot say enough about.

Then we get to work. I paint along side Sophie. I made a story up as we painted about a little girl who loved the color yellow so she wanted to paint the whole world that color. I still am learning the art of story telling so I thought I did horribly – but she seemed happy with the story.





I used back & forth motion as I filled the page with yellow while telling the story to encourage Sophie to not be shy & experience the color on her own.



When we finished we washed Peter Paintbrush’s hair until it was all clean.



Our painting project left out to dry.

Another outdoors project we did this summer was making our own felt. Colored wool and water meant a nice tactile project for my two year old that we enjoyed together.



On a baking/cookie sheet we started to lay our first color of wool.



Once we loosely covered the bottom of the cookie sheet we added the next colour, gently patting it down as we went.



Two more colors, and we had the thickness we desired.



I poured boiling soapy water onto the wool. The hotter the water the faster/easier it is for it to felt.



Until the water was cool enough to touch, we used potato mashers to give the wool friction & start the felting process.



Once the wool was cool enough to touch – the fun really begins. We started pressing down the wool using our fingers.



Quickly we start to see a sheet of felt emerge.



I gently place the wool onto a bamboo matt. Then we roll it up, and roll it back & forth both slowly & vigorously to add more friction & complete the felting process.



A quick rinse…



Then laid out in the sun to dry.

The project with the completed felt coming soon. :)

This summer we added to our outdoor play space mobile by making a sun out of a styrofoam ball, pipe cleaners, and then needle felting two shades of yellow wool over top.



Sophie (age 2.5) helped hold the pipe cleaners as I placed them around the ball.



Once we got them where we wanted, I started needle felting the pipe cleaners.



This is a project I was making up as I went along, so after I had one pipe cleaner felted I tested to make sure it would indeed poke into the Styrofoam.



Success!



It was a bit of a tedious process, but Sophie had her own project on the go. :)





The finished project…




At home with the cloud & the butterfly. :)

I would recommend that a layer of wool be needle felted over the entire body to make sure the pipe cleaner rays are in there good and snug.

Summer is quickly coming to a close & fall activities are just around the corner despite what the thermometer says! :)

Here is a quick felting project we embarked upon on a cloudy Tuesday Morning. I was yet again strapped for time and wanted to do something quick to add to our outdoor play area. We had previously made a felted butterfly for the space.



First I took two pipe cleaners & twisted them together to make a cloud shape.



I began to needle felt white wool around the frame.





Hello Kitty band aid to cover where I stabbed myself. Occupational hazard of needle felting. No matter how careful you are, you are bound to stab yourself now & again. :)



That’s it. It’s amateur-ish – but as I say time & time again, your kids won’t care. They are simply happy to have you make something for them/with them. Imaginations do the rest. :)

I recommend telling a story as you make the cloud to keep the event exciting for your child. I suck at story telling. But, the more I do it, the better I get. Making stories up on the fly is getting easier, as well.



Out comes the string so that we can put up our cloud.



We have been enjoying watching it float around just like the real clouds in the sky. :)

One thing I always enjoyed as a child, was baking with my dad. My great-grandmother taught him to bake, and he passed the enjoyment down to me. As I got older my parents allowed me to bake on my own despite the mess – and enjoyed the finished project no matter how lopsided or odd looking. :)

So a couple of weeks ago on a rainy Thursday – I thought this would be a good day to introduce baking to Sophie.



The recipe we used was for simple, easy whole wheat bread found in the book “Heaven on Earth” by Sharifa Oppenheimer (on a side note: I cannot say enough about this book. It resonated with me on so many levels, and gave me many tools as to how to parent creatively in every situation, good or bad!)



Starting off with the wet ingredients. Sophie is only two, and you can expect a two-year old to make a mess! But with the proper guidance the mess can be kept to a minimum. This was a good time for me to practice using positive words rather than focus on the negative – instead of saying “don’t spill it” I would say – “stir slowly, keep it in the bowl” – this takes patience and thought before words, which is particularly hard for me when it is second nature to focus on the negative. Mindful parenting means just that – taking the time to stop and think of our words and actions. How will my words impact my child? I can remember how those words affected me – as harmless as they were meant when I was little (this by no means is a perfect practice for me – there are always bad days. You simply have to reflect, forgive yourself and strive to do better the next day. It is a journey that I will take with my children – together there will be ups and downs!). .





Slowly adding the dry ingredients – the dough is starting to thicken now…



Ava was happy to explore and play on her own – and would come over to the table to see what we were doing every so often…





Our dough is now the consistency of pizza dough and is ready to be formed. You could do a lot of things with this – cut with cookie cutters of different animal shapes, braid the dough, form it into a loaf of bread…I decided it would be the easiest for Sophie to simply form them into balls and make rolls out of them.





The finished product…





A tasty bedtime snack. The honey in this recipe makes them irresistible. :)

I would really like to try weaving a story into our cooking…I think it would add an element of fantasy/creativity as well as help explain the elements involved (such as mixing, and keeping it in the bowl or forming the dough into balls). Story telling is one aspect of my parenting that I really want to work on. It doesn’t come natural to me – yet anyway. ;)

I am behind on updates. Earlier I posted about making felted shaker balls. We ended up wet felting 3 more balls in plain core wool. Once they were dry I spent the next few weeks working on needle felting them when I had a spare moment. The girls loved to watch the balls come alive slowly with color, with Sophie asking several times, “Is it done? I can have now?” before one ball was even finished. :)

Before…



….and after….





The gray and blue ball on the far left, got wet felted, then needle felted – then wet felted AGAIN – on account that it got caught out in the rain. I had loosely felted this one, so I decided to throw it into the dryer with our clothes to see just how the felt would contract. And the results were quite nice – a very durable felted ball.





All 4 finished balls, they get a lot of play in our home. In fact at the moment, I am not sure where they are! :)

I needed a quick project to do with my 2 year old as our morning was cut short due to chore load. It’s summer so I thought it would be nice to break out the felt (Tuesday is felting day – in our weekly rhythm) and make a butterfly for the play house.

This project could easily be adapted to wet felting as young children love – however due to our shortened morning I decided to needle felt it and have my daughter participate by adding friction or simply touching the piece when she desired.

I also wanted to add that you don’t hvae to be particularly artistic or crafty to do these kinds of projects. Believe me I churned this out fast this morning and the butterfly is lopsided – the children don’t care! They simply cherish what you make with them.

All you need is dyed wool, pipe cleaners and your needle and mat for felting.



I took one pipe cleaner and folded it in half and twisted it together.



Then twisted the endos of the other two together, forming a circle



Twist your circle into a figure 8, and shape the wings as you wish.




I covered the body part with wool and had Sophie roll it back & forth in her hands. The friction starts the felting process. Then I ran my felting needle over it a few times.



Sophie is too young to use the sharp needle, but that doesn’t mean she can’t mimic the movement. I catch her “needle felting” in the play house with her bubble wand. Here she gives it a go on the body of our butterfly.



The body is now done.



Then I attached the body to the wing armature I formed, criss-crossing the wool around the center of the wings and body. I lightly felted this into place with the needle. I wanted to be able to loop string through here later.



I started to lay the wool on the wings to felt – weaving over and under the pipe cleaner armature – then felted it into place.





So as you can see, our butterfly looks more like a dragonfly than a butterfly! This is great too – but I told Sophie we were making a butterfly. :) I could have made a second set of wings, but again due to our short morning I simply snipped the body with scissors and felted over the bottom. We will keep the other half of the body to make another later.



Sophie of course requested blue for the body, and then I jazzed it up a little bit…



…adding fuschia & purple felt to the body.



Just one last apple green element added to the top – and our butterfly is ready to take flight.







Our butterfly now lives at the front door of our play house. Where he will stay all summer long. :)

Today was officially the first day of summer and although the good weather has been upon us now for several weeks, you could definitely feel the festive energy emanating from the neighborhood.

Among many things, I have been working on our rhythm. Part of that is assigning certain days for certain creative projects. I haven’t actually had an official crayoning session with Sophie – so I decided to give it a try on Mondays. Bonus is, today we got to do it outside!



We bought this bench at the end of the season last year at Canadian Tire. It was marked down to a steal of a deal – we got it for approx. $20! Here is the best part about it…



It easily converts into a picnic table!



I brought out the block crayons and paper. I chose a cover stock paper since it is thicker – really durable, and removed the corners. If you have never used or heard of block crayons – I recommend you give them a try. They are made of beeswax which gives a wonderful sensory experience for your child as they warm up in their hands. Not only do they smell good, but the shape makes it easier for young children to hold onto. Which also means they last a long time, so don’t let the price scare you.



Since children learn from mimicry, I sat down beside Sophie to do my own picture. Remember she is only two and a half, so I wanted to keep my movements simple – just back and forth – no actual shapes. The goal was for her to get a feel for the crayons as well as experience colour. Children of this age do not have the brain development to make shapes.





Sophie’s first creation.



My first “picture”. I must admit I was really looking forward to crayoning as well. There is just something so freeing to allow the colour to develop on the page with no real direction – just as the heart desires. If you were ever firmly encouraged to only colour “in the lines” as a child, this process can be very freeing/healing. Looking at it, I like how the yellow stands out more than the rest of the colours. It’s like good energy shining through.





We filled three pages each this morning, and then it was time for snack followed by flower picking/swinging at the park time.

I plan to keep these drawings in a scrapbook – and I will hold onto my own as well. You never know what emotions may unfold as time goes on. A simple act can mean so much. I know for me – I found the crayoning very relaxing.