Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Not long before holiday break we had a lovely day playing with ginger and doing one of the kids' favorite activities, foot soaks! This is a great way to spend a cold winter day especially if little ones are passing any sort of cold around as it stimulates the immune system and helps kids relax.
Read MoreHappy New Year! Before we move on into the transformation that 2013 promises, I wanted to share the top five viewed posts from Mama Rosemary during 2012 plus a few of my personal favorites that you may have missed along the way...
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I truly value each and every one of you!
Have you ever looked inside a tulip? There is a lot going on!
Hands-on aromatic fun!
The perfect present for mom because it is cute and relaxing at the same time.
A study of the butterfly life cycle.
Aromatic crafting for the holiday season!
And an honorable mention. Mentioned because it was not posted in 2012 but got a lot of attention
and hopefully gave some folks a fun herbal craft idea to try!
This was by far one of my favorite activities I have ever done with the kids at preschool.
It was just so much fun!!
Mommies need a break too!
Creating a tool for helping kids with their emotions.
Tasty fun for a summer day!
Cute little kids learning about beautiful violets.
Best wishes for a wonderful new year! May it be full of what ever you are wishing for!
Here is our second round of cinnamon 'n' spice ornaments! We had so much fun coming up with ways to decorate using botanicals. Check out my other post Cinnamon 'n' Spice Ornaments Craft Stylefor full instruction on how to make this aromatically stimulating craft. Trust me these are easy, stimulate a lot of imagination in kids and smell amazing! You won't be disappointed.
Read MoreCombine a lot of cinnamon with some applesauce and what do you get? A delicious smelling dough for crafting! Add some ginger, cloves and orange essential oil and the dough becomes incredibly fragrant, almost enchanting in its olfactory expression. Oh my...
Read MoreWhen I share herbs with kids I love to do it on as many levels as possible, engaging all their senses. Of course taste, touch and smell are huge when working with herbs plus most herbs are a visual feast for the eyes.
This day, cinnamon day, was no exception. Cinnamon is delicious and approachable often bringing up memories of comfort from home with its sweetly spicy taste, yummy fragrance and warming properties. It is a great herb for working with kids. They simply love the taste, the smell and it is a familiar herbs for most.
We had an absolutely lovely, cozy day playing with cinnamon. I made the kids warm cinnamon milk for snack time which they LOVED. Making cinnamon milk is so easy and at the same time tastes so special. Because the preschool I work at is vegan, I used almond milk for the kiddos combining it with a bit of cinnamon, enough to really flavor the milk without being overwhelming, and then heated it to a nice warm drinkable temperature.
Our hands on experience was making cinnamon play dough. I have a great love of play dough stemming back from my childhood and combining herbs with play dough is just about one of the best things ever in my opinion! I made a big supply of fresh play dough and brought it in still warm for the kiddos to enjoy.
As the kids playing I sprinkled on ground cinnamon and the warmth of the play dough interacting with the cinnamon made for a lovely smell. We also added a bit of orange essential oil to the play dough for an extra dimension of fragrance.
I brought in lots of cinnamon sticks for them to use with the play dough.
Play Dough Recipe
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 1 cup of water
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp oil
Optional: powdered herbs for color, either mix in when cooking (can give more even color) or let the kids mix in at the table.
Combine dry ingredients in a sauce pan. Add the water and oil. Stir together and heat slowly over low heat. Stir almost constantly until the play dough sets up. Let it cool to warm before playing, play dough right off the stove is hot.
While they played I read the story of Cinnamon, Queen of the Spices from A Kid's Herb Book by Lesley Tierra. If you haven't checked out this book, you really are in for a treat when you do! It is chock full of ideas, stories, recipes and herbal inspiration for kids.
Cinnamon Day was a simple creative day of great fun and rich experience. A time to connect with a beautiful tasty plant friend.
Click for more information on cinnamon
Shared On: The Kid's Co-op, It's Play Time!, Kid's In The Kitchen, Eco Kid's Tuesday
As a preschool teacher and a parent, I am always on the look out for ways to help kids learn about staying healthy during cold and flu season. So every year, just like I do at home, I make elderberry syrup with the kids at preschool.
Read MoreTiny enchanting little baby rosebuds laden with fragrance are perfect for adorning a sweet little ones head or a lovely lady. This project is perfect for providing a beautiful gift for a little fairy, accessory for Halloween, a dress up party or a festival.
Read MoreThe first snow is magical. We were blessed with that special magic just over a week ago. Just a light dusting, it was beautiful. The snow brought huge smiles to my girls' faces in anticipation of winter fun. Preparation for the storm included a trip the garden for one last harvest. My little one followed along side me and helped me bring in our veggies and herbs. As we rambled through the yard we found our way to the fairy garden we planted a couple of months ago during the heat of summer. We found a large amount of thyme and lemon balm all ready to come inside and join us for the winter. We decided to make a little treat for getting us through the long winter ahead ~ herbal infused honey, yummy!
Pack the herb into the bottom of a jar.
Pour honey over the top. Use a chop stick or a knife to stir the herbs into the honey because the honey will sit on top of the herbs and need a bit of help making its way to the bottom of the jar.
Some fun gooey bubbles will come up and insight potential giggles from little onlookers.
After stirring you will see the honey level go down and will need to add some more to top it off. Perhaps the fairies took a little sip?
Then comes the hardest part, waiting. Waiting for the honey to be done. If you can, try to wait at least a week before you start eating your honey. Truth be told we have already "tasted" the honeys many times and even had some on pancakes. Ah well...
Make sure to label your honey and stir it every day. Or you can simply turn the jar over a couple of times a day. This great tip and a wonderful video tutorial from Mountain Rose Herbs on making herbal honeys can be found HERE. After a week or so has passed either strain the herbs out of your honey or just eat them along with the honey.
Please Note: When infusing fresh herbs in honey you want to be sure to keep the herbs covered in honey so they don't rot. The water content in the herbs is what makes this happen. By keeping the herbs covered the honey preserves them and prevents spoilage. It is really hard to keep the herbs covered which is why turning the jar over a couple of times a day is just brilliant Because the flipping of the jar doesn't keep the herbs submersed in honey, but it does keep the herbs coated and that does the trick!
Well this is the easy part!
A tasty spoonful here and there... Spread on biscuits and toast... A big dollop in a cup of tea...
It gets even better though because the HONEY is infused with the medicinal properties of the plants, it becomes delicious little immune system boost during the winter. Along with the amazing healing benefits of honey, LEMON BALM is a wonderful antiviral which eases tension in the nervous system and lifts the spirits. Thyme, rich in essential oils, is an antiseptic that is amazing for spasmodic coughs and fighting off infection. The thyme combined with soothing honey should be wonderfully soothing for respiratory issues.
Does it get any better than this?
Shared on: Natural Living Monday, The Woodwife's Journal, Kid's Co-op
A cool rainy afternoon is a cookie baking afternoon at our house. A time for ruminating in the kitchen over a delicious, comforting delicacy. Because the heat of summer has been so intense this year, I know we must seize this particular cool afternoon... it could be the last one like it for a while.
Read MoreA sweet celebration of a girl turning ten years old, my daughter's right of passage into "the double digits" was hallmarked by a riotously fun slumber party. The girls danced to all the new songs; giggled and played tag; ate cake with ice cream; and had their faces painted by a professional face painter. As the evening wore on into night we followed all of this fun up with a bit of herbal crafting before bed. My daughter requested we make dream pillows, spritzers and have foot baths. It was great to work with a group of older children because they can do many things preschoolers just can't do yet!
Cuddly fleece surrounding aromatic herbs what girl could resist? We based our pillows off of the instructions for making a no-sew fleece pillow on Family Fun. We made our pillows like mini body pillows for extra cuddliness. I have made these a few times before with children of various ages. At ages 9 and 10 the girls were able to tie the pillows themselves and I am sure they could have cut the fabric too, but I made sure to have that part done before the party so we could focus on the fun part! This pillow needs to be tied and stuffed. Notice the how the cloth is cut, easy-peasy to do!
We sat in a circle on the floor. The room alive with chatting and tying. When someone had a bit of trouble with her project we would all help. It was a nice little gathering. After the girls had their pillows mostly tied they stuffed them with fluffy filler stuff from Hobby Lobby. Then we made herbal bundles to put into their pillows stuffed full of herbs to enhance sleep and dreams ~rose petals, lavender, mugwort and hops. All the herbs were chosen by my daughter during a visit to Rebecca's in Boulder where they let her meet and sniff the herbs to her heart's content!
Here are the beautiful herbs we used all ready to bundle up; from top to bottom ~ red rose petals, hops strobiles, lavender blossoms and mugwort leaves. A fest for the senses!
The girls laid out their chosen herbs on a scrap of cloth which we then folded around the herbs and hot glued shut. It is important to do something to contain the herbs with this kind of pillow because the pillow is not sewn shut and loose herbs fall out of the pillow. Then they placed their herbal bundle in their pillow on top of the fluff filler, right near the surface so the fragrance of the herbs will drift out when they cuddle with their pillow. After that, all that was left was to finish tieing their pillows and viola! A soft aromatic sleep inducing handmade pillow!
Making spritzers is always so fun. It brings out a bit of magical witchiness with all the smelling and blending of precious elixirs into something amazing.
To start this project each girl received a blank label for her bottle. Creative juices were flowing around our kitchen table as the labels were transformed with stencils and colored pencils.
With their finished labels adorned the girls came into the kitchen where I had laid out a variety of relaxing dreamy essential oils ~ lavender, cedarwood, ylang ylang, cardamom, orange and rose geranium.
The girls sniffed and explored each oil asking questions while formulating their own brew. It was lovely to watch them each pick out what their nose was drawn too. No blend was the same! Once they had chosen oils we added them to beautiful cobalt blue spray bottles which were filled with water. We stuck to using 5 to 6 drops of essential oil per ounce of water. Then we screwed on the spray top; the girls added their labels; a shake and a spray and they were off to enjoy.
Last but not least, the girls indulged in warm salty foot soaks. Deep pans and bowls for the girls to put their feet in were filled with very warm water and the girls, sitting in chairs, eased their feet into the water. "Ah's" and "oh's" echoed around the room as their bodies visibly relaxed.
We had a variety of warming and relaxing things to add to their foot soaks: epsom salt, ground ginger, lavender blossoms and essential oil. As they relaxed and softly chatted, I added what they chose to the water and it was quiet for the first time in hours!
As they finished soaking, their feet were dried and we started foot rubs. They each got a squirt of an herbal infused oil enhanced with lots of lavender essential oil to rub on their feet. The skin on our feet absorbs whatever we put on it very well so it is a great place to use natural oils for promoting health. Lavender on the feet helps ease the body into peacefulness and calm. After all this nice soaking and rubbing, the girls had their feet warm and snug in socks and they were off again to sleep.... well, I wasn't that lucky but they were much calmer after all of our fun together!
Eydie from Fanciful Faces was the incredible face painter we had to our house. She was so fun and could paint anything the girls requested. We had everything from a butterfly to a panda to Santa Claus to our dog's exactly replicated on my youngest child's face. If you are in the Front Range of Colorado, check her out!
Herbs for kids and families! Crafting, learning and projects for children, parents and teachers including herbal crafts. Also natural living ideas for healthy families.
