Moondew Playgroup House Revamp!

Yes, Moondew Playgroup starts on Tuesday and my husband decided that he would begin our big plaster and paint renovation YESTERDAY.

After having most of January at home...

Don't we just love helpful husbands who respond immediately to a little nudge...

I quietly asked him about his schedule for painting the house sometime in 2011, seeing as his original plan was to do it over these holidays, and when I came home at lunchtime, it was underway!!

(I wasn't expecting that at all!!)

What a lesson in going with the flow.

Can't change it, so might as well go with it....

He tells me it will be finished by tomorrow afternoon, but ......  

we'll see......

Looks like we might be having our own impromptu Nature Kindergarten under the big blue sky!

If the sun comes to visit, this will be the first time we've seen her at Moondew in a long time, so a morning of sun sparkles and a visit from King Sun himself might be perfect!

A sneak peek into the most beautiful kindergarten in the world! Part One

If I were to draw up plans for my dream home, I'd have to copy this kindergarten!

Or, I could just move right in!

I just love it!

These are photos of the outdoor space, and a few inside shots of a Waldorf school located about 90 minutes north of where I live.  This kindergarten has been in existance for quite some years, and is filled with the most amazing sources of open-ended 'toys' you'll ever see!

My heart sings as I step into their 'mud' room and sneak a teeny peek into the welcoming hub.

Oh, to be a child in this space...

The windows mesmerise me with their curved and unusual shapes.

And when opened, a gentle breeze hums its way inside...

Shall we come back tomorrow for a more detailed peek inside? 

Crafting Nature Landscapes with Christina Lane

Our afternoons at our in-service were spent nurturing ourselves with a little heart felt craft!

Oh, what a joy and a pleasure to allocate child-free time to make something with our hands.

Handwork hasn't featured in one of our regional meetings for quite some time so it was about time it came back!  

We invited Christina Lane, pictured above in the kindergarten being a busy bee, getting everything ready! Christina is an artist from Mount Tamborine, who originally trained as an art teacher.  Working with fibre is a newer skill for her but she has embraced the medium, and more importantly, the medium has embraced her!  

This is Christina's sample for our workshop. 

(and again, from a different angle!).

Can you see the little bunny by the toadstool???

Such divine attendance to detail!!

This is another she made for a friend's little girl. This is what the landscape looks like after more than a year of playing with it- good as new!

The tallest 'toadstool' you can see is actually a little girl doll!

She likes to hide among the fairy seats!

And some works in progress....

We all commented on Carla's apparition in the water!

and on Cristina's (NSW) trees...

and Sandra's forest too!

Isn't this pond just divine?

and Anne's waterfall???

I love that there are so many interpretations of a theme!

The Fun Theory

My friend Simon posted this video on facebook and I can't resist sharing it with you all!

Just copy and paste the link to a new window and you'll be able to watch it.

Not to give too much away, it is about the "Fun Theory".

I really like this!! In fact, this is probably the thing I most believe in the world, and even more so for children.  I'm even writing a book about it!! 

So anyway, enjoy! 

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=686979186115

and do pop back to let me know what you think!!

Creative tips for dealing with anxious, nervous, hyperactive or difficult children

Trisha Scott shared some helpful tips that she has gleaned through her work of dealing with and supporting anxious, nervous, hyperactive and difficult children over the years. 

(Funnily enough, I've just finished the final edits of Chapter 6 of the book I am working on and this deals with creative discipline strategies too.  But now I'm chapter 7, and into the fun stuff!)

So here we go...

Trisha's top tip:  Before we feel upset or angry with a child, ask yourself;

 "How would one have to feel to behave like that?"  

Gosh, if only we could pull that question out of the rabbit's hat when we need it...

Doesn't it just speak 'empathy'?  

This could really help us, in a big scary moment, to tune into the child's wavelength and help us to speak the same language.  When we remove ourselves and our feelings and our frustrations from the moment, and just truly strive to delve into theirs, we might just find a source of their pain, and in that, some way of helping them through a difficult behaviour. 

Trisha's tip:  Externalise the emotion

When children do something that hurts or upsets another, and when they are unable to self-regulate their behaviour, we can try to 'name' the thing to bring some level of consciousness to the action that must be changed, without labelling the child as 'bad' or 'silly' or 'hurtful'.  For example, when a child uses his or her hands to push, we might say; "Oh, it looks like your firecrackers are ready to blast off" and then help them to find a safe place for their 'firecracker' (hands) to explode.  Perhaps into a punching bag, or into a soft pillow. 

Stamping on, or squashing anger NEVER works. 

At some point, it will come up and out, so we are better off trying to manage the anger by helping children to let off steam and then work hard to UNDERSTAND where it comes from.

Trisha's tip: Managing Hyperactivity and ASD 

Young children like this require a calm, stable and peaceful environment.  Reducing their dependence on electronic forms of stimuli will help calm the sensory nervous system of the child.  It helps to spread 'thinking tasks' across the weekly rhythm and to encourage more physical activity.  The diet is one area that can have significant impact on the behaviours of a child.  Limiting sugars, artificial foods, preservatives and colours can have immediate effect.  Tactile experiences, such as finger painting and watercolour painting, help children to 'go with the flow', rather than struggle to meet unrealistic expectations such as directed drawings or writing tasks.  Give them some level of choice-  Shall we sing your favourite song. Which one? Or, would you like to use yellow or red paint today? 

Trisha made a special note about the quality of water with regard to the hyperactive child. She encouraged us to use 'water' play as often as possible, as it is something children gravitate to and find a sense of calm within. 

 (**Just an aside: To take, or not to take, medicine is a personal choice made by the family of the child. Medicine treats the symptoms, and may be an absolute necessity to families struggling to manage, however medicine has little to do with helping the child learn to self-manage their behaviours.  Only those who live with the child, -including parents, siblings and extended family- can truly know the level of difficulties or damage that follows outbursts. Whether or not we believe giving medicine to a child is right or wrong, we cannot make a judgement as we do not live in the same shoes)

Trisha's tip: Managing Fear and Anxiety

One of the best ways to help a child manage their fears or anxiety is to help them 'name' the thing that most bothers them.  When we 'name' it, talk about it, play with it and share it, the fear will lessen. One way we can help is to feed-back to the child.  To acknowledge their fear, but not to lessen it or explain it.

It is "so, you feel scared when you go into your room because of the monster under your bed" affirms their real concerns.  "Oh no, there is no monsters" will not do much because the child's fear is real, and in that statement, we undervalue their concern.  In these kinds of situations, an 'action' can help to back up our empathy.  We might leave a nightlight on, open the door slightly, share a therapeutic story or make a monster potion and spray their room each night before bed. 

Trisha's Drop of Gold: The ability to 'do' (through the activity of the will) is heavily based on tactile skills. If a child doesn't have these skills, they can feel isolated from the group.  When children feel like this, it often morphs into them becoming 'the class clown' because they tend to dumb themselves down before someone else can dumb them down. 

 This was probably my favourite bit of wisdom for an person living with, and working with, youngsters under 5.   Many teachers (and just about all parents) presume that all children in kindergarten will learn how to skip, paint, draw, cook, bake, sew, stitch, hold a pencil and write.  We know that some will learn more quickly than others, that some will be more capable than others, and that some children will have more struggle,  but we still believe that every single child will have some level of success.  

But I have never stopped to think that EVERY SINGLE HANDS-ON SKILL I teach them is an action, an activity that requires their physical capability. 

It doesn't really matter how wonderful they are at singing, or doing handstands, or cracking jokes, or caring for their friends, if they feel like a failure every time they must do a task for the teacher, does it? 

So, as a parent, I suppose, the more task-based stuff I can do with my child at home, like craft and cooking and sewing and hammering, the more familiar they will be with it when they reach school.  And if familiarity gives them a head start, or allows them to feel confident working in a group, or being able to help others, then surely this has to be the best thing ever!!

Another great excuse to practice home-based creative endeavours!!!

Because every parent wants their child to "sing out loud" as they express their innermost being, and a confident child can do just that.

For the past two days, I have been present at our yearly in-service training for young children.

This topic was "Meeting the Troubled Child- managing behaviours of fear, anxiety, sadness and other emotional issues in the young child".

Our keynote speaker was Trisha Scott. Trisha is a child psychologist and counsellor, who for years has worked for the Government-funded body CHYMS "Child and Youth Mental Health Service", supporting young children in need.  She also continues to work in her own practice, and has a special interest in play therapy.

As a mother of a teenager with Aspergers, I am very interested in the holistic approach to caring for, and understanding these somewhat 'difficult' or troubled children, and the biography of the path they travel. I also have a large amount of experience with organisations, including our local chapter of CHYMS, as a parent dealing with the many issues that continue to arise. 

It warms my heart to think that there are people out there, looking beyond their 'degrees' and their assumption of how to treat the 'problems' that arise in young children, to find another, more compassionate way of understanding, and not necessarily changing, the child.

For every 'troubled' child, has gifts, just as any child does.  It is the behaviours that concern us, or challenge us, or just make us want to run away, but at other times, these children can be truly delightful. What a shame to disregard the good in the quest to quell the 'bad'.   There is definitely room for growth and change and creative thinking in managing these kinds of modern challenges.

And so with that, we began.

Trisha presented an overview of the major changes affecting us all over the last 20 years- the rise in terrorism, the rise in mass media (hysteria) and information sharing, extreme weather conditions and the recent global financial collapse. And within all this change,

the family structure has seen most of all.  

A typical family is no longer 2 adults (one male, one female- married) and 2.4 children.

Now, a family can be just about any combination. 

And children have to deal with this too....

The three key components in a child's life: Safety, Security and Predictability, are no longer guaranteed.  

And the world still races ahead!

No wonder there are so many children displaying signs of anxiety, stress, depression, ADHD, Aspergers, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), Oppositional Defiant Disorder and the rest.

According to Trisha, children are showing signs of anger, violence, aggression, worry, withdrawal, sadness, inattentiveness, are fidgety, lack an ability to self direct, resent having to 'move' (I'm too tired) or just can't be bothered.  

As a teacher for many years, I can vouch for an increase in difficult situations-  I have witnessed it in my classroom, in my school and know the same kinds of challenges are occurring all over our region too, through the stories of teacher friends.  There ARE more incidents, the nature and severity of an incident is changing, and incidents are occurring more frequently.  No doubt about it.

And sadly, even if we are lucky enough that our own children don't display these difficulties or behaviours (and I tell you, luck definitely helps!), our children WILL have, and WILL witness, these kinds of things in their surroundings, whether that be in class, in the playground, at the local park or at the beach.  Sooner or later, it will touch their lives.  Building resilience in our children now is absolutely essential. 

Gosh, sounds dreadful, doesn't it?

We need a positive spin on it, don't we...

So the question is, how can we help?

and, what can we do to 'immunise' our own children against these troubles? 

Trisha, and my colleagues, shared many good ideas.

Thank goodness for the love and care of people who are not relegating things to the 'too hard' basket, and who are willing to face the challenges head on, and to meet children in the way they really need to be met if they are to push past difficulties and succeed in life.

Come back tomorrow to find out where our dialogue travelled!

A Blank Wall- An opportunity for re-invention

At the beginning of the month, I took down all our family photos in preparation for my husband to do a plaster and paint renovation on our lounge, kitchen and halls.

How strange it felt, those first few days, to see plain white space.

Empty walls.

(and lots of dirty marks!  Ugghhh!) 

 The walls are now clean, but my husband has been otherwise occupied so we are living with empty walls for a little longer.

I'm beginning to like it! 

I can't help but think that a blank wall is a metaphor for 'cleaning the slate' of life.

Re-invention.  New learning.  Letting go. 

Sometimes, I try to listen objectively (without engaging in the emotion) to the chatter of my mind. It seems there are three stories on high rotation!!  True friendship, marriage and children feature heavily in these scripts, and some of my thoughts shock me with their negative spin.  Mindfully paying attention to fleeting thoughts is a really interesting practice  ; ) 

One of the rotations is a story that is more than 2.5 years old.  Done and dusted, we've all moved on, yet sometimes, my mind just won't let it go.  I wonder if other people experience this futile repetition, even after acceptance, of a past situation?

So a blank wall to me suggests that getting rid, once and for all, of things you don't need, don't like or that don't fit is not only possible, it is as easy as taking down the old pictures and stories, and replacing them with something new.  I like this.

Every morning, as I sip my first joyous cup of hot tea, I look at the wall and remember.

I am in charge of what I put up there. 

I can choose the things I have (or don't have) in my life.

And I can change my mind at any time!  Simple. 

Right now, I'm enjoying a little blank space but visions of artistic wall installations are brewing...

Oh, I can't wait to see what appears....

MamaMoontime on Natural Kids Blog

MamaMoontime was profiled yesterday on the lovely blog, Natural Kids .

Natalie is one of the editors in the Natural Kids etsy team and wanted to feature the how-to of my Winter Wattle fairy . What an honour! 

Click on the link if you'd like to pop over and see what else the Natural Kids team are up to!

February Love

February is almost upon us!

I can't wait.

January has been a month of writing, and not much else so I'm looking forward to sharing a whole stack of new stuff in Feb with you all.

There will be how-to's, some new recipes, games, a story or two, musings on creativity and more..

I hope you pop back soon to see what I've been up to! 

Build your own mountain climbing wall at home

I visited my lovely friend Carrie today for a cup of tea and a catch up!

Her children were home, it still being holidays until Monday when school resumes for a new year, and her eldest son was busy in the garage.

This is what he was doing!

Practicing climbs on his very own mountain climbing wall!!

Dad and son share a hobby together and later this year will set off on a big adventure down south. (Possibly with my husband in tow. He too, is a climbing fan)

I love this.  

The climbing wall represents to me a parent's desire and ability to provide things that will not only keep a son (or daughter) occupied and out of trouble, 

but also inspire them and engage them in a learning activity. 

A great parent goes above and beyond the call, don't they!

I have a feeling this wall may just shape a child's destiny.

What a clever little bunch!

Party games and ideas for children #3

Last year, Ned and I went to the 100th Anniversary Fair of our local school. This is the school where my next door neighbour's daughter goes to, and the same one my younger sisters attended when we first moved to Queensland.

The Spring Fair was held on a Friday, to enable the day to be run almost completely by the children in Grade 7. (The last year of school, 12 and 13 year olds).

The children joined to form small groups and each group took charge of a fundraising stall.

There was the usual- pick a bottle, throw a coin on the chocolate bar, the dunking machine, throw a ball through a hoop, the empty-bed-frame throwing game (where children throw coins and try to make them land on top of a prize, not allowing the coin to slip through the wires) and a cent auction.

But they did have one activity that was drawing crowds more than any other!

Decorate a cupcake for $1!!

So, into the queue we hopped. 

I nearly died when I saw the bowls of green, blue, pink and yellow icing!!!

(The kids loved it, of course, but surely there is another way? 

There is:   see below)

Next to the icing, were bowls of mini marshmallows, sprinkles, silver cachous, mini smarties and chocolate dimes. And spoons, thank goodness for spoons... the children could drizzle their picks onto their cupcake. 

But it was a glorious activity and the children really loved it- the creative freedom, if not the cupcakes themselves! (That, I didn't mind at all!) 

And one of my Moondew mums recently told me that Coles (one of our local supermarkets) now stocks natural colours, so there is another way!  Pink (made from cochineal extract and not much more-yay!) and Yellow (made from Marigold extract and a few other things).  Each bottle costs about $2.50, a little more than the imitation stuff but not so much it is prohibitive.  Good thinking, Coles!

They also had a mini pack of four natural colours for about $7.50. 

(And beetroot juice... we can't forget beetroot juice.  It makes a lovely hue of pink too. )

For birthdays and parties, I think the expense is justified. Do you? 

Last year, a friend and I also stopped in to the Cudgen school fair.

This caught my eye as a good game for children at a party too.

A blow up pool filled with water (and we have plenty of that to share at the moment!), and small rubber blow up balls that the children could 'catch' with a bamboo fishing pole. 

The one they caught became their prize to take home, but the act of fishing itself was probably more fun!!! Abbey loved it!!

Have you seen any funky fete or fair activities that could be used for home?

Ned is turning 3 soon, and I'm thinking a circus party might be the happening thing.

I'd love to know what kind of things you have done/seen at parties too??

Thank you!

Playgroup Symbols, to help children establish ownership

Younger children who can't yet read, are able to recognise symbols.

Using symbols is the perfect way to help children establish a sense of ownership over their things when they can't yet recognise their own name. 

Not only that, a symbol is something fun!

Recognising, and then drawing symbols is the basis for writing and reading too.

Think Egyptian heiroglyphics!! 

These are some of my new symbols for Moondew in 2011.

The designs are mostly direct from my Japanese stamping books with a few coming from this lovely book I borrowed from the library recently. 

"Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty" by Helen Dardik

ISBN  978 1600 585 982

When I choose symbols, or draw them myself (I often draw them from scratch but this year, I wanted to use the ones from my stamping books- too cute!!), I contemplate the child who will receive it.

I like to match some aspect of the symbol to the personality of the child if I know them too.

It really is a careful business, this picking and choosing of symbols.

I wouldn't want to find myself with a naughty little elf now, would I?    : )

So, as I spent time drawing and colouring symbols, Ned was watching intently.

He asked me to draw one for him for Moondew and chose, not surprisingly, a rubbish truck!

I added a blue "ute" (small flat bed utility truck) and a red car to my collection after his request.

I know a few little boys who are going to be very happy campers with these symbols!!

What do you think of my rubbish truck effort??   : )

Wooden Meccano Set

How cool is this?

My friend Sandra was given this by a friend and the children in her family day care LOVE it!

I think some of the older Moondew children would too.

Anyone know where to get hold of one???

Child size tools for cooking

I'm a BIG believer in using child-labour!

No, not really but I am a big believer in encouraging children to join us in as many of our home tasks as possible, as a way of stretching the 24 hours in our day and freeing up time for our own creative tasks. 

When children help us:

they learn valuable home care skills, 

they realise that things don't happen miraculously (for example, it takes effort to get dinner to the table),

they slowly become self sufficient

and we have MUCH LESS need to nag or deal with grumpy, frustrated, attention-starved children.

When they join in with us, we can let go of guilt or worry because these interactions really do qualify as "quality time" with our children.  We can also tick the box for 'educational experiences' without ever leaving home!  Yippee do dah!!  We are 'home-schooling' in the very best sense. 

Most children, from about age two, can help to do something.

And if we let them join in, they will usually help for a while then retreat back to their own activity and let us get on with our task in peace, happily satisfied with their efforts. 

Win, win!!

One way to encourage their assistance is to offer child-size tools at times.

(At times, I also like to let them use adult-sized tools.  It just depends on the age of the child, their physical size and skill level as to which I choose)

For Christmas, Ned received some a few of his own kitchen tools including a meat hammer (I don't know the real word?? anyone??), a sifter and a rolling pin from Mercurius. 

These tools (not toys) are imported to Australia from Germany, and are food quality. 

So, the other night, Ned helped me to prepare schnitzel. 

(Apologies to vegetarian readers for photos!)

His next task was to help egg and breadcrumb the fillets. 

A spoon helped him to scatter breadcrumbs evenly. 

Once this fun task was done, he went off to play happily with his cars by himself and I finished cooking the meal on my own.

5 or 10 minutes of attention and a bit of mess is so much better than plonking him in front of a television, don't you think??

Here is the child size rolling pin.

It works so well and he loves it!

We've been busy cookie bakers 3 times this week!

Thank goodness for our visitors who help to eat them all up!!