Thursday 8 November 2012

Club Day. The Nature Version.

I write this blog amidst the shrieking that apparently accompanies supper dishes when Papa is around.  While I am thankful he is back home, I could do with a little more quiet.

I also found that competition can work wonders for children in need of putting their clothes away neatly.  As the Nature Club burst into the house on this chilly afternoon, I casually mentioned how messy the Birds of Prey Club left their outside clothes when they were here earlier in the week.  And what would you know - all coats were hung up, boots were standing in pairs, and there was not a single mitten, toque or hat laying on the floor.  Hmmm...I'll save that trick for a later date and see if it works again.

Today, out Nature Club made some beautiful art with the flowers, leaves and grasses that we picked at the end of summer.  We've had them between layers of cardboard and a stack of encyclopedias on top of them ever since.  They turned out beautifully.






Before they started, I read them Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers.  We thought back to the summer and all the lovely colours that lived in our garden, and where they might go for the winter.  We talked about whether Mother Earth is real, and how the Earth provides everything we need to be happy and healthy, much like mothers do. 

Then we moved on to our craft.  I gave the girls a couple of ideas for what they could do with their pressed treasures.  I showed them a painting our family picked up when we were in Prince Edward Island this summer.  The artist is Elizabeth Ghiz-Fay, and it is watercolour on paper, with natural found objects arranged in such a way to create familiar beach sights (for example, rocks arranged to look like a sailboat or duck).  The other idea was straight out of Green Crafts for Children, where we cut out a fairy figure (a root child, perhaps), then dressed it with the flowers and leaves.


The children created lovely art with their summer treasures!


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