Learning about leaves

On November 2, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn craft, learning, photography, playLeave a comment

We found the cutest books on nature. We are currently reading Crinkleroot’s guide to knowing the trees.

We have been learning to recognize the various leaves on our evening walks with Ozzie. Nadia collected some leaves and starting building a leaf 🍃 🍁 book.

She was already done with the pictures before I saw the finished pages…such splendor nature offers in it’s colors and shapes!

She then proceeded to teach me the circle of life using the below leaves she had collected…I was floored!

Then she decided she would like to share this with her classmates at the nature table, and proceeded to stitch them together so she could hang it at school.

What a glorious way to spend an evening 😀

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Aruna

Pirate tales

On October 16, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, photography, playLeave a comment

Hand made toys are the best…here Nadia is working on a pirate and mermaid scene using felt.

Measuring, cutting, sticking…

Painting little peg dolls…

And then playing and seeing her stories take shape…

The dolls are so cute!

The story goes like this…a pirate sailing the high seas, meeting mermaids and finding a chest of treasure…sunsets and adventure 😃

Imagination and creativity come alive.

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Aruna

Getting ready for Halloween

On October 11, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, festival, photography, playLeave a comment

Making further additions to our Halloween display…inspired by Day of the dead we painted some peg dolls.

We painted a witch next and made a hat and cloak for her with felt.

Nadia made a little red riding hood peg doll…all ready here in her felt hood.

Looking very cool with the day of the dead masks we worked on a different day.

Here’s the final display. My camera battery was charging as we worked so I could not take any pictures while Nadia made these items.

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Aruna

Haunted mansion

On October 9, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, festival, photography, playLeave a comment

An empty cereal box turned inside out…cut out a house and color it black

An excellent story telling prop…

It made it to our Halloween 🎃 display table for this year

We had a lovely evening listening to Nadia’s scary tales 😃🎃

Have a great week,

Cheers,

Aruna

Ride a unicycle

On October 5, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, photography, playLeave a comment

Paper toys and more paper toys…thanks to Made by Joel I found this cool circus performer on a unicycle.

We used the template and Nadia cut out and colored the parts.

Using a paper clip to guide the unicycle…the performers performed merrily!

We did run into some technical difficulties getting the paper toy to function, but Nadia kind of figured this out on her own.

It was a fun pre-bedtime activity 😃

Happy Friday!

Cheers,

Aruna

Elf in a sleeping bag

On October 2, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, photography, play, SewingLeave a comment

Lately I have been focusing on providing Nadia with a lot of free time to play. Allowing time for unstructured play is very important in feeding the creative mind. This is where the creative ideas come flowing in…

Nadia is working on a little felt elf who has his own little sleeping bag and pillow…

She cut out the materials and sewed them herself…with some guidance from me when she asked for help.

We have agreed that unless she asks me for help I will not bring ideas of my own 😃

Once the elf and his sleeping bag was ready …she moved on to playtime. Most of these items below have been made by her. The lovely mushroom fairy house was made at summer school in Montessori. She shaped, baked and painted it all herself.

Isn’t the elf in his sleeping bag cute? He is camping out under the stars tonight.

Just love seeing the scene come alive…

Imagination…story building all coming together

Of course I joined in the fun too 🧚‍♀️

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Aruna

A fall woodland sprite

On September 28, 2018 By Aruna TalapatraIn art, craft, photography, playLeave a comment

As fall approaches here…leaves falling we can imagine so many hiding places for little woodland sprites. Nadia has been picking acorns, pine ones and little sticks on our walks together. Today she decided to make a little fairy with them.