Martinmas and paper lanterns

Today we celebrated Martinmas, a celebration of inner light, of our humanity and of harnessing the suns warmth within us to guide us through these coming cold months. We talked about the story of  

Martin and the poor man,and we made paper lanterns while I told the children this sweet lantern story, appropriate especially for Keenan; 

There was once a boy called George who had been outside in the garden all through the Summer running after the butterflies, jumping like a grasshopper, singing like a bird, and trying to catch the sunlight. One day when he was lying on his back in the meadow gazing up into the sun-filled sky, he said, “Dear Brother Sun, soon the Autumn winds will blow and wail, and Jack Frost will come and make us all freeze, and the nights will be long and cold.”  Brother Sun pushed the clouds aside and said, “Yes, it will be dark and cold. In the deep midwinter, warmth and light live deep within, hidden from sight. In the time of dark and cold, you will tend the Light Within.” “But,” said George, “How will I tend this Light when it’s dark everywhere around me?”“I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays once you have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and cold.” And then Brother Sun once hid again behind a cloud. George went home and wondered how best he could make a little house for the spark of the sun. He took a thick piece of paper and painted a beautiful blue and yellow watercolor upon it. When it was dry, he cut windows into his painting. Then he placed colored tissue paper on the back of his watercolor – and – he formed it into a lantern. He took a candle and put it into the middle of his lantern. And, as it was growing dark, he went outside with it. George held the lantern up above him and said, “Brother Sun, I have made a little home for one of your golden sparks. Please may I have one? I will guard it well.” Then Brother Sun looked out from behind a cloud and said, “You have made a beautiful home. I shall give you one of my golden sparks.” And suddenly, George saw how the windows of his lantern were lit up, and as he looked into the lantern, he saw a spark happily dancing on top of the candle. Oh, how happy the light was in his lovely lantern! It shone and shone so brightly. “Thank you, Brother Sun,” George called out, “Thank you.” And he took his lantern and carried it carefully home.

( I found that sweet story over at Our little nature nest, where there is also other wonderful recourses for the Martinmas celebration, as well as wonderful homeschooling inspiration. )

We have made these lanterns for years now, this is how we did it.

First the children used water color to paint their paper, we used blue and yellow because of the lantern story.

Once dried we cut a thin strip from the shorter side of the paper to use as a handle, and depending on how tall the children wanted their lantern, cut a piece off the long side of the paper. Then the children drew a few "windows" and cut them out, and along the length of the bottom cut about one inch in with about one inch between each cut, see below if that did not make sense. 

then we glued silk paper over the little windows we had cut out, and using a hot glue gun, glued the sides together creating a cylinder. For the bottom, and this I have no pictures off:( we cut a circle that could fit inside the bottom opening, and with hot glue fastened the little cut up flaps one by one to the circle, thus creating a bottom for the candle

 Then we glued the handle onto the top, and the lantern is ready for use

 As the light of the day faded, I told the story of Martin oce again as we lighted the lanterns, and the children walked around the garden shining their little lights.

 so lovely...

~may your inner light shine and bring you warmth through the coming cold dark days~

Ahh yes and the winner of my little giveaway, found using a homemade random selection ( a number on a piece of paper for each comment, into the hat ) And out I pulled number 4, and the fourth comment is
K from kstreetjournal please email me with an address :)
Thanks to all who entered!

Play dough bugs

Today in the homeschooling group the little children talked about bugs, insects.

They started out by reading about them and seeing pictures of different kinds of bugs, the similarities and their habitats, after that we all got to make bugs together. They came out so great and the children really enjoyed the process, Keenan still sat at the table deeply concentrated on his bugly creation, after everyone else had gone to wash hands.

There were so many great ones, there was a ladybug and also spiders, dragonflies, caterpillars, beetles, mosquitos and others, such fun!!

The play dough we used, which had such a soft delicious consistency, was made using 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water (with food coloring if desired), 1 Tsp oil, 1/2 cup of salt and 2 tsp cream of tartar.

Stir and cook until the consistency of mashed potatoes, then take off heat and knead by hand until it looks like play dough. This will keep for 2 months with home use, store in refrigerator.

I have made play dough many times, yet have not cooked it before,  I really loved the feeling of this and will make this next time we make some at home.
Besides the play dough there was also silk paper wings and construction paper pieces, buttons and tooth pick as well as pipe cleaners.

To complete the experience we went outside and looked for bugs in the places where we knew they liked. the children had brought buckets, shovels and magnifying glasses, and they loved it. Even though we have had a few frosty nights and some cold days, today was in the sixties and just lovely, and to out surprise we found many little bugs, spiders, worms, crickets and ants...

 Even a  beautiful Praying Mantis

~remember to sign up for my little giveaway here~

Dia De Los Muertos

As our first 6 week session of spanish with the homeschooling group came to an end, we celebrated with an old Mexican tradition which happens around this time; Dia de los muertos, and while I am no expert on this celebration, this was in fact my first time hearing of it, I love the feeling of it. It is an old Aztec tradition, and unlike so many of us westerners the latin cultures tends to view death not as something frightening  but as a transition, a passing to the spirit world, yet still very much present and especially so during the celebration of this festival. Skulls are used to symbolize death and rebirth, and to honor the dead. And bright marigold flowers to attract their spirits. Their favorite food is made, and a general honoring and celebration of their spirit takes place.

We made an alter, and each family brought a picture or reminder of a passed loved one and told the group about them. We were also told about this wonderful celebration and where it came from

 after this we went outside where the children made skull and marigold necklaces and painted skull and butterfly masks. Each family also brought a dish to share that was a favorite of the loved one they were remembering

 The skulls were made from salt dough (1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, about half cup water and baked for an hour, and pierced for a necklace, and painted)

 The marigolds were made from tissue paper, 6 almost circles, three larger (about 2 inches) and three smaller. Then a string was pulled through and tied, to the back a bead was tied so the children could string them onto their necklace . Then the center circle was crumbled around the knot creating the center of the flower, and the rest of the circles gentle crumbled around. 

 Paper plates were used to create the skull and butterfly masks, which the children then colored and added a string to

 and the potluck meal was filled with lovely favorites.

A really sweet celebration

~honoring the children's great grandfather Caco~

Paper bag Halloween lanterns

Today we made these little lanterns. It was a learn as you go project. We used what we had on hand, therefor we did not use orange tissue paper, rather black, purple and red.

We gave the children each a paper bag to draw a motive on, an outline, which we then cut out

 then we added a bit of glue around the edges of the cut out  (on the inside of the bag) and attached a piece of tissue paper. (For another time, I will be more aware to use the side of the bag that does not have the closing, and also to cover the whole side of the bag, as it shines through and shows exactly where the tissue paper reaches)

Then we gently folded the edges down.

here they are, Kaleena made the one with the cat and one of the bats, and Keenan made the ghost

 The effect is really quite lovely although I still have not quite gotten the hang of capturing the mood of candle light with my camera:)

Needless to say, these are extremely flammable and I was careful to cut all loose tissue paper of, and used great caution when lighting the tea candles inside them.

~May your weekend be filled with the gentle glow of candle light~

Easy to make kite

Having had amazing kite flying conditions these past few days, we decided to make kites today. We have made these before and they are both easy to make and to fly, even if today the winds had decided to take a rest, and the flying was less than usual.

We used construction paper a regular rectangular shape, folded it in half, and to make sure the fold was properly creased, folded it back and forth a couple of times

then laying it in front of you like a book fold at an angle like shown. At the top it is aprox 0.5-1 inch and at the bottom about 2 inches or so, eyeballing is fine.

 then turn it over and open the wings

tape down the middle

 Then for support add a skewer or the like to the widest part at the top with some wide tape.

This time we used some chop sticks we had laying around, but honestly they did not work great. 

Skewers like the ones you might use for kebabs works great, and can easily be broken to size

we ripped some tissue paper strips and attached to the widest part of the bottom flap for a tail

 about one third down from the front of the bottom flap we added a little piece of tape for reenforcement and made a whole through. Through here we tied the string, the other end of the string we taped to a piece of card board and rolled it around to keep until use

Like I said the wind was taking a rest today, so the kite did not fly as high as other days:(

 but it did fly

 Zoe the baby cow was extremely curious about the kite, and ended up eating one of our tails

Kaleena really got it flying

and afterwards the children enjoyed the beautiful day and the peace of the country side, picking little flowers and making tiny wreaths, and exploring the newly cut meadows

~a good night to you~