Workbook – Page 21 – Phlox Architect

06Jan 2023 by catbird 1 Comment

Wassailing the Trees and 2 types of Toasts

Garden, Learning, Nature Art, Play, Recipes, Twelfth Night

For years we have wassailed our fruit trees on the Twelfth Night to ensure a bountiful fruit harvest, because who doesn't want a bountiful fruit harvest, right? My kids were little and I never really went into too much depth though... until this year when I went down a rabbit hole and became obsessed with wassail toast. More on that later. For years we stuck a cinnamon stick in a cup of apple juice and sang songs about wassailing or fruit and it was a good time. Actually only my 7 year old ever remembers the words to "Here we come a Wassailing" so he's generally in charge lol. They also sometimes make up songs about specific fruit trees in our yard. It's fun and you should try it! As…

03Jan 2023 by catbird 2 Comments

The Twelfth Night

Craft Project, Play, Twelfth Night

I am never quite set on what to call this holiday– January 6th. Its Epiphany, Twelfth Night, Three Kings Day, Befana. Most of them are Christian in origin having something to do with the three wise men arriving at the manger with gifts. In fact, in 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered the twelve days of Christmas replacing an ancient celebration that the church deemed “too rowdy.” Modern scholars have suggested that it was instead to solve "administrative problems for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east." And in fact, those ancient celebrations all revolved around that same discrepancy between the lunar and solar…

02Jan 2023 by catbird 1 Comment

Dried Orange Garland Tea

Recipes, Twelfth Night

It is traditional at Twelfth Night celebration to eat any edible holiday decorations- you can imagine that long ago when citrus (and food in general) was more rare that eating these expensive items was just common sense in addition to bringing a close to the holiday season. This is also the date many feel that holiday decoration in general should come down. For us, that often means that I let the kids try to eat their fossilized gingerbread houses (which I think is gross, but they love) but this year I wanted to do something a little more interesting. When I made my citrus garland tutorial I was very intentional in including that after use as decorations, the slices could be made into tea. I decided that using dried orange…

02Jan 2023 by catbird 1 Comment

New Year Nature Crowns!!

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, New Year's Eve, Play

One of the activities that we do every New Year's Eve is to make some sort of crown or party hat. In teh past we have mostly just colored in something free and printable and not gotten particularly fancy with it, but this year we decided that we needed to step up our crown game. The kids requested nature crowns, but we couldn't think of a way to make them "New Year's Eveish." I considered make stick crowns and spraying them gold because gold seems to be my default on NYE, but then I had an epiphany! Half of the crown would be bare sticks (like winter and the old year...) and the other half would be greenery (spring and the new year!) we ended up adding some sticks with…

29Dec 2022 by catbird 2 Comments

What is a Hibernation Celebration?

Craft Project, Hibernation Celebration, Learning, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Winter

Every winter we have a "Hibernation Celebration" both at school and at home. What is a Hibernation Celebration pray tell? It's a super fun way celebrate the winter holidays in a non-denominational nature focused way. It can be a full lesson block with academic content the way we do at school or it can just be a fun party. We usually celebrate at the end of December right before winter break (otherwise known as the perfect time to hibernate...) but this is a great topic for January or February-- or any snowy cold month really. If you want to skip to party ideas click here. For all of my Hibernation content click here. When we celebrate hibernation at school it isn't just a straightforward scientific discussion of bears in caves.…

28Dec 2022 by catbird No Comments

Hibernating Seed Bears

Craft Project, Garden, Hibernation Celebration, Nature Art, Play, Winter

Many animals hibernate this time of year, and while plants don't hibernate exactly, many of them do go dormant which is similar. We observe a "Hibernation Celebration" each year in December as school winds down and we prepare for our quiet period of sorts. This year we made these sweet little seed bears with seeds tucked inside sleeping away the winter and waiting for spring. We chose seeds that are food for or have value to small mammals so that they wouldn't just look like sleeping animals, but actually help animals! I couldn't find a sleeping bear mold so we made these by hand which is time consuming, but feels right for this sleepy season. You could also try using bee friendly plants with a bee mold or swampy loving…

28Dec 2022 by catbird 1 Comment

Walnut Shell Fortune Telling Candle Boats

Craft Project, New Year's Eve, Play, Winter

I’m not sure when I started with the fortune telling slant to New Year's Eve, but I think it makes sense I think in light of the new year/ new beginnings. I like the idea of making predictions and solidifying hopes for the next year, and it feels more practical than resolutions no one intends to keep. Over the years I have added more and more unique and interesting ways to predict fortunes to my repertoire and my kids LOVE them, but this is one of the oldest that we have been doing since they were little littles. It's fun, it's easy and who doesn't love a little candle boat made from a walnut shell?? These are candle boats because we always do this at night, and it's very dramatic,…

28Dec 2022 by catbird No Comments

Winter Solstice Nature Activities for Kids

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Nature Journaling, Winter, Winter Solstice

Twelve ways to celebrate the Winter Solstice with kids!! Pin for later! Click the pictures below for more info.

27Dec 2022 by catbird 1 Comment

First Day Hike!

Nature Collection, New Year's Eve, Play

One of the the New Year's traditions we never miss is a first day hike. The idea is that it sets the tone for your year- make getting outside and interacting with nature a priority! This was actually the brainchild of the State Parks in the United States and most parks offer official guided hikes, but we prefer to do our own thing. (Which also sets the tone for the year!) If you are looking for a good hike check out your state's First Day hike offerings! And if you aren't in the US or want to go somewhere else, just pick your favorite park and go for it. It doesn't have to be a fancy or super challenging hike, it just should make you feel good! Last year, on…

27Dec 2022 by catbird 1 Comment

Magical Wax Fortunes for the New Year

Craft Project, New Year's Eve, Play

Bleigießen is an an old Austrian New Year's Eve tradition in which you pour lead into water on New Year’s Eve and try and interpret the image you see made. It translates literally to "lead pouring." You can buy little lead pouring kits in many northern European countries for this very purpose, but the custom is though to be ancient in origin dating back at least as far as the Romans. The practice of telling the future from poured metal is officially called molybdomancy, from the Greek word for lead, molybdos. In Finland, little tin horseshoes are melted and tossed in the snow for the same purpose. There, the shadow the shape makes when held up to the light is more important than the shape itself. Apparently a basket shape…