The Rowdy Pea

a little stroll through the neighborhood . . .

Sometimes I can go a few days without the chance to hop online and visit my favorite blogs, and then when I finally do sit down I feel like I'm in some magical neighborhood going on door-to-door visits up and down the block. Sort of like a version of speed-dating but in this case it's ok to be interested in everyone! And since I love a good linky post (doesn't everyone?) I thought I'd pass on just a few of my recent favorites to my neighbors in this neck of the woods . . .

Jenny from Wildwood Cottage recently posted a slew of links to great children's book resources on her blog.  Did you know there are websites where you can actually look at every page of a book online, like you can really read the whole picture book from cover to cover if you want to? Very neat! Jenny uses it for previewing books for buying or borrowing, which I think is a great idea. Her blog is chock-full of book reviews and recommendations, and lucky for me Ivo is about the same age as her daughter CJ.  We often take her reading list with us to the library and have found some great books that way.

Jessamyn from Love This Life had me nodding along and saying, "yes!" with her Love Thursday post from last week. Which I find myself doing a lot when I read her lovely blog. I would totally sign up for her podcast if she had one.

We will be copying Denise from Mom in Madison with the arts and crafts projects featured here and here. It's so great to see these art ideas that are unfussy, inexpensive, and yet totally creative and clever.  I know Ivo will love to make those texture stones; I can almost picture them in his little hands. And another way to use all of these watercolor paintings I could wallpaper our living room with? yes please and thankyouverymuch! 

This post from Lizz at Red Dirt Mother is really perfection.  Beautifully photographed, a great craft project, and most importantly an inspiring little window into the life of "just another" creative, happy family making their way through the day together. Lizz always makes me wish for a house full of children.

And speaking of creative family living, I'm awaiting my copy of this book which should arrive any day. Can you guess what it is without clicking on the link? I know some of you will :)

OK, neighbors, that's all for today. Don't be a stranger now!

the bulletin board again

I've been trying to keep up with my idea for having a theme for our kitchen bulletin board. Last week the theme was the American Robin(or an "American Idol Robin" according to Ivo) and we'll probably keep it up for another week or so. The problem I've been running into is perfectionism. Nasty, nasty, nasty way to live if you ask me! I want it to be so beautiful and so perfect that I end up feeling afraid to even start. So I'm challenging myself to just plow through it and get something up there and be pleased with it. This board was thrown together in a matter of an hour or so, and it's not beautiful or perfect but we've enjoyed having it up to look at. And having the poems posted where I will see them several times a day helps me memorize them, and idea I learned from Dawn at Renaissance Mama. Ivo is very auditory and loves to hear the little poems over and over again. Here's this week's favorite:

What the Robin Told

The wind told the grasses

And the grasses told the trees.

The trees told the bushes,

And the bushes told the bees.

The bees told the robin,

And the robin sang out clear:

Wake up! Wake up!

Spring is here!

This poem and more bird poems are here at Bethany Roberts's website.

To add to what we're learning about birds and nests, we made a little bag of nest-building supplies in the hopes that our neighborhood birds will find it and use some of our offerings in their spring nest-building. We used a mesh onion bag and stuffed it with bits of wool, organic natural-colored yarn, raffia, some hair from a haircut, paper cording, hemp twine, and bits of other natural fibers like those.  Ivo had the clever idea of adding a stone to weight it down so it wouldn't flip around so crazily in the breeze. He also added a little bell so the birds would have some music to work to. When we saw the first robin of spring we hung it outside to see if we'd get any takers. Nothing yet, but it's still early.

some spring nature table inspiration

Our spring nature table is slowly coming together.  It's so tempting to just sweep all the winter stuff into a box and stash it--I feel *that* done with it all!  But I know it's important to reflect the changing nature of the seasons by gradually swapping out late winter items with early spring. Our winter sprites left on Tuesday night, and after our big thaw on Wednesday the mohair snow unwrapped itself from around the felt trees and sat on the table in droopy swirls.  Our white bear left this morning and two little rabbits showed up in late afternoon. Gray squirrel stays on year-round, perched on his little oak stump. And in a very encouraging sign that the nature table is indeed the group effort it's intended to be, I noticed that sometime this week Ivo carefully placed a little playdough flower on the table.  So, so perfect.

In bringing our table together, we're finding our inspiration in the natural world around us and also here:

Denise from Mom in Madison blogged about making flower people with her sons. Very, very cute ideas here.  I love those little wooden peg people and I know I don't have to tell you my feelings on the tiny acorn cap hats (*swoon*).

Emilie from Little Nest shared pictures of her very beautiful early spring nature table and moss garden.  Ivo and I made our version of this project this afternoon.  We just need to get a little bit of moss and ours will be almost as cool as hers.

Dawn from Renaissance Mama shared her beautiful mother/daughter collaboration here. I love the flower fairies and her daughter's acorn dolls. So sweet!

These felted eggs from waldorf mama are so yummy! Her Etsy shop has quite a few of these in stock, making it so hard to pick a favorite. They are all so pretty.  A bowlfull would be perfect but I'll have to choose just one for now.   Update: I picked this one . . .wheee!

This morning I bought this little nesting birdy from Vermont Fairies at Etsy.  Ivo and I have been spending lots of time learning about bird nests so I am hoping to surprise him with this when it arrives in a few days. Here are some other very cute birds and nests that are just right for gracing the spring nature table . . . the sweetest little hungry baby birds, this little bluebird, and a simple but beautiful promise of spring.

I would love to see more links to spring nature tables if anyone wants to share them in the comments section.

our pizza party

On Friday Ivo had some friends over for a pizza party.  We used this recipe for whole-wheat pizza dough and then we rolled it into five little mini pizza crusts.  Then we pricked them with a fork and pre-baked them at 350 degrees on a cornmeal-sprinkled pizza stone for about eight minutes.  After they cooled the children added the sauce, veggies and cheese and we baked them again until the cheese was all melty. They turned out so yummy and the kids were so proud of their creations.

Spreading the pizza sauce:

Sprinkling the veggies:

Halfway through baking we realized they needed a little extra sprinkle of cheese

A little jam session before lunch:

And finally, time to eat!

My goodness, didn't I set a festive table for our guests? I guess I could have at least used place mats and silverware! Oh well, the kids didn't care. They gobbled down their pizza and went right back to music making.  After freestyling for a while the little riff they decided on was, "The band says YAH! The band says YAH! The band says YAH!"

Here are some good books about pizza:

Pizza at Sally's by Monical Wellington

Pete's a Pizza by William Steig

another art party

Today we hosted another art party, this one with a Valentine theme.  In all of the hustle and bustle, the only picture I took was this one, of Ivo and his friend watercolor painting in our building's community room.  I cropped the photo because I don't post pictures of other people's children online-- but they were both all smiles.

We always use the community room for art gatherings because the children usually aren't interested in doing a table project if they are in a house full of someone else's toys.  So we start off in the "art room" and move toward the toys later on.  This particular party lasted six hours-- oy! No one wanted to go home-- which must mean I am the hostess with the mostest :)  The most messy-fun art supplies that is. It was so much fun to spend a whole day with our friends. First we made picture frames for the dads with lots of glue and paper hearts, and of course a picture of each kid with his or her dad. Then we took a break for a morning snack. Our friends eat a much more selective diet than we do--all organic, no meat, no added sugar-- which is a very good influence on Ivo and me (who are known to entertain the odd salami sandwich and chocolate pudding). Snack was organic pear, apple, and banana slices and whole-grain crackers, then some playing with toys, LOTS of running in the hallways, laughing, playing musical instruments, then it was time for lunch (organic peanut butter on sprouted grain bread, served with bell pepper and cuke slices with homemade hummus), then watercolor painting and more playing (and veggie snacking) before it was almost four o'clock and we all had to go our seperate ways. After we waved good-bye to our friends and headed back down the hallway, Ivo reached up to hold my hand and said, "Mama, I have to tell you a secret. I really love sugar. I really, really do. Can we get a donut?"  When Josh got home and asked Ivo how his party was, Ivo said, "Fun," and Josh said, "What was fun about it?" Ivo's reply . . . "Eating with my friends. And pooping with them." And to think I spent over an hour cutting paper hearts and mixing watercolors! 

And by the way, he got the donut. I am a pushover for those sweet supplications :)

more fun in the kitchen

Here's a photo of this week's project from Mom Unplugged. The theme was toothpicks, and since Ivo likes to keep it simple, I just gave him a plate of banana slices and some toothpicks and he spent the next 15 minutes playing with them. A fun, easy idea that I wouldn't have thought to do without a little encouragement. So thanks Mom  Unplugged :)  To see more Unplugged Projects, and for low-tech family fun, visit her site here.  We are not always tv-free but I've found her website to be packed with great resources. 

The second kitchen project is one Ivo has been wanting to try for a long time. It's the pita pizzas from Deceptively Delicious. But without the spinach, because I wanted Ivo to make the pizza himself and I knew he would be suspicious of a layer of "green" under the sauce. This was so easy, and had very yummy results.  Ivo just spread pizza sauce on a pita, and sprinkled it with mozzarella cheese, then we baked it at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes and cut it into eight triangles with a pizza wheel.  Ivo called it his "Pizza Junior" and gobbled it all up, except for two slices that he shared with Josh and me.  It's such a wonderful thing to see him so pleased with his accomplishment, and to be able to share food that he's prepared with people he loves.  He told us, "I made the lunch today for everybody."

That feeling of satisfaction that comes from making tangible contributions to family life is something I hope he carries with him as he grows. Currently he enjoys cooking, mopping, carrying laundry to the laundry room, washing dishes, and many other everyday chores, too. His help often ends up increasing my workload, but as he grows up he is becoming more and more proficient at household tasks, and shows an eagerness for "real" work. Fingers crossed that this lasts as long as possible!!

why i make things for ivo, finally articulated (but not by me)

One of the best parts about having a blog is the way it has connected me to other people who I might not have met otherwise. I feel like I have pen pals all over the world now, and some, like Libby Jane from The Full Cup, who are actually close enough to know in real life if we had the chance.  We both have an interest in making toys and recently she introduced me (not literally of course) to Sophia Cavaletti, saying she was a student of Maria Montessori and leader of a branch of montessori education (more on this here), who urges teachers and parents to make the materials themselves, maintaining that the care adults put into the materials we give our children is vitally important to the children. Here are some snippets of an email she sent me a few weeks ago, and I thought it was so interesting I asked her if I could share parts of it here (she said yes).

Sophia Cavaletti and many others put out a call to the community of catechists saying that it is the very poverty of the materials that calls to the children.  In poverty she was speaking not of poor and ugly things. Rather, the simplicity of the materials, along with the care put into them by the parent or teacher who makes them, speaks to the children.  She said that when we make too fancy materials they speak of the skill and imagination of the artist, but not so much to the soul of the child. 

The point of the materials is not to teach a lesson, but to engage the child in the work or play that he or she needs to do. "The materials... are not meant to lead to the formulation of concepts, but to a vital encounter with a real Person," says Gobbi in Listenting to God with Children.  I think this concept is so present in Waldorf too; the toys themselves don't actually matter.  It is the childrens' play (or their work!)  that takes them where they need to go.

I just love this, and isn't it interesting that these sentiments seem to cross over so many differing philosophies, almost like a higher conciousness.  I've been doing more toy shopping than usual because of the Christmas season, and even though I try to stay very positive-minded, I'm disheartened by what I see for children in the stores.  This email really lifted my spirits and I am so happy Libby Jane said I could post it here.  Here's a few sentences more . . .

She also said that each teacher must make her own materials for her children because making the materials is part of the spiritual formation of the teacher!  I have experienced that so much myself, and see it quite clearly in the work on your blog.
In writing this just now, I have a much needed reminder for myself.  As an artist, I am often so ambitious!  It is within my grasp to make such wondrous treasures, but actually it often prevents me from making anything at all.  I have a vision of the nativity set, the advent calendar, I want to make for our family, and I never make it, because I don't have the time!  But I remember the creche we had when I was little, my mom made it out of salt dough, and it was so simple.  Really just colored balls stuck together; we were always gluing the heads back on, but how I loved it!

Isn't that so encouraging and just . . . freeing?  Thanks Libby Jane :)

"but waldorf toys are so expensive" (part 2)

It's been a while since part one of this post, but if you remember I was talking about a conference I went to last year where I and many other mothers were talked out of believing that waldorf toys had to be expensive.  Now as I've said before we are not "real" waldorf followers, but I have read many books on the subject and the ideas I've incorporated into our home life have been amazing.  Waldorf principals help me understand my child's develpment in a holistic way and have been an amazing source of knowlege and insight into living peacefully together as a family.  So in light of the fact that I am not an expert on waldorf methods, what I am really talking about here are the natural, open-ended toys that have so much play value for our children.  And since we are on a very tight budget, like most families, I have had to discover ways to bring these items into our home as resourcefully as possible. One thing about waldorf is that there are so many specialty shops on line, so many beautifully made, lovingly handcrafted toys that are as irresistible as they are unattainable!  To be able to purchase a few gorgeous items per year and "make do" for the rest has been our plan, and so far so good. 

Here are a few more frugal ideas if you are looking to bring more natural and open-ended toys into your home, too:

I have been pining for a dollhouse like this or this, but meanwhile Ivo has learned a lot by using his blocks and play silks to build houses of his own.  He gets to experiment with different building structures and make everything to suit his purpose. He makes big tall houses for his stuffed animals and little tiny ones for his gnomes.  The house is always just right.  The Tree House in this picture was a birthday present from Ivo's first birthday.  It has a lot of "wow" factor, and young people always go right to it when they arrive at our house, but the houses Ivo builds on his own, like the one on the right, are played with much more, and for longer periods of time.

Two kind of odd items that I have found offer hours of play for very little money are big embroidery hoops and big pieces of wood. The pieces of wood here are from Home Depot and cost between fifty cents and three dollars each.  They are used mostly for building larger structures like forts and balance beams.  We also use them a lot for making ramps and racetracks for balls and toy cars.  The embroidery hoops can be thrifted easily (ours were 3 for $1) and Ivo just loves them.  With a playsilk stretched over the frame, it becomes a funny hat, or a big, fun thing to wave around --very popular around here, and two together make a fine pair of pretend snowshoes.  Sometimes they serve as the roof and walls of a little house, like as below:

The wooden forms we use for our gnomes come two in a package for 99 cents.  They can be dressed in any manner of scraps, or left plain.  Ivo loves that they can stand up by themselves so easily.

These storytelling sets have been our Unplugged Projects for the past two weeks. Last week's theme of "red" gave us the starting point to make a flannel board set for The Little Red Hen. Flannel boards are so easy to make, so versatile, and lots of fun.  This one is just flannel stretched over an old bulletin board (you can even use a piece of carboard) and voila! A great book to get started on this is The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra.  It is expensive but I've been able to get it and other books like it at our library.  The Unplugged theme for this week was "box", which for us became a shadow puppet theater. I think shadow puppetry might be my new favorite hobby.  Here is a fabulous link to a tutorial for this project on youtube. We used this guy's method of tearing simple paper shapes for some of our puppets and they were adorable. And if you do a youtube search for shadow puppets you are in for a good time and lots of inspiration.  Here's a peek backstage at our Chateau de Shadow:

 

(it was a story about two mamas and two babies in the forest together, saying "are we friends?" many, many times)

Over on the left here is method I devised for storing our homemade playsilks and other dress-up items. It's just a board with wooden clothespins attached with elmer's wood glue. It's been great for keeping our dress-up items out and accessible, and since Ivo likes using the clothespins he is usually happy to pick them up and put them away.

We were lucky enough to find a great vintage wooden play kitchen at St. Vinnie's, but even still I have lusted after the waldorf wooden kitchens like these.  Well, that's not going to happen any time soon, especially since we get to play with one just like those at our children's museum every week.  But if you are looking for a frugal play kitchen that uses more imagination than batteries, here are a few links I think are just wonderful:

Ideas for making a play kitchen from a simple wooden shelf

A sweet little kitchen made from an old microwave cart

Here and here are two variations on cardboard kitchens (seriously! These are awesome, don't be scared by the word cardboard!)  The second one is my favorite, and the comments on that post are full of clever ideas for stocking your play kitchen,

Modeling with salt dough is a great tactile activity and can be used  to make play figures and the scenery to go with them.  We've made a few sets of animals like the ones below, and Ivo loves to use it to make trees for his dolls and animals.

The little dollhouse above I made out of wool felt and calico cotton.  The ceramic figures are from a local potter, and the tree is all Ivo, baby!

Well again I've rambled on and on! This is certainly a topic I care about a great deal.  I would love to spend a truckload of money in support of crafters who believe that children are worthy of beautiful things that speak to the heart and encourage imagination. And I know I could easily spend thousands of dollars outfitting the perfect playroom. But honestly I don't think my child would be all that much better off for having it.  I think we do just fine on our shoestring budget, and I like to think that we would still enjoy "making do" even if it weren't a matter of necessity.

If you've read down this far, again I will say thank you, you're much too kind! And I would love to hear about any ideas you've had for providing your kids with creative play items that suit your family's budget.  Or, you could even tell me a story about how you completely blew your budget and splurged on something amazing.  I certainly don't want to be known as the pious budget lady.  I can still be talked into a good time once in a while.