Handmade Gift Idea!

A Pine cone slathered with organic, natural peanut butter. then sprinkled with birdseeds makes a very lovely handmade gift for family members, friends and wildlife!!!!

Birds

Our Stories over the next 4 weeks will be from the book Christmas Roses Legends for advent. This week our story is "The Legend of the Bird's Nest". In this story , a Hermit prays to God for the destruction of the world due to all the suffering it's people has created. He is a gnarled, old hermit and while he is praying, with arms outstretched to the heavens , two little birds mistaken him for a tree and build their nest in his hand. Watching these birds, and especially the baby birds that hatach, cause the hermit to have a change of heart. One of my family's all time favorites!!! This week , one project we made is a pine cone bird feeder. We gathered the pine cones from our yard and slathered on organic natural peanut butter and then sprinkled on some bird seeds. Dried fruit could also be added. This was a fun project so we decided to make a few as gifts as well.
Other ideas:
Visit a bird sanctuary
Make your own birds nest from natural or found materials OR make a little box of helpful natural materials for the birds to use.

Advent

During Advent, we light a candle each evening to mark the path to Christmas day. We use a night sky play silk over a small round table and spiral 24 tea light candles towards one golden star candle in the center ( representing Christmas Day) We also decorate the spiral with pine branches and little wooden stars ( that we have painted golden.) Each Sunday during the Advent we add a representation of each kingdom to the spiral.
1st Sunday: Rocks, Crystals, Shells
2nd Sunday: Small plants
3rd Sunday: Little wooden animals
4th: People ( Mary and Joesph figures)
I sing "One Star Shone" from Sing a Song of Seasons by Mary Thienes-Schunemann each and every night after we light the candle. I love this time of year!

Apples

This week our story is The Star House from Autumn Tales by Suzanne Down. In this story a little apple tree looks up to the stars and wishes he could be a star. Mother Earth tells the little tree to be patient and he will discover that he is as special as the stars. The seasons come and go and once the apple is ripe and picked, Mother Earth shows the little tree his own stars, which he has had all along! A very sweet story. We have had apples for snack everyday ( the one I cut open after the story each day as pictured here) This apple story lends itself to many baking and cooking projects as well! We will be making caramel apples as well as apple pie ( for Thanksgiving).
Other Activities:
Apple Prints on cloth napkins with fabric paint
Drying apples slices (sliced with star showing)
Planting the seeds

Toadstools

This week our story is The Mushroom In the Rain by the teachers at Acorn Hill Waldorf Kindergarten and Nursery, From the book A Lifetime of Joy. In this story , an ant seeks shelter from the rain under a mushroom. As it rains, more and more animals continue to seek shelter under it as well. After it has stops raining the animals all leave the shelter for their homes and the little ant wonders just HOW they were able to all fit underneath! A very sweet story. We are using wooden animals and a few homemade ones as well as props to tell this story. One of our projects included crafting and then painting toadstools from a paper egg carton.
Other Activities:
Cooking with a variety of mushrooms ( cleaning and cutting)
Portabella mushroom prints
Hunting for mushrooms outside after a rainfall