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~

From field to table; a pumpkin feast.

Last week we went to pick pumpkins on a local farm, it was a beautiful windy autumn day.

Yesterday we set about carving them, the children were ever so excited, and we saved the seeds which we roasted in the oven, and the meat of the pumpkins with which we made a pie.

A lovely process for the children to take part in,  from the field to the table, and some lovely 

Jack O Lanterns as well.

The children happily scooping out the insides and separating the seeds and the meat.

 To roast the seeds I washed them, spread them on a stainless steel tray, added a bit of canola oil and sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar and baked on 400 for about an hour or until crisp. I usually roast them with olive oil and sea salt,  but we decided to make a sweet variation to add to our pumpkin pie. They turned out delicious.

 For the Pie we used this recipe, I did use condensed milk instead of  dehydrated milk. And I did add the "meat" of a butternut squash as well for sweetness. (mainly because I did not use a pie pumpkin)

It too was yummy, of the best pumpkin pies I have had.

 Served warm with whipped cream and our toasted seeds, yum!!!

And the three pumpkins carved by the children

 At night just before bedtime we had a little candle lighting ceremony to welcome

 the season where the vail between this world and the spirit world is the thinnest.

~thanks for coming by, and happy pumpkining~

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~

Leaves and a lantern

Another lovely autumn day here in the mountains. the leaves had us enthralled today, they are everywhere and the trees are slowly becoming bare.

We went to the park to gather leaves to make a lantern inspired by a post I saw over on 

Twig and Toadstool the other day, and while we were there Keenan happily played in the heaps of leaves that were everywhere. The wind made them dance around and it was indeed a blissful time. We also decided that it was time to make a kite and really get out and enjoy the wind, so that will happen this weekend. Yeahh, love autumn!

 

We gathered a nice collection of yellow and red leaves to use for our lantern

 Then applie a nice thick layer of Mod Podge and added the leaves then another thick layer of Mod Podge. This would have been easier had we taken the time to press the leaves first, it worked like this too though

 And this evening just before story time it really came to life. It gives off such a warm glowing light, perfect while the winds dances outside.

~a lovely and warm evening to you~