Daily Archives: August 4, 2009

Some Quick Ideas for September for the Waldorf Kindergarten Crowd

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Here are some fast ideas for September for the Waldorf  Kindergarten crowd:

Have some verses or songs to call your child to a circle/fingerplay time:  Come, Follow, Follow is a classic one that comes to mind along with this easy verse (that seems to have a few variations out there, so don’t fret if this is not the version you know!):

Good morning Dear Earth,

Good morning Dear Sun,

Good morning Dear Trees and Stones every one,

Good morning Dear Beasts and Birds in the Tree

Good morning to You and Good Morning to me!

What songs will you be bringing to your child for the whole month of September?  You can bring the same songs for a month!  I like to base our songs of the month around what festivals are upcoming.  There are many wonderful pentatonic Michaelmas songs one can play on a recorder, Choroi flute or pennywhistle.  Classics include “A Knight and  A Lady”,   This is a great chance for  you to practice learning your own blowing instrument so you will be able to teach your child in first grade!

Choose some fingerplays or plan out a whole circle time with songs and verses if your family likes circle time.  Common circle time themes for September, at least in the United States, include squirrels and other little forest creatures getting ready for Winter, harvesting,  apple picking and apples, leaves and changing of the colors of leaves, ponies going to and from the harvest and pulling carts of the harvest.  Fingerplays can include such things as counting, colors, shapes.   

You may want to go into your  practical work for the day here, or you may want to sing a song and transition into a fairy tale.  For a three or four year old, this would be either a very repetitive, simple tale or a nature tale.   www.mainlesson.com has a number of wonderful tales.  For a five or six year old, you could start getting into the Grimm’s fairy tales.  Fairy tales that have repetitive phrases or songs are usually attention-getters and pleasers.  The book “Let Us Form A Ring” has some tunes set for some of the Grimm’s fairy tales, along with “pre-made” circle times and a few stories that include music in the back of the book.  For example, the story “The Pancake Mill”is in this book, complete with music and that would be a lovely fall story.  What props, puppets or craft items will you need to complete this experience for your child?  Do you have a song or verse to transition into a time of listening and sharing your told story?

Next, what practical work will you be doing?  Housekeeping, wet on wet watercolor painting, baking, gardening, arts and crafts?  Again, for September in the United States much can center around apples, the star inside an apple, baking and cooking with apples, apple drying, the changing of the seasons so perhaps leaf painting, rubbing, leaf banners, dipping leaves into glycerin wax to make a leaf banner, making little figures out of pinecones, collecting things from outside and making little “carpets’ with them on the ground……Just as a note, six year olds need longer and more complex projects than a three-year old! Think a bit on it!

Work in your outside time, creative inside play time (what can you add to your indoor space for fall, what will change, what play scenes will you arrange),  preparations for the time of Michaelmas if you celebrate that festival and wa-la!  A very loving Waldorf Kindergarten in your own home!

You also need a simple closing verse!  Don’t let your school time just fade away into nothing!  Close it up, and be satisfied at a job well-done!

There is a lot more to say on this subject, but that literally is a very fast skeleton to plan from for a small child. 

Many Blessings,

Carrie

Getting Good Fats Into Kids

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Infants and children who are breastfed get their first source of good fats through human milk.  According to  Lawrence and Lawrence’s “Breastfeeding:  A Guide for the Medical Profession”, children who were breastfed show “more advanced development” at not only 1 year, but 8 to 10 years and at 18 years.  During the first year of life the brain more than doubles in weight with 85 percent of this growth in the cerebrum; 50 to 60 percent of this is lipids.

Much of this has been attributed to fatty acid and lipid components and has led to supplementation of formula with cholesterol (human milk is full of cholesterol and artificial baby milk typically has little to no cholesterol) and DHA.  Lawrence and Lawrence point out, “These compounds function in a milieu of arachidonic acid, lipases, and other enzymes, and no evidence indicates that they are effective in isolation or that more is better.”

We know cholesterol is important for cell membrane function and that infants who are breastfed have higher cholesterol levels than formula-fed infants.  Animal studies suggest this may protect against high cholesterol later in life.  We also know that in breastfeeding, the amount of fat delivered is not static and adjusts to the baby for a customized fat and calorie milk.

As children grow, we know that foods that contain essential fatty acids remain important – sources of these include fish, flax oil, seeds, nuts and nut butters, olive oil, avocado, hummus and wheat germ all provide good fats according to Dr. William Sears’ “The Family Nutrition Book.”  Obviously, eating too much fat regardless of the type of fat can cause obesity, but I find parents are mainly interested in replacing the “junk food” fats with “good fats”.

Some of my favorite good fats include coconut oil and avocado.  Coconut  butter/oil  got a very, very bad rap for year, but it is now known that the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut milk are an energy source and that coconut has powerful antibacterial and antiviral properties.  Coconut water, while not high in fatty acids per se, is high in Vitamin C, B vitamins, proteins and electrolytes.  Coconut milk is now being used in the United States to make coconut milk yogurt (very good in smoothies!), coconut milk that is sold in a carton just like bovine milk (great for folks with dairy allergies) and of course our friend the young Thai coconut (the white ones with the pointed tops) are more and more readily available.

Smoothies are a great way to get coconut water, meat or milk into your kids.  Coconut meat, water, lime juice, vanilla and a little sweetner can make an excellent smoothie for a snack.  My personal favorite involves coconut milk/yogurt mixed with frozen mango, some honey and banana.  Yum!

Avocado is another great source of fatty acids, and this can be made into a pudding by mixing it with cocoa powder,sweetner, vanilla, and coconut meat and water.

Happy eating,

Carrie