Holidays
Below, and on continuing pages, is a list of ideas and resources for celebrating holidays throughout the year. If your
family celebrates a holiday not included here, please email us with your suggestions!
Candlemas - February 2
All Year Round by Ann Druitt, et al.
Floating candles
p.28
Walnut candle boats
p.29
Sand candle
p.29
Earth candle
p.30
Water-dip candles
p.30
Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children by Carol
Petrash
Shell Candles - MS Living
beeswax candle kit from Nova Natural
decorating wax from Nova Natural
block beeswax from Clapham's Beeswax Products (available in 1 oz. and 1 lb. blocks)
Valentine's Day - February 14
Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children by Carol
Petrash
Valentine Hearts p.105
Heart Windows: Tissue Paper Transparencies p.75
Herbal Sachets p.88
Valentine Mice p.107
Valentine Swans p.108
Growing Your Own Valentine p.109
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
Knitted Heart Sachet - from my knitting blog
Free Valentine Knitting Patterns from Lion Brand Yarn
Felted soaps with a heart design added once the soap is dry (using a felting needle)
Last year, my kids loved making a heart-shaped pinata and filling it
with cut-out felt hearts to share with friends. The pinata was super-simple
to make -- just use a heart-shaped balloon. They are available at all the grocery stores this
time of year. We used newspaper
for the first layer and red tissue paper for the outer layer. Simply dip the strips of paper in a thinned
Elmer's Glue/water mixture and run the strips between your fingers to squeeze out the excess. Then lay on the balloon
form (remember to leave a space uncovered for stuffing the pinata). Hang from a shower curtain rod to dry overnight. Then pop the balloon,
reach your hand into the empty space and stuff with treats. Use tissue paper for the final layer, covering over the hole. Let dry
again and then take turns swinging!
wool felt from Nova Natural
Draw hearts on your child's window with window crayons so he/she
wakes up to the beautiful sight. The hearts
can be from the Valentine's fairy or a gift from you. Or, decorate the windows together! You can also extend this idea to
secretly decorating the windows of a family member or other loved one, doing it either the night before
V. day or during the day while they are at work.
"Answer to a Child's Question" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (link is to poem & sheet music)
Story suggestions from Live Ed!
Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda
"The Shower of Hearts" by Helen Louise Miller (I have
been unable to figure out which collection of her plays this is in)
"Snow White and Rose Red" by the Bros. Grimm
Activity suggestions from Marsha Johnson (Waldorf Home Educators)
Consider the virtues of this day, rather than a Hallmark
Card 'Created" holiday, consider the larger virtues of love,
selflessness, devotion, friendship, courage, steadfastness, and
hope. In this context many stories could have value.
In your family setting, you probably have some V. Day traditions or
crafts, foods, or fun that you might enjoy each year.
In the school setting, it is often a time to express creative regards
for all of our friends! All.... : )
Telling a story that brings these ideals could come from the fairy
stories of true love, or from history if the children are older, say
10 or 11, you can bring a myth of star crossed lovers or real life
historical figures...
For younger children, though, avoid that reading of fact filled
histories and give them some imagination to 'eat' along with their
cookies and milk.
Draw from another culture to bring a story from the NW Native
American tradition of beautiful Mt. St. Helens who was courted by Mt
Hood and Mt Adams....... ....or choose a Chinese tale of love from
their culture, or an animal-nature tale of two devoted robins who
build a nest in the cool spring year after year, his red chest
shining with the early sun......... against the fresh green grass.
I think V. Day falls more into the let's party days of the year, not
so much a holy day or a festival moment, but a kind of let's eat
special stuff and be silly....... ..you can make that day a lot of fun
for children, here are a few ideas:
Heart shaped pancakes
Oatmeal with heart shaped outline of maple syrup on top
I love you drawn on the bathroom mirror with soap...or pink lipstick
(small size)
Pink frosted cooky making--roll them out and do the whole thing.
Week before (now) create an old shoe box into a 'V Day Mail Box' with
a slot on the top, set up card table to paper-creation- glue-glitter-
lace making stuff, and everyone create a secret card to slip into the
box to open V. Day Dinner
Cut the sandwiches into heart shapes or do this with grilled cheese
*use the leftover bread for stuffing a squash or make bread pudding
tomorrow or croutons...
Set a special table for dinner: pink candles, flowers, red napkins
with special red wool heart (simple) napkins rings you sew
Heart shaped loaf of bread for dinner, braided and shaped before
baking, serve with Borscht (beet) soup! Yummy.
Cook rice and when still pretty hot, press it into a lightly greased
heart shaped mold or cookie cutter, serve it for dinner.....children
enjoy this very much, use plain sticky rice....stir in a little
butter if you like....
For small children, create special easy red-wool or material simple
cloth crowns with felt hearts sewed on and jewels glued on for a
sparkly festive King or Queen Valentine's Day gift
Stitch a simple heart shaped potholder from red fabric, use an old
towel to cut out the middle padding part, sew it together and add a
loop as a present for a neighbor or grandma...
Very young children can finger knit a pink yarn necklace string and
then can sew a simple red or pink felt heart onto the ends to make a
V. Day necklace for a friend or themselves.
Use wet felting to create red and pink hearts of wool, shaped as you
felt, lay out 3-5 layers on an old towel and add very hot water in
drips and squirts of soap to create a flat piece of felt that you can
cut out in a heart shape with very sharp scissors or tuck the rough
edges under and stitch down by hand.
Shape cream cheese into a heart shaped mold, surround with spicy
seafood sauce and fresh pink shrimp, serve with crackers for a
delicious appetizer.
Mix cranberry juice with sparkling pink soda or sparkling water for a
fun fizzy dinner drink.
If you have old bread, cut it out with a heart shaped cookied cutter,
spread it with p. butter, roll it in bird seed, thickly, and poke a
wire through it to take outside and hang on the winter bare branches
for our feathered friends. They also like this, soaked in melted
lard or suet if you can find any around.....
Mail cards to out of town grandparents on Monday...... ..include a
photo....... they will love it.
For the young child, ONE special addition to the regular day is
plenty. They really can enjoy that special treat or change of
routine and then are not overwhelmed by too many activities. Probably
as parents, we are prone to adding too many events in the day, and
this can be tiring for the younger ones.
Continue on to Easter...
|
