Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Little Herbalists and Healthy Families
Here is our newest creation. Every month we make a special themed playdoh at the school and this months is a wonderful wintry holiday playdoh. It is all-natural (except for the glitter), beautifully colored with powered beet root & scented with the softest little tufts of fir needles from our Christmas tree..
Read MoreAutumn is a wonderful time to learn about the amazing Mint Family (Lamiaceae). There is a delightful abundance of these beautiful plants growing. And the mint family plants make great allies for dealing with winter illness and even emotional stress from school.
The mint family is such a child friendly plant family. Many of the wonderful scents and yummy tastes of plants in this family are easily recognized by children. The plants are so funny too with their square stems and opposite leaves, they make an easy impression on kids.
Read MoreIt has been a long time since I have shared a fun kid activity or recipes. Far too long! So here is our newest creation. It is all-natural (except for the glitter) and beautifully colored with powered flower petals.
Read MoreSnap, snap, snap, it's cookie baking time!
That’s what we did at preschool when we made our playdough of the month for November. Did we eat it? Nope. Instead we played with it and created lots of sparkly playdough cookies.
Read MoreThe perfect playdoh for a lovely Fall afternoon.
Naturally colored and scented with herbs and spices!
"What's a mandala Ms. Angela?" was the immediate question I received after telling the kids what would be making together. While showing the kids a mandala coloring sheet I brought in for them, I explained that a mandala is a circle with a center. It has patterns. "As you work on a mandala," I explained, "you become calm and reflect on the beautiful parts inside yourself."
Inspiration for this project came directly from Nuture Store's wonderful post about Play Dough Rangoli Mandalas. The instant I saw these mandalas I knew I would have to make them (with an herbal flare) at the preschool as part of our unit on Mindful Self Care.
Our finished mandalas smelled amazing! Some of the children really got into this project. I could see and feel their minds and bodies relaxing as they carefully pressed each plant into their play dough. They would pick up a plant, smell it taking a deep breath and then place it in the perfect spot on their play dough canvas.
A Happy First Day of Preschool With Calming Aromatherapy
Cinnamon Day ~ Herbs For Kids ~
Shared On: Eco-Kids Tuesday, The Kid's Co-op, It's Playtime, Kids Get Crafty
Who doesn't love roses and chocolate on Valentine's Day?
Here is a fun, crafty way to share these two Valentine Day favorites with the kids in your life.
Read MoreGood Monday Morning! Are you looking for gifts for a special child in your life to give during the upcoming holiday season? Something homemade that inspires the imagination? Something that gives kids hands on experience with herbs?
Play dough, need I say more? 
Maybe it is just me and my obsession with the stuff. I do seem to talk about it a lot and make it often. But in my opinion, play dough is really one of the best homemade gifts for little kids. By adding herbs and essential oils to play dough kids get to experience herbs in an up close and personal way. I find that they absolutely love it! I smile every year when I make up a big batch of Christmas play dough to send off in the mail to all the sweet young ones in my life and of course I always make extra for my own kids to play with, though this year they seem less interested. So sad, I guess they are growing up!
Last night we made up a special batch to send off. We used lots of fun things to make it smell and sparkle like the Holidays.
Once it was all cooked up and had cooled off we portioned it into plastic bags to keep it fresh and then wrapped it with sparkly tissue paper. This will make a fun addition to gifts we send off in the mail! Check out my post on Herbal Play Dough for the recipe to make your own play dough.
The following links have great variations on play dough...
Rose At Preschool for Valentine's Day
A Happy First Day of Preschool With Calming Aromatherapy
Amanda from Natural Living Mamma
Katie from Mexican Wild Flower
Angela from Mama Rosemary.
Ditch the disposables: How to stop using paper towels by Green Idea Reviews
Cuddle Babies Too Much by Slightly Steady
Herbal Medicine Chest #1 by The Woodwife's Journal
Congratulations on being featured! These amazing posts (and a few others) will be tweeted, shared on my Facebook page and pinned on my Pintrest boards!
From this week forward the list is in random order! I am hoping this will get the late linkers more views!
Here are the rules: Your blog article must fit these categories: sustainable living, homesteading, DIY, herbs, home-made body and skin care, real food (no processed ingredients, Weston A. Price Foundation guidelines are a good place to start to define “real food”), and all things “natural“.
Link back to this week’s blog hop post so that everyone can see the other amazing posts. It is just basic common courtesy.
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When 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
The new school year is quickly approaching for us at our very sweet little preschool. Some of the kids will be coming to school for the very first time. In fact they may have never been away from their mama. Because needless to say, for some kids (and their parents too), the first day of school can be intimidating, scary and even a bit traumatic. I know I sat in my car and cried for a good twenty minutes after I dropped my oldest daughter off on her first day of preschool. Every year on this very special day we help the kids adjust to their new environment by offering a time-honored and much loved activity, playdough, made a bit friendlier with the addition of calming essential oils and herbs.
Playing with playdough on its own provides stress relief through tactile squeezing and massaging of the smooth squishy dough. With essential oils added the child instantly gets all the benefits of aromatherapy. Breathing deepens as the oils are inhaled calming the mind and body, bringing about a sense of peace. Read Herbal Playdough for more info on the benefits of playdough and to get some great ideas for making your own colorful fragrant completely chemical free playdough. It is fun to let each child custom make their own playdough to take home. They have something fun they made to share with their family at the end of the big day.
Prepared Playdough or you can make the playdough with the kids. Here is my favorite recipe:
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 playdough sets up. Let it cool to warm before playing, playdough right off the stove is hot.
Food Coloring (Please note that I am searching for affordable coloring made from natural materials that are healthy. I do use powdered herbs for coloring when making a large quantity of one colored playdough for the school, yet I need something wonderful for coloring playdough when we are making personal playdough for taking home. If any one has a source, please share!)
Essential Oils I like to offer lavender, sweet orange, cardamon, spearmint, rosemary and rose geranium.
Dried Herbs like lavender blossoms, ground cinnamon and rose petals
Glitter
How do you welcome little ones to your school for that first big day? I would love to hear all about it!
Well, the first day has come and went. We had a blast making our playdough. Some of the kids made some really neat pieces of art with their playdough and all the additions we used. Fresh lavender stalks became trees and dried roses became lava.
Enjoy the pictures!
Please Note about essential oils: Essential oils are concentrated plant substances. They are dangerous and should not be used unsupervised around children. Always keep the oils up and out of reach when you aren’t using them and be sure that an adult is the one who holds and uses the bottles. I tell the kids that the essential oils are for teachers to use. Some oils smell like really yummy food, so please do be careful. Use mild oils like the ones listed above.
Shared on: The Weekly Kid's Co-op, DJDaniel4's Mom, Charlotte Mom Favorites
Herbs for kids and families! Crafting, learning and projects for children, parents and teachers including herbal crafts. Also natural living ideas for healthy families.
