Posts Tagged ‘steiner’

There’s no time like the present to learn a new skill or refresh an old one! Join our May workshops and enjoy discovering a new passtime in a friendly environment.
Bookings are essential! Payment in full must be received to secure your booking. A minimum of four people is required for the class to run, and a full refund will be given if minimum booking is not achieved. You are very welcome to bring any equipment required, use the workshop equipment during the class or purchase anything you will need from the shop. Unfortunately due to the timetable no make-up classes are available.

To book, visit us in store or phone us on 90410103 or you can book in online in our webshop too.

Classes run for 4 weeks a session. 4 x 2hrs.

Everyone 10 years + welcome.

Want to be the first to know when we schedule new classes? Enter your email address in the E-newsletter sign up, in the sidebar to the right. ☛

Term 2

Waldorf Toy Making

Wednesday, May 15th – June 5th 10-12pm

Thursday, May 16th – June 6th 10-12pm

$100, materials not included

In our most popular class you will have the opportunity to explore toy making in the Waldorf/Steiner tradition. Make small felt animals, create a doll or try your hand at needle felting.

 

Machine Sewing

Wednesday, May 15th – June 5th 1-3pm

$100, materials not included

Always wanted to use a sewing machine? This class will run you through all the basics, from threading to the tension, which needles to use, how to make a ruffle, to line a tote bag, to add a zip. we will make 4 simple projects along the way too! Sewing machines provided.

 

Knitting & Crochet

Thursday, May 16th – June 6th 1-3pm

$100, materials not included

In this class we’ll learn to cast on and off, a variety of different stitches, increasing and decreasing, changing yarn etc. Start your lifetime love of either of these cozy and practical crafts. By the end of 4 weeks you’ll be making squares, toys and more!

One cold winter morning, a hunter is walking through the woods with his dog. He drops his glove and a little mouse sees it and immediately scurries inside seeking warmth. Then a frog comes along and asks, “Any room for me?” The mouse invites him in with pleasure. Then a hare, a fox, a wild boar, and a large bear join them in the fallen glove. But what will happen when the hunter realizes his mitten is missing and returns?

Loek Koopmans is the writer and illustrator of  ”Any Room For Me?” a book for babies and pre-schoolers. This playful tale salutes the kindness, generosity, hospitality, and fearleslsness of the mouse who gives up his little paradise to strangers.

 

Wouldn’t you like to fly of on an oak leaf? Ride on a squirrels tail? Take tea in a tiny tree house, and deliver beards to gnomes? These are just some of the situations Woody and Pip find themselves in in this sweet seasonal book by the inimitable Elsa Beskow.

Adorned with Elsa Beskow’s classic illustrations on every page, the adventures of Woody, Pip and little Hazel are sure to inspire some fabulous backyard play – just watch out for the angry trolls!

In 1969 Iona and Peter Opie set about taking an exhaustive survey of the games that children aged roughly between six and twelve years of age play when outdoors – and usually out of supervision! The Opies weren’t interested in formal games and sports supervised by parents or teachers. They wanted the rough-and-tumble one child described as requiring “nothing but the players themselves.” The Opies also desired the spirit of the play, variety and chaos, should not be lost in their recording. The result was their classic work “Children’s Games in Street and Playground”.
Their original single book has been divided into two. Both volumes record games played in the street, park, playground of more than 10,000 children from the Shetland Isles to the Channel Islands, although the majority of the information comes from children living in big cities such as London, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow.

This first volume focuses on starting a game, and games involving chasing, catching and seeking, and includes favourites such as What’s the Time Mr Wolf, Stuck in the Mud, and British Bulldog, as well as around 40 other games. Each game is described in detail and gives the rhymes and saying children repeat while play them, together with the different names under which they are played with brief historical notes where relevant.

The second volume focuses on games involving seeking, hunting, racing, duelling, exerting, daring, guessing, acting and pretending. More than 85 games are described in detail including the rhymes and sayings children repeat while playing them, together with the different names under which they are played.

the Opies believed the children of the 1960s were often thought “to be incapable of self-organization, and to have become addicted to spectator amusements; to the extent that adults must be relied on to provide play materials, ideas and time to play with them.” Sounds familiar to our concerns about television and computer games, and over-scheduling children with oganized classes and play dates. “However much children may need looking after, they are also people going about their own business within their own society.” There are important lessons to be learned from this book about giving children the time and physical space to be themselves with other children.

 

 

Storytelling traditions all over the world tell of little folk – gnomes, dwarves leprechauns and many others. Gnome figures are fun for children to make and play with, and they appeal to their vivid imaginations.

Thomas and Petra Berger show how to make gnomes out of walnuts, twigs, wool and paper, as well as from a variety of other media. There are plenty of different types of gnome to keep children amused for hours. Any of the characters in the book would be at home on a seasonal nature table. The Gnome Craft Book includes instructions for making Astrid Lindgren’s classic gnome the Tomten.

Earth Hour 2013 is tomorrow, starting 8.30pm. A WWF campaign, Earth Hour is a simple idea that’s turned into a global phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people switching off their lights for one hour, on the same night, to signal their care for the amazing planet we call home.

Earth Hour is a gathering of the global community to show what one simple idea can achieve, and what one person’s actions can inspire. Thanks to your support, it has become the largest global movement for the environment. It is much, much more than a symbolic action of switching off lights for an hour; it’s a continuous movement driving real actions, big and small, that are changing the world we live in. From new legislation in the Russian parliament to better protect seas from oil pollution, to the initiation of two huge reforestation projects in Africa – the impact of Earth Hour is widespread and real.

image courtesy of Queen B candles

The World Wildlife Fund encourages you light your Earth Hour with 100% pure Australian beeswax candles – such as our stocked range from Queen B -which are gentler on our planet – smoke free, non-toxic and non-allergenic. They are made of natural beeswax, not petroleum based wax, so they are effectively carbon neutral. Queen B candles were the choice of the WWF at their official Earth Hour launch event.

image courtesy of Queen B candles

Why not make rolling your own candles an Earth Hour day activity?

For Earth Hour, and every day after, make a REAL difference (to the planet, a small Australian manufacturer and Australian beekeepers) – light a pure Australian beeswax candle from Queen B.

At last it feels like Autumn so you can start shifting your mind to the next collection of seasonal activities you and your family can collaborate on. Like the last book we showed you in this seasonal series, Autumn Nature Activities is packed full of fun nature activities that will help children engage with the season and learn practical new skills. With so many factors coming between children and free exploration of their environment this is just the book to help them reconnect!
Irmgard Kutsch & Brigitte Walden have included a mix of indoor and outdoor activities for Autumn, including picking and cooking fruit, basket-making, building houses and shelters, looking after birds, working with beeswax (don’t forget we sell beeswax sheets from Queen Bee!) and making paper. The activities in this book are based on practical experience from the Children’s Nature and Garden Centre in Reichshof, Germany and are fully tried and tested.

Autumn by Gerda Muller is a sturdy board book, without text, making it ideal as a base for creating your own stories about. The rich tones of the season are captured in the charming illustrations and Autumn shows such seasonal activities as raking leaves, floating boats in puddles, apple picking, collecting acorns, and kite making and flying!

On Thursday (14 March) St Kilda Steiner Pre-School is hosting ‘Let The Children Play’ –  Carol Liknaitzky talks about the importance and relevance of self-initiated play.

How play-based learning in the early years provides the foundation for health, emotional intelligence and creative problem solving.

 

In a world that is increasingly pressured, with education and play becoming more and more structured, it is even more essential to protect childhood. How can we support our children’s developmental need to explore, play freely and do their ‘work’? In a discussion about the Steiner approach for young children, and the benefits of choosing a Kindergarten, Carol Liknaitzky talks about the importance and relevance of self-initiated play, the supporting of imagination, the role of imitation and creating a nurturing environment for children. Carol Liknaitzky is an educator, development consultant, and creative artist. She has experience in all aspects of child development and has taught in, and founded Steiner schools in South Africa.

Carol teaches Inclusive Practice at The School of Education, Victoria University, and Painting and Conflict Resolution at the The Steiner Seminar. She also runs the Nourishing Early Childhood course at The Seminar.

 

‘Let The Children Play’ with Carol Liknaitzky

7.30pm Thursday 14 March

St Kilda Steiner Pre-School

435 Inkerman Street, East St Kilda, 3183

Entry to the side of St James-the-Great Anglican Church on Inkerman Street or along the lane on Alexandra Street. stkildasteinerpreschool.vic.edu.au

Entry is free, to reserve your place email stkildasteinerpreschool@gmail.com or call 03 9527 5168

Getting out into the garden, exploring and investigating is a wonderland for kids! We have some fantastic tools to help: sturdy enamel pails and kid-size tools such as the rake, trowel and shovel above. Inspire some scientific thinking with the flower press and magnifying glass, so kids can see just how a flower works!

Don’t forget to stay clean in a durable Mexican oilcloth apron from Messy Essy!

 

The Little gardeners Gift Pack has everything they need to get out in the garden and get started: The Little Gardeners Guide, an apron, gloves and a spade!

And if you don’t have a big garden to explore and play in – there’s always the Eggling window sill garden!

Did you know this weekend marks the Chinese new year festivities? Does your family enjoy celebrations and learning about other cultures? ‘Festivals Together’ by Sue Fitzjohn is a comprehensive guide to all kinds of different culture’s and their special occasions. There are stories, things to make, recipes, songs, customs and activities for each festival, comprehensively illustrated. You will be able to share in the adventures of Anancy the spider trickster, how Ganesh got his elephant head and share in Eid, Holi, Wesak, Advent, Divali, Chinese New Year and more.

Enrich your family’s life by learning the rituals and meanings of events based on many cultures, including Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh. It draws on backgrounds as diverse as north and west Africa, the Caribbean, China, India, Ireland, Japan, New England, the Philippines and more. Its unifying thread is our need for meaning, continuity and joy.