Cut one long side from an empty cardboard box. Decorate the box, inside and out, with pictures of vegetables and fruits. Make a table and chairs from twigs and blocks or use furniture from your doll house. Spread twigs and leaves on top of the box to form a roof. Then hang small bunches of fruits (such as grapes of currants) from the ceiling.

Source: Natural Childhood

There are many Thanksgiving celebrations and festivals celebrated all over the world. Most have their roots in the ancient festivals of light. Use this time to celebrate with your children and families and to learn about the festivals and cultural celebrations of your people, your roots.

Halloween Costume Suggestions:

Some ideas for non violet, non-Disney and non-TV costumes include: pumpkin, sun, elf, moon, prince/ss, knight, wizard, maiden, fairy, flower, gnome, butter- fly, forest child, honey bee, animals, storybook characters (Nils, Robin Hood, Rapunzel, etc.) or workers (mail delivery, fire fighter, construction, etc) and traditional dress from other countries also make lovely costumes. Of course, there is also my personal favorite:

“My name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim’s Daughter Longstocking formerly the Terror of the Seas Now a Cannibal King!!!” Yes, My son was Pippi Longstocking one year. Some people questioned a boy being a girl, to which he also very knowledgably replied…. “This is Halloween and you can be whom or whatever you wish – and I am being Pippi because she is a wonderful character!”

Mabon: Celebrating the Autumn Equinox It’s the season of changing colors; crisp air filled with the scent of wood smoke; and festivals offering wine, hot cider, and apple pie. At this time of equal day and night, we give thanks for the harvest that will sustain us through the dark winter months. This book explores the history, legends, and traditions of the season that is honored from the Far East to the Celtic Lands, and from Scandinavia to South America. Create your own Mabon tradition with the help of the book’s many recipes, magical workings, equinox rituals, and crafts for all ages.

I’ve done this with my daughters for the last two years.

Although it’s recommended for Grade 1 or 2, my four year old managed with just a little help:-)

The first time, they were so surprised to see the pumpkin appear in their painting! We hung the paintings on our front door for Halloween and had so many nice comments…

Begin by painting a large golden yellow ball- this will be your pumpkin, but don’t tell them you’re painting a pumpkin.

Next, surround with

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Q: Do you have any verses for Autumn?

A: I sure do! Here are a few of our favorite verses and even an Autumn story! Enjoy!

Autumn wind came stealing
Through the woods one day,
And creeping round the tree, he stole
Their beauty all away.
He tore their russet dresses,
Combed off their golden hair.
He blew away the tattered bits,
And left them brown and bare.

* * * * * * * *

Autumn winds are sighing,
Stealing through the forest brown,
As they softly pass the tree trunks
Little leaves come falling down.
But a stronger gale is blowing
And then the leaves themselves
Rise and dance about the forest
Just like little elves.
Faster, faster see them whirling
Till the gale has passed.
One by one the tired leaflets
Sink to rest at last.

* * * * * * * *

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As the weather becomes colder, and Halloween draws near, the Sugar Sprite Fairy requires more sugar to keep warm than she needs in the summer months. She knows that on Halloween, thousands of children will participate in an old custom we know as trick-or-treating, going door to door to collect sugary sweets. Because of this special ritual, there will be mountains of sweet and sugary candy in abundance. This is great news for the Sugar Sprite, and exactly what she needs to feed herself and her sweet family.

On All Hallows Eve, or Halloween as most of us now call it, the children are so excited that often they get careless – as they run door to door, they drop many pieces of candy – and The Sugar Sprite and all of her helpers are there to collect there. Yes, some children do sample some candy along the way while walking around in the cold night air, and it does tend to keep them warmer and more excited to keep on going door to door!

Some lucky children, those who know of The Sugar Sprite’s existence, they place their candy at the foot of their beds (or outside the front door, etc.) before going to sleep.

During the night, the friendly Sugar Sprite comes and takes the candy – and more often than not, she leaves a wonderful gift of thanks. This is almost always a wonderful new toy, some beautiful silks and playclips or that special something the child has been wishing for (after all, a Sugar Sprite is a Fairy, which means she knows exactly what it is you have been wishing!)

Yes, the Sugar Sprite knows what all children like, but sometimes the children write letters or make pictures for the sprite about a week before Halloween so she doesn’t get confused (she has to visit a lot of children to collect enough sugar for the coming winter!)

Enjoy your Halloween and Thank You for remembering and taking care of The Sugar Sprite!

Once there was a little hobgoblin who lived deep in the woods, in a little rocky dell. He was a very naughty little hobgoblin, for his favorite pastime was to play tricks on the farmers, and on the farmer’s children, and on the townspeople, and on the townspeople’s children.

When night came and it was dark outside, the little hobgoblin would peer out of

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Q: We are preparing to paint, do you have any painting or color verses or stories?

A: Oh yes indeed! Here are some that we have used and please also feel free to use the comment feature to share YOUR favorites!

There’s a bridge of wondrous light
Filled with colors shining bright
Red and orange, yellow, green,
The fairest colors ever seen,
Blue and violet, magic rose;
Down from heaven to earth it goes

* * * * * * * * * *

Now I take the brush so gently
In my hand with loving care
Watch the color flow so softly
On the paper clean and clear.

* * * * * * * * * *

Here we go, to and fro,
over the rainbow bridge we go.
Treading softly, treading slow,
over the rainbow bridge we go.
Gathering light from sun and star,
gathering light from heaven afar,
Down to earth all things to greet,
sharing the light with all we meet.
Here we go, to and fro,
over the rainbow bridge we go.
Treading softly, treading slow,
over the rainbow bridge we go.

* * * * * * * * * *

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Q.  ”I need advice on how to handle complete defiance…for example, my 4 yr. old just looks at me and says, “No.” with a grin on his face when I ask him to do something. If I start to help him, he’ll just roll around on the floor or run out of the room and refuse to help. It’s very frustrating. I like the idea from Beyond the Rainbow Bridge of using the word “may” when asking the child to do something. (“You may pick up your shoes.”) Do you have any good advice on discipline?”

A.  I believe that a steady rhythm completely solves the “need” for discipline. When things are the same every day, there is no other option. It eventually comes to be expected that after we play, we clean up… no arguments. It is when each task is made part of a whole, a cycle, that it just becomes natural to complete the cycle. To me it’s like washing hands. Everyone dries their hands after washing. Although not really necessary, although not actually a part of washing… it is done so often that it has become a part of washing. (just a thought)

Also, asking a child that age anything, you are likely to get a defiant answer. I think leading a child into the task will get you much further… especially if you start the fun little “now I will wash my hands” song… that invites the child to join in, and at this age, they

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“My daughter is nearly three and while she has scribbled a bit in the past, shows no true interest in it. I’ve tried all types of crayons in all types of settings, even covering my coffee table with white paper thinking a big flat surface would be appealing. Nothing. She seems otherwise pretty happy, curious, affectionate and well-adjusted, likes books, outdoor play, play dough and finger painting. But will not deal with crayons. What’s this about and should I be worried?”

I wouldn’t worry at all. Your daughter sounds like a wonderful little girl. All children eventually find their own path to drawing. My children tend to want to hold crayons before they can even walk but for example, my sisters girls (both) who are each only about 1-3 months different in age from mine have very little interest. My 5 year old draws like a 10 year old and my sister often would stress out that her kids never draw and when they do it is horrible scribbles in dark colors…. She worried so much that she bought them children’s how to draw books, etc… and nothing until just a few weeks ago.

Apparently they began to show a slight interest and when they finally

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Q: How do I introduce the Letters of the Alphabet, Waldorf style?

A: “I have come up with images, stories and activities for only about half of the alphabet. Is there an established Waldorf curriculum for this?”

Letter writing is presented in a lively pictorial way with the help of fairy stories. “S” may be a fairytale snake sinuously slithering through the grass on some secret errand. The teacher draws on the chalkboard, showing how the letter is embedded in the picture, how perhaps the W is hiding in the drawing of the waves. The children draw the letter in the air with their hands and on the floor with their feet; their whole being participates in the writing experience. Then the children make their own pictures of waves, and then W’s, creating an illustrated book as each letter is presented and experienced.

In Waldorf education, the letters are presented as pictures which appeal to the child’s imagination. In reality the letter is clothes in the picture…the picture is the key. All letters of the alphabet were once pictures themselves. Are pictures ever drawn on rigid lined paper? (And coloring books are NOT pictures!) Additionally, lower case letters came much later – so we ALWAYS begin with capital letters ONLY.

“Letters can also be introduced through gestures that express their sound. A W can be derived from the undulating movement of a wave, or an S from the rushing movement of the wind.” (quote from Rhythms of Learning)

Note on forcing the letters: “It is thoroughly unnatural to require a child during the sixth or seventh year to merely copy the signs that we, in this advanced stage of civilization, now use for reading and writing. If you consider the letters we now use for reading and writing, you will realize that there is no connection between these letters and what a child of seven is naturally disposed to do. Remember, that when human beings first began to write they used painted or drawn signs that reproduced things or occurrences in the surrounding world. Or they wrote from will impulses, so that forms of writing expressed processes of the will – cuneiform characters, for example. Today’s entirely abstract form of letters, which the eye must gaze at or the hand form, arose from picture writing. When we confront a young child with such letters, we are bringing something alien, something that in no way conforms to the child’s nature. Let us be clear about what it means to “push” a foreign body into a child’s organism. It is just as though a child, from the very earliest years, were being habituated to wearing very small clothes that do not fit, and therefore damage the child’s organism. Today observation tends to be superficial, and people are even unaware of the damage done to a child’s organism by simply introducing reading and writing in a wrong way.”

~ Rudolf Steiner, The Spiritual Ground of Education

Here are a few examples

1. Think of a picture that LOOKS like the letter you are drawing. Example F = fish, W = wave, M = mountain, S = snake
2. Build a story around that image
3. Make up a simple one or two line poem, this is called a consonant verse.

F = flirting fishes flashing freely

W = Over wind swept waves, the white seagulls wildly sweep.

M = Many mighty men mount the mighty mountain

S = Six silver snakes silently slithered over the soft sea of sliding sand.

These verses and images are acted out in story, drama, rhyme, song, verse, poem and movement as well as drawing, painting, modeling, etc… The letter forms must be “alive” for the children to fully experience them and feel them within. The children need to absorb the letter and make it their own…

A wonderful resource of how the letters “come alive” with story can be seen in these two truly WALDORF books. I highly recommend them both for ideas and inspiration!

LMNOP and All the Letters A to Z

A very special Waldorf Alphabet book full of lovely “Waldorf style” art filling each page.

The Living Alphabet

Each consonant and vowel comes alive with it’s own unique qualities in the world… a lovely book!

I also strongly recommend From Imagination to Form: The Letters A – Z

The stories used should be the fairy tales appropriate for Grade One.

Here is a list:

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Featherlight
Seven Year Old Wonder Book
Fairy Worlds and Workers
Sam Luckless: The Unlucky Lad
Rapunzel: A Fairy Tale
The Land of the Blue Flower
The Wonderful Adventures Of Nils
Little Brother and Little Sister
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella

Background for Lessons

The Alphabet: Rudolf Steiner’s Detailed Explanation of the Meaning of Letters

Parental Ideas & Comments

I was disappointed by LMNOP – I got some ideas from it, but didn’t use a lot of it. For memory I think I found the verses, in particular, disappointing. I found the pictures on the cover of “Putting the Heart Back into Teaching” more inspirational, and wished they had covered all the alphabet, instead of just half a dozen of so letters. We used: E eagle I incorporated it into the body of a king and used the Dorothy Harrer story “The Secret Name of the King” (which turns out to be “I”), L ladle, P Pied Piper the curve of his arm going up to meet the recorder in his mouth forms the round of the P, Q Queen with her cloak billowing out, into a round shape around her, and the tail of it to one side forming the “tail” on the Q, R the spinning wheel from Rumplestiltskin, U unicorn with the tail forming a U shape, X xylophone with the two sticks crossed, Y yabbie with the claws showing the Y shape, Z zigzags of lightning, K king with his straight body, and arm forming the top arm of the K and leg stretched out forming the bottom arm of K (almost like he’s marching). Which is probably what you’ve already got for K.

Images I have so far are: A -angel, B – butterfly, C – cave, D – dragon, F – fish, G – goose, H – house, J – juggler, K – king, M – mountain, N – needle and thread, S – snake, T – tree, V – vase or valley, W – wave.

I followed Eric Fairman’s ideas in his book A Path of Discovery book 1. (Not very original I’m afraid). Anyway here is what I used: L – ledge, p – pond, q – quoka, r-river, x – x makes the spot on a map, y – yacht, z – zig zag path through a forest. I didn’t use these for the vowels but found them in a book called Teaching Children Writing by Audrey McAllen: Long vowel sounds A – angel E – eagle, I -Idonia (princess) O – opal – U – Unicorn, For short vowels a – apple, e – elephant, I – imp, O – orange, u – umbrella.

Parental Recommendations

Several parents shared some books they have been using which may be worth checking out! Their suggestions and their comments follow:

The Flower Alphabet Book

I just love this book. I copied this prom the book description: Roses are red, violets are blue . . . and they’re only two of the flowers in this book of bright colors and delightful information. Young readers will be fascinated to find out what flowers can be used to make a doll, which flower flavors tea, and which flower farmers feed to chickens. Author Jerry Pallotta and illustrator Leslie Evans have collaborated to produce a stunning bouquet of words and pictures about the world of flowers-one of natures most beautiful gifts. ~Kati

I wanted to let everyone know that I found a really neat book at the library, The Alphabet Atlas by Arthur Yorinks.

This book has each letter of the alphabet depicted in a beautiful way, relating to the country which begins with that letter (for instance J is for Japan and has a bamboo drawn in the middle with leaves at the end of the J and the bamboo). There is an interesting note about each country. On the opposite page there is a picture of the country and around it beautiful pictures of things related to that country, almost like a collage (very artistic). It is a lovely book and since we love geography it really is special. Highly Recommended.

Addition: Wow, I just noticed something about this cool book (read review below). The ‘collage’ type art depicting the country and related cultural things is actually pictured as a quilt! You can see the thread marks around the countries and the different pieces of ‘fabric’ which make up the cultural artifacts. Okay, that is too cool . What a great way to study geography, making small geography/cultural quilts. Oh my, I am totally inspired. ~Melissa

I love The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin.

It’s a book showing the hand positions for signing the alphabet, but it also has each letter on the page, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

The Hole by the Apple Tree: An A-Z Discovery Tale

Harold and his friends embark on a fairy-tale adventure through the alphabet and encounter giants, pirates, Snow White, and other people and things that begin with the letters from A to Z.

I found a really great one at the library today, too. It’s Anno’s Alphabet . Each letter is illustrated as being built from wood, and the page opposite has old-fashioned objects starting with that letter, like A is anvil. The illustrations are really well done. The fascinating part to me was when I realized that the pencil-drawn borders around each page not only had other objects hiding in them, but that each was a different plant that started with that letter. I’m just getting into gardening, and it was fun to recognize the ones I knew, like N for narcissus. Luckily at the back there was a legend so I could look up the ones I didn’t know. It was fascinating. (Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy these picture books more than the children!) ~Rachel

Several Alphabet Presentations OTHER THAN “A is for apple”

• A Spirited Alphabet: From A to Z
• Pioneer Life from A to Z
• Prairie Primer: A to Z
• Musical Instruments from A to Z
• Everyday Structures from A to Z
• A Is for Africa
• Discover America State by State Alphabet Books
• My Spiritual Alphabet Book
• Flower Fairy Alphabet
• Flower and Fairy Alphabet Coloring Book
• A is for Appalachia
• Geography from A to Z
• The Wonders of Me from A to Z
• Arctic Alphabet: Exploring the North
• Wishing You.. Blessings from A to Z
• Christmas Long Ago from A to Z

Q.  How do I know my child is ready for first grade?

A.  For those of you who may have children from 5 on upwards who believe that “My child is ready for the First grade material”, I suggest that you first look at this checklist, the recommendations and give it much thought before rushing in. If  you need support in your decision in waiting, or if you’re thinking your job at home isn’t really important and critical to your child’s future – then what I am about to share here will really open your eyes. There are statistics, a checklist, suggested reading and finally some verses for you to use…

“Changes in the structure of society in the last thirty-five to fifty years have brought about conditions that pose many problems in early childhood, such as reading failure, learning disability, delinquency, and breakdown of family ties.

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