Nursery Tour!

How to make a Lavender Foot Bath!

These foot baths are good for all kinds of healing...Mind, Tired Body & Spirit.

We especially love them at school after a hop in the mud or the sandbox, on a day when it's a bit chilly still.
We take our red basins and fill with very arm water (test it, of course!) and add about 3-5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil. We love Aura Cacia's Lavender Essential Oil, it's affordable and has a great scent.
We let the children help carry out the footbaths to the back porch and give a good soak.
This is also wonderful for soaking splinters and we even gave the mother's at our school footbaths for Mother's Day.
It is great to have handy:
A plastic or galvanized metal bin
Hot water
Essential Oils
A hand towel for drying
A small chair for sitting and soaking in the love!

(In winter we love to add peppermint and chamomile)

Let me know how your footbaths turn out!

How to Make a Wooden Sword for Knighting!

These sweet swords are as simple to make as the shape itself.

They are also wonderful for young children as they have no sharp point.

We used left over kindling wood that we had from our local hardware store, the handles were cut from a long length of wood. We had the children help with a small handsaw

 (parental or caregiver supervision a must, of course!) 

We drilled a hole working with an old fashioned hand cranked 

screwdriver that was easy for little hands to work with.

We glued the button cover and used heavy string to secure it all while it dried

 and also make the hilt look more fancy. 

Many of the children chose to leave the string, they had worked hard to tie it, 

so they were kind of attached to it!

We applied a coat of beeswax to "polish it" the last in a long line of tasks, and a favorite for all.

This project took shape from mid Winter thru to Spring which made it's finishing all the more special.

The swords were used in our "Bridge Crossing" ceremony, a custom in Waldorf Kindergartens. The children cross over in to "Summerland", or in the case of First grade ready children they cross over into First Grade.

This year I knighted the children with the following verse and then they crossed over the bridge to Miss Toki who greeted, hugged them and let them go into the arms of their proud parents.

Teacher: "Child's First Name have you been Brave & True?"

Child: "Oh, Yes"

Teacher: "Have you heard the Stars calling to you?"

Child: "Oh, Yes"

Teacher: "Then you shall be a Knight too!"

And then I handed them the swords they had built this year and said:

"Use them with gentle hands..."

I have to thanks Sarah from Bella Luna toys for the above verse, I learned it when I was her assistant in the Rose Kindergarten many many years ago. Xo

Hostess with the Mostess Giveaway!!!!

Our BIG giveaway is almost drawing to a close. But there are still 2 more days left. To enter go to www.hwtm.com and go to the blog. Enter by leaving a comment on her post. Good luck!!!

Mail Bag Today!

Second star to the right//and straight on till morning

Putting together your Healing Basket

This is a must for a kindergarten and truly loved not only in our play school but also in our own home.

Here are a few of our favorite things:

 Included but not pictured are an ice pack (we use a red velour one) and a red washcloth. 

See a theme here?

Red is perfect for bumps and scrapes, bloody noses and even more serious injuries. 

You can cover them easily and the red won't show the blood.

This may sounds a little gruesome, but it has a calming affect on children and caregivers.

 As caregivers you certainly want to see where the blood is coming from and how much but this lets you do that without scaring the hurt child and the onlooking class children.

Splinters! The hedgie scrub brushes are perfect for cleaning where a splinter has been.
GENTLY brush, the hedgie will make the kids happy, and distracted a bit too.
We use calendula cream on everything! and also antibiotic cream on most scrapes and splinters. I love Weleda  and Boiron for almost everything, except antibiotic cream, it expires so quickly so I always just grab the supermarket brand to have on hand.

Eye wash! Must have! Also we keep California Babies "Hair Detangler" for knots but it also has a VERY calming scent. Hairbrush is in there too. Many times after a bump or scrape combing a child's hair can help center them and prepare them to go back with the class.
And best of all? Healing Gnome, he hides in there and pops up as needed! (also red, just in case)

Bruises and Cuts: Arnica in various forms, Bandaids in all sizes

Lavender essential Oil for foot baths on cold days, Ear Drops for earaches, and Echinacea.
All Winter musts for us.

Our all time favorite & most used thing in our Healing Basket, ALWAYS!
We love this little cup and the children do too. It's the perfect size for a little sip of "Remedy" as we call us.
I cannot stress enough how useful this is in our program and in our home life!!!
Just a quick list of uses THIS WEEK:
Trouble entering the classroom (fears)
Head bonks
Splinter
Falling
Slipping
A hurt Toe
A really bad fight between two children
The list goes on, and in our family little one asks for this often. It may seem silly but it's like a hug from flowers! REALLY! And it so soothes. 

All in a sweet little basket, sewn up by my co-teacher Miss Toki!