When I attended the Waldorf parent-child class with my eldest daughter (now almost 14! WOW) I immediately fell in love with the playstands. I wanted one so badly! I was so envious of my friend who had a husband who was so good at making them he even donated a couple to a new initiative! But alas, I could not afford to purchase them. Years later, when I found myself in a better financial state and able to purchase a few more hierloom toys for my children I looked back at our photo albums and realized we already had playstands! In fact, we had so many of them - we were rich in playstands! I thought I would share some pictures of some of the playstands we have had over the years...
Dining room chairs of course...
Sawed off bedstands/bed frames....
Logs and sticks...
Even small chairs...
Thursday, September 18, 2008
A Childhood of Playstands
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Saga of the Playsilks
The Saga of the Play Silks
There once was a young lady who had a little baby. She wanted some Waldorf playsilks but she didn't like to sew and she lived far far away from anyone who sold them. So she did what any clever young lady would do - she asked her mama to sew some for her.
A few weeks later an airmail package came from America to Saudi Arabia and a pile of pretty, soft and silky play silks fell out of the package. They were so dreamy! The young lady was happy and the baby was happy.
The baby chewed on the play silks and laughed when her mama played peek-abo with them. She put them over her head and played peek-abo too.
When the baby was 3 years old she used the silks as wings and skirts and capes and dressed up as a fairy, a pirate and a princess. When she grew up to be 5-years-old she tucked her baby dolls into bed with a scarf as a blanket and kissed them goodnight.
When her baby sister was born that year she covered her baby sister in playsilks and watched her giggle.
The play-silks continued to entertain all her friends, her sister and even her sister's friends. Sometimes they were draped over the nature table and sometimes they were worn as cloaks or hoods. Sometimes they were picnic blankets and sometimes walls of a fort or a house. They were table cloths, blankets and everything you can imagine.
But they were very sad because they always stayed at home. They wanted to have adventures. Once, one of them got to go to the Mayfair and often they got to play outdoors but they wanted to go on a real adventure.
So one day...13-years after their birth, the sister of the little baby (who was now 13-years-old) was going to be a fairy at the Renaissance Festival and she needed a skirt.
Her mama, who was an older woman now, said "I still don't like to sew. I like to knit so I can pay someone else to sew for me." And she laughed a little rascally laugh. Then the little sister, who was now 9-years-old said, "But mama, I want you to MAKE my fairy outfit. You HAVE to make something for me (in less than 20 minutes of course)." And she looked at her mama with beautiful wide brown eyes.
So the mama took an old belt with a lot of holes in it, she folded & draped some of the playsilks over the belt and used thread to secure them every few centimeters through the holes in the belt. Then she sprinkled some fairy dust on the scarves and attached some felt butterflies and dragonflies and some silk flowers. She clipped butterflies in the little girl's hair and the little girl spied a pussy willow branch on the nature table and said "THAT is the perfect wand!"
And because the mother loved to knit she bobby pinned a little knitted unicorn to the top of her outfit and sprinkled some fairy dust on the baby unicorn too. She saw her beading box on top of the craft table and quickly strung a clasp onto some clear thread, attached a crystal and made a necklace for the fairy too.
Now the little fairy was very happy and the scarves were happy too. And now they are both having many adventures today being fairies at the Renaissance Festival all day!
Friday, August 29, 2008
To Grow in The Open Air...
When it is Autumn or Spring and the kids are "living" outdoors it reminds me of thisa poem by Walt Whitman. He says, "Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Waldorf Heaven for Flowers
About a month ago a dear friend sent me flowers from Hawaii. We were all enchanted and I put them in the middle of the room and took great care with them so they would last a long time.
A few days ago they started to fade so I told Sofi she could now "have" them. They only had a few days left to live and she had been begging me so...
The flowers then became part of a fort that her and her friend built in the livingroom - surrounded by silk and wooden toys and dolls and giggling singing girls...
I thought to myself - so this is flower heaven :)