One of our books this week was ”Not A Box” by Antoinette Portis, also the author of “Not A Stick”. Who hasn’t at one time in their lives preferred to play with the box more than the gift inside? In “Not A Box” , the simple stick figure rabbit imagines his/her box is a boat, a rocket ship, robot; everything but a box. Of course in “Not a Stick” the stick is a sword, fishing pole, conductors baton….. I love these books and so do the kids. It’s an open invitation to imagine whatever they like.
Since we did this project I’ve had some feedback from parents and actually got to see how the kids are playing with their “boxes”. Emma turned her house upside down, and turned it into a “SUV” she doesn’t have a SUV but that’s what she told me she was putting her stuffed animals in. In they went , Emma joined them and took them for a drive. In and out, in and out up and over, she had lots of fun with her box (not a box)car. Emma’s box was just a box with a door cut into it. River’s box was a little more sophisticated. She had a windshield and steering wheel. I’m told she has been “driving” all over town. What started as a fun painting project at camp lives on at home.
We also decorated little “treasure” boxes….glue, glitter, sequins, stickers!!!! what fun
Here are a couple pictures I love that were taken way back last winter/spring. Theo’s mom emailed them to me and I just figured out how to save them to my computer then move them to my Piccasa account for use here……wow! I did it but it wasn’t easy!…..I’m so not a computer person!
At any rate it was a beautiful day and we were having fun with the scarf chase game and a walk to our “listening tree” We haven’t gone to the listening tree all summer. It’s just outside our gate and down the gravel drive way. I go out with the kids and a few parents (not necessarily all of them). We stop at the big oak tree and just listen….quiet!…..listen…..
We met online. It seemed like a perfect match so I invited Holly and her 3 year old son to come to camp and check it out. Holly and her son Bryles had a great time and Holly wrote a wonderful review of our parent/child camp on her blog Sono-ma.blogspot.com…..cute! Holly noticed and acknowledged all the little things that I hope people “feel” when they come to camp.
Holly keeps an ongoing calendar of free family/kid related events in the area on her blog. Her posts are related to her life as a mom in Sonoma county. You’ll find tips on canning and where to find wild blackberries , her favorite beach and much loved trails. Check out her blog and the great write up she did on Smiling Tree Farm……take a minute to comment.
We had fun with worms today. We built a worm farm by layering dirt and sand in a clear plastic bottle then dug up worms from the compost heap and added them along with some food (lettuce, apple peel) . We also painted toilet paper roll worms and peeled some organic apples with worm holes…..no worms there! The idea with the worm farm is that we cover the bottle with paper so that the worms have darkness which they like . Then you can peek at their work by removing the cover and seeing where the worms have been by the trail of sand they leave. I’m anxious to hear back from everyone to see if their worms ate the food and made sand trails up and down the side of the bottle. Everyone can enjoy watching their worms then dump them out into their garden so they can help make the flowers and plants grow stronger.
I’m happily doing some more nanny/doula “work”. The family I’m helping has a charming and bright 3 1/2 year old girl and a sweet new 3-4month old baby boy. I brought our prayer flag project to do with Emma. We put a little spin on the project though. Instead of using koolaide to dye the flags we used beet juice. The beet juice was great because it gave Emma an opportunity to taste fresh cooked beets. I boiled, peeled and sliced the beets then had Emma use a small cookie cutter to cut the beets into Teddy bear shapes. That was all well and good, she cut the beets and arranged the little beet bears on the plate but was quite sure she didn’t want to eat them……we’ll try again another time! The other thing that was different about the project was that Emma stitched the flags on the cord. At camp we stapled the flags on but with plenty of time Emma stitched the flags herself. The way we did the sewing was I poked the needle in and she pulled it through until she got the hang of it and then did it all herself. I helped by holding the work for her.
I explained to Emma that the idea was that when you hang your flags and the wind catches them it takes good wishes all ’round the world. She asked if good wishes would go to her Uncle Jeff and I said yes…so sweet!
I love when I capture a moment, an expression, an emotion with my camera. I love taking pictures. Every once in a while I won’t have my camera or I’m too busy living the moment to take time away to take a picture. I often hear myself say “oh, that would be a great photo” and acknowledging the moment is gone I say, ” we’ll just have to remember what it felt like” or how “beautiful it was”. It’s great to have a photo record of an event but sometimes the camera can keep us from being part of the action; we’re recording it not living it. With our quick digital cameras I often see children run to the camera to see the picture , abandoning the fun photo-worthy activity they were only moments ago involved in. Before I had kids I was a “serious” photographer. I had a big heavy camera with interchangable lenses and even had a darkroom at one time. Once I had children I realized I was missing a lot of the fun by “hiding” behind the camera. I bought a point and shoot camera and then a digital. Now that my kids are all grown up I have my Smiling Tree kids to take pictures of. I still feel like I’m torn between recording the fun and being part of the fun. …….this little ramble is brought to you by my regret that I didn’t get more pictures of our ice cream making fun…………hmmmm we’ll just have to remember how much fun it was and how delicious the ice cream was!
When my kids were young we made kick the can ice cream. It was so much fun. We put our ingredients in a coffee can, added a spoon as an agitator then taped it up with duct tape then put that can into another can with ice and salt then taped that can up then proceeded to kick or roll the can back and forth until we had ice cream. This is something my kids still talk about. Well, I found an easier way with zip lock bags. Here’s the You tube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRDsW_p4LA
I didn’t get many pictures but the ice cream did turn out……..delicious! A couple things I’d add to the instructions is to be sure to use heavy duty freezer bags especially for the milk mixture. The bags are great because you can see how your ice cream is setting up. Be careful with the salt. We make our ice cream on our front lawn so I asked everyone to be careful when they opened the bag not to spill the salt water. Remove as much air from the inner (milk) bag this way the liquid gets the most surface to coldThis only make a small portion but enough to enjoy the magic of turning milk and sugar into ice cream in less than 10 minutes. Truth be told the parents probably were more intriqued with the process than the kids but everyone enjoyed the ice cream. This is something I’d do over and over. Make it a summer tradition the kids will want to repeat and will remember.
Stephenie my niece (great-niece) and helper often makes our samples. Here shes’ making a Smiling Tree Camp windsock…….thanks Steph
This is a fun project we did earlier in the summer and I’m just now posting it. This was a great project because the kids had fun making the windsock then took them out to the front lawn for a run and when they were tired we all enjoyed watching them blow in the breeze.
Do you remember dyeing carnations when you were a kid? I do. We’d put white carnations in jars with colored water and the carnations would change color….magic! I saw some Queen Anne’s Lace dyed the same way…..beautiful! I thought it would be a fun project for camp so I tried it. I learned you need to start with darker water than I used. After a few days I noticed a faint color change but not much. The flowers were pretty in the colored water jars though. You can find Queen Anne’s lace growing along the road side all over “West County”. I don’t think anyone minds if you pick it.
We had a busy day at camp. Started by picking blackberries then everyone made cheesy pretzels. I wanted to try dyeing Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring but my prototype didn’t work very well so I went ahead and picked a big bouquet of flowers for the kids to cut blossoms from to make “flower arrangements” in baby food jars. I encouraged the kids collect greenery from around the yard to add to their creations. The pretzels were left to rise while the kids played and had fun with their craft projects.
The pretzels were delicious! I’m always amazed how well the recipes we use turn out. The recipe may call for 1/2 teaspoon of yeast but the kids sometimes measure out 1/4 teaspoon or 1+! If the grown up has an eagle eye they can compensate with the other ingredients or add a little something more to make the concoction closer to the recipe. One way or another our baking always turns out great. Here’s the recipe for our pretzels
We started camp with a quick run around and a few songs then off to explore and create. Our project this week was our take on Tibetan Prayer flags. I’m sure you’ve seen these flags flying in different places around town or maybe seen pictures of them flying on mountain tops in Tibet…one of our moms has been to Tibet and has seen the flags there first hand. The colors of the flags represent different things: yellow-earth, blue-space (spirit), green-air (wind) etc. Each flag has a prayer or good wish for healing, happiness in the world. The idea is to hang the flags where the wind will catch them and blow the good wishes ’round the world……..wonderful! Our flags were made on unbleach muslin, decorated with permanent markers then dyed by dipping in a solution of koolaide, vinegar and salt. This “dye” is not permanent on cotton but was fun to work with and safe. The kids hung their flags on the clothesline to dry then we strung them together so they could take them home and find a place to hang them so the wind will catch them.
As you can see in the slide show a couple grown ups found a moment to themselves to create. I love when parents have a moment to themselves. When you have small children that is often hard to come by. Most parents don’t have a chance to create and play with art so when they can do it here at camp I think it’s a special treat. While I set the projects up for the kids and ask parents to let the kids do their own thing I love the bonding that occurs when parent and child work side by side; parent available to help if needed, child free to explore as they choose.
Our neighbor horses came for a visit at the fence and all the kids who wanted to fed them watermelon. I usually instruct the parents on how to help their child feed the horses but today I helped the kids. I learned this from a “horsey mom”….hold the food by the end with plenty sticking out for the horse to get…carrots, long pieces of watermelon etc. The child holds the food and the grownup covers the child’s entire hand with their own (protecting the child’s fingers). I’m not comfortable with the method of holding the food on my out stretched palm….too many little fingers to get in the way!
After feeding the horses we buried the rest of the watermelon rinds in the compost pile. This was another object of fascination. The kids love looking at all the wiggly worms. We’ll be making a worm farm in the next couple weeks…..the kids will love that!
We used markers, stickers and rubber stamps to decorate cardstock (1/4 page) and make postcards. The kids and parents made their postcards then addressed them to Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa. I made arrangements for our mail man to drive back and pick up our handmade postcards. The kids where thrilled to have the mail truck drive up and hand their cards to the mail man. It was fun and funny to see how excited the kids were…..who’d a known!
Inspired by an article in Mothering Magazine we gathered herbs and flowers from the garden; lavender, roses, thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, and some unidentified bits of green the kids found. We made a tea with the fragrant herbs and flowers and while the tea steeped we wrapped more herbs and flowers in a square of fabric with a cotton ball to absorb a few drops of grapefruit essential oil. The fabric sachet was to take to enjoy a foot bath at home then the hot herb tea was added to a small tub of cool water for the kids and moms to take a foot soak…..so sweet! I hope everyone will find time sit with their kids and soak their feet and share a special moment. I imagine a cool soak on a hot afternoon while sipping iced tea or a warm soak on a cold day with a story and maybe a cup of hot cocoa.
We usually have our picnic lunch at around 11:30am. I ring the bell, we wash our hands then gather on quilts and blankets on the front lawn. It works out great; I usually have something to share and before the meal is over everyone has a chance to get a little something from someone else’s lunch (other people’s lunch seems to much more interesting than our own). This day the kids were hungry well before lunch time. I got out the apple peeler and a couple apples and we were ready for a snack and a fun activity. Everyone likes to try turning the apple peeler/corer so we took turns and shared the apple…..yummm!
We love run and chase games. Today we stuck a scarf in our back pocket or waist band and chased around trying to grab each others scarf. I love when the kids and parents all join in.
This was such a sweet project. It is of course more than a foot print scroll to hang up and admire. It’s the special closeness of moms and dads and grandmas holding their little one’s feet; a little tickle, a little joke , painting their feet then lovingly washing them. I loved this. When I say it’s the process not the product I guess I mean it because I managed to not take a picture of the finished scrolls, just the closeness of making them.
This was a fun project. We made playdough molds of the kids’ hands and feet then filled them with plaster of Paris. All the little wrinkles and lines showed up. Some of the prints were given as Father’s Day gifts
We had another beautiful day at camp. The kids are ready for water play. They’re loving the wash tub and clothes line. We painted, played with play dough and the kids all went home with some clay. Our picnic was especially sweet; everyone cuddled on the quilts and blankets and listened to stories. Well….some stayed for the story while others were free to roam.
