Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Snow days are so much fun! What could be better than staying home from school and playing in the snow? Sometimes though, kids (and their parents) get stir crazy and need another outlet for all that great kid energy.
The projects below are kid tested for plenty of indoor fun! The addition of fragrant botanicals and essential oils helps to relax everyone while cleansing and freshening the air.
Read MoreHave you ever asked a little child what they are thankful for? Once they understand the idea, thoughts come easily for most kiddos. Mostly they are thankful for their mommy and daddy, those essential beings who fill a little one’s world.
Read MoreDid you know that many of our sweet, warm culinary herbs come from trees? Herbs like cinnamon, cloves, allspice and star anise all come from trees. We are studying trees and herbs from trees at preschool this month so naturally we are playing around with these well-loved and well-known herbs.
Read MoreThese make the perfect little friend for playing with in the garden!
Over the years I have crafted many wee fairy friends with my daughters, my daughters' friends and my little friends at preschool. Each fairy is as unique as the child who made it, right down to their hand-drawn faces.
Read MoreFinding meaningful ways to engage children in becoming aware of and exploring their emotions is an important step towards raising confident, happy kids. And the last few weeks the kids and I filled our time together breathing deep, talking about our emotions and playing! I would like to share some of the wonderful projects we did that helped us engage our whole-selves, become aware of our emotions and find ways to center ourselves. These projects are perfect to do with young children and even have complete lesson plans for those of you working with a group of kids. Most of the projects have a bit of science thrown in while all of them offer kid-approved fun and creativity!
Conduct a science experiment with essential oils to see what oils insight certain feelings. Then create a unique piece of art work inspired by an aroma of your choice!
Create a beautiful fragrant meditative mandala from lovely botanicals.
Create a special mind jar with a friendly face. This project helps kids learn to breathe and slow down with they feel out of sorts.
A special twist on Meditation Friends that allows for even more personalization of your child's special new friend!
Simple yoga play with a favorite elephant! We used this super fun book to guide us through a morning of giggly yoga.
Do you have any special ways to help kids learn about emotions or mindful ways of how to engage themselves? I would love to hear about them and give them a try!
Wishing you lots of peaceful fun!
Spring is just around the corner yet here in Colorado, March is typically our snowiest month. We haven't had a whole lot of the white stuff so far this year and yesterday's storm has me excited for more before the first flowers start poking their heads up through the soil and the earliest green buds make an appearance on tree branches. In honor of winter fun I would like to share some of the great snow and ice projects the kids and I have done. These projects are perfect to do with young children and even have complete lesson plans for those of you working with a group of kids. Most of the projects have a bit of science thrown in while all of them offer kid-approved fun and creativity!
Talk about and play with states of matter while conducting a dissolving experiment with kids. Use all this new-found learning to grow crystals on snow flakes!
Have a race to see how fast ice will melt when exposed to different temperatures and substances. Create a big block of rainbow ice by using salt and food coloring together to track how fast salt will dissolve ice. Then paint with ice cubes!
Create an enchanted world using fairies, dinosaurs, glitter and pretty stones. The kids really loved this and want to do it again!
Super simple to make and a great way to get outside a play!!
Do you have any favorite snow or ice projects? I would love to hear about them and give them a try!
Wishing you lots of wintry fun!
Shared On: The Kid's Co-Op, It's Playtime!
This activity is not herbal or even scientific, what it is, is just plain fun! Plus it is a great way to get the kids outside on a snowy, cold day while bringing out the little Picasso inside.
The set up couldn't be easier. Simply fill a few spray bottes with cold water and then add food coloring. Let the kids watch. The drops of food coloring swirling into the water always insights happy "ooh's and ahh's."
Then take the kids outside and let them get creative. You might want to instruct the kids only to spray the snow especially if you are working with a group of children otherwise you might have art in unwanted places.
We did this activity a few weeks ago at the preschool and started out our day with an Ice Cube Experiment and setting up the Big Block Of Ice Experiment and as usual it was great fun being scientists for the day and watching to see if our predictions came true.
We also read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
which inspired the kids to get outside and explore the snowy landscape.
More Please ~ Check out other fun ice and snow experiments...
Thanksgiving is tomorrow! We have a whole day set aside to count our blessings and be thankful. How can we make this meaningful for our children and for ourselves? Here are three simple craft projects for kids and families to capture the spirit of Thanksgiving and hopefully help it spill over into the days to come.
Read MoreI love fairies. The idea of tiny magic creatures taking care of nature has always intrigued me. It is a bit of magic. A bit of loveliness. Add some dinosaurs and you have all you need for creative fun! A few weeks ago we made a fairy garden together.
Read MorePeering into another world all mystical with sparkly swirls, I was enchanted. It was my very own snowglobe, precious to me, invoking imagination. I would stare into that small contained world for what seemed like hours and dream of what it would be like to be inside, to be part of that world. I don't even remember what was in my snowglobe but I do remember feelings of wonder, curiosity and joy.
Read MoreHerbs for kids and families! Crafting, learning and projects for children, parents and teachers including herbal crafts. Also natural living ideas for healthy families.
