A Day Full of Song
Work Songs from a Waldorf Kindergarten

42 Original Songs in the Mood of the Fifth

Karen Lonsky

Illustrated by Victoria Sander

Spiral Bound

$18.00

This is how we knead our bread,
Push and pat, push and pat!
Roll it up and start again,
Push and pat, push and pat,
Push-a-pat-a-pat.

- from A Day Full of Song by Karen Lonsky

So many people have asked for more songs in the mood of the fifth* to share with young children. It is a joy to be able to announce this beautiful little book that is just what parents and teachers have been wanting - a beautiful way to carry children through the day and introduce them to the world where we do things to make life better for all. Just browsing through these songs is inspiring and joyous.

Please do share these songs with all the young ones in your care - they speak of a love of the earth at every turn.

*"The Mood of the Fifth" describes a type of pentatonic music, usually centered around A above middle C, which is light and delicate sounding, just right for very young children.

A Day Full of Song - Audio CD
Work Songs from a Waldorf Kindergarten

A Companion CD to the songbook, A Day Full of Song

Karen Lonsky

Illustrated by Victoria Sander

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER - EXPECTED MID-FEBRUARY

$8.00

Learn the songs from the teacher who wrote them - a beautiful accompaniment to Lonsky's songbook.

A Donsy of Gnomes
7 gentle gnome stories

Written and Illustrated by Siegline De Francesca

Softbound

$14.95

A Donsy of Gnomes is just one of the dearest books ever. The wee folk who live in it will become fast friends with all the young children who get to meet them. And, these charming natural/magical little people come bringing gifts ~ in the most delightful ways possible they teach wee lessons, happily and by example, in generosity, selflessness, resourcefulness, courage and friendship.

This is just a perfect little book for young children. Take your child on a charming and jaunty journey though the worlds of the gnomes. It's just the thing for sweet dreams at night or a pause in teh midst of a busy day. I predict that this will be one of hte books that will remain alive in your children's hearts long after they have grown and have children of their own.

A joy to be shared with children ages 3 and up!

Hiding in the Green
Children Discovering the Garden in Poetry and Photographs

Nancy Free Martin and Millie Reith

Includes audio CD with 2 songs

Softbound

$14.95

Sweet poems, happy songs, engaging photos all lead children and adults into the garden and into nature's magical world through the wonder packed between the covers of this dear little book.

This is not a didactical discourse on how to teach children about nature - Hiding in the Green is simply a collection of songs and poems paired with beautiful photos of children in a vibrant garden.

You can use this book for story time, you can learn the poems and use them for garden circles, games and joy. I predict that the poems and songs will become a part of daily life for you and for any children in your care. What a lovely celebration of nature!

Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour

Susan Perrow

Softbound

$30.00

Susan Perrow has developed the art of pedagogical stories to a luminescent degree. In her beautiful book she offers dozens of stories, some her own, some traditional and retold by her. Each story carries with it the seed of healing for just about any childhood problem, from unruly behavior to deep grieving. Her voice is one of warmth and caring, her stories are richly engaging to young and old alike.

Having her book at hand is like having a medicine chest filled with homeopathic remedies for all conditions - and, like homeopathy, Susan's stories are guaranteed to produce no unwanted side effects.

Healing Stories includes chapters on creating stories and on the art of storytelling, as well as stories selected for their ability to heal. This is a resource that is so vast in its usefulness that we predict it will become one of the most sought after parent/teacher resources ever printed.

Making Picture Books with Movable Figures

Brunhild Müller

Softbound

$14.95

What a treat this little book is! Brunhild Müller shows parents and teachers how to create their own books with moving figures, the sort of book children delight in and Rudolf Steiner said were among the books that most captivated him when he was a child.

The joy felt by a child that someone he/she loves has created a book just for him or her cannot be overstated. My most treasured possession from my own childhood is a simple little book bound in a report folder and written and illustrated on typing paper. My mother wrote and illustrated it for me: a sweet story about me and all my stuffed animal friends. To me, it is beautiful beyond belief - and is the sort of book you can create using Brunhild's dear little book. Her instructions are clear and easy to follow, her ideas for stories are inspiring, and the book is complete with full color examples of real pages created in this way.

Childhood's Garden
Shaping everyday life around the needs of young children

Helle Heckmann

Book and DVD

Softbound

$30.00

I have been basking in the glow of both the film and book that are Childhood's Garden every since reviewing them. My, oh my, what goodness lies within!

First, about the film presented on the DVD: Amazing, warm, wonderful, inspiring - I could go on and on with superlatives. The more people who can see it, the better for the world.

The filmmakers managed to blend into the background so well that the children simply go about their day as though they aren't there. And what a day it is! Helle Heckmann has created a true garden for young children (Nokken): they spend 5 hours of their 8 hour day outdoors, rain or shine (this was a summer day - she doesn't mention in the film what they do on truly frigid winter days). They are given the freedom to imitate the work of the garden and more as their child's heart. The little ones (ages 1-3) take naps in specially made cribs that are also outdoors - this is a Danish tradition which I believe should be looked at closely in other parts of the world where it may also benefit children who spend so much of their life indoors.

Nokken offers the children a midday meal which is made from biodynamic grains, vegetables, oils and syrups. The diet has been chosen to provide the children with types of food they are unlikely to receive at home, thus effecting and overall balance in their diets. I'm a bit less certain as to whether her diet would be effective in balancing children's food intake in the US, as my observation in Waldorf kindergartens has been that many of the parents already eat in similar ways and that offering more of the same might prove to create an overall imbalance. However, this, too, should be examined closely -- Helle's approach is sound and beautiful, but her exact solutions for her area may or may not translate well in other situations. Nonetheless, her food is highly nutritious and looked so good I found myself getting hungry just watching the children eat.

In the small book that comes with it, Helle Heckmann expands on things seen in the movie, but not necessarily described in depth. You'll learn more about the thinking and feeling that has gone into every detail of the life she and her coworkers have created for the children in their care. It is packed, simply packed with valuable ideas that carry so much inspiration that I am confident they will live and grow in this world of ours.

Childhood's Garden is one of the most significant, beautiful, healing works to have emerged in the field of early childhood educaiton. Please watch the DVD (invite your friends, make popcorn!), talk about it, read the book - this is must see/read material!

Creating a Home for Body, Soul, and Spirit
A New Approach to Childcare

Bernadette Raichle

Softbound

$25.00

Creating a Home for Body, Soul, and Spirit answers with beauty and love the needs of children everywhere, and conveys a joyous hope to all adults how care for those children.

Because she took seriously the fact that many homes require the parent(s) to work away from their young children, and because she has such a great love for children and our world, she created one of the most beautiful and life-giving childcare centers anywhere.

In Creating a Home, she shares not only pictures of the life of Awhina (her center), but something more: she goes on to relate clear the developmental needs of the fourfold human being and in the most practical terms discusses how it is that caregivers can meet them within young children. Her's is a stirring, heartwarming account that is at the same time clear and deep.

Anyone who cares for children, particularly other people's children, will want to read this book and commit its wisdom to heart. I truly believe that the future will smile in return.

First Grade Readiness
Resources, Insights, and Tools for Waldorf Educators

Nancy Blanning, Editor

Spiralbound

$21.00

Some history first:

In my more than 30 years involvement with Waldorf Education, I have not encountered a topic that generated more interest, anxiety, misunderstanding and bewilderment than the question of what really constitutes first grade readiness in a child.

In the early days, there was a tendency for educators to draw a line in the sand in relation to a child's age. Which line it was varied from school to school ("must be age 7," "must turn 7 in the first semester," "must turn 7 by the end of summer" and so forth). There was also "must have begun the change of teeth."

Of course, all of this missed a couple of very important points. The first was that Rudolf Steiner never once said that children are ready to learn to read "at age 7." What he said was that "sometime during the 7th year" they become ready - this means anytime after the 6th birthday, not after the 7th birthday. Then, there is the modern fact that (in my opinion) our lives have created conditions wherein child development has become a bit chaotic: children can begin to lose their teeth at, say, 4 years old, but don't seem to mature mentally so far as grammar school readiness is concerned until 7 or 8 years of age. While there are beautiful ways to pull this development together, it did leave the adults in a predicament of not knowing where to look for criteria that would offer the child the best possibilities of sound education.

Later on, there were a variety of coordination and drawing criteria that were sometimes applied, but understood by only a few and contested by others. Given that each school (and sometimes each teacher) had different requirements and assessments, it's small wonder that parents often looked at the process as arbitrary and poorly substantiated, regardless of everyone's best intentions.

Now, my review of this GREAT book:

Happily, all of this is changing through more research and broader understandings of child development needs. I have recently seen in the mainstream press many articles on the needs of young children that would have been at home only in a Waldorf school 30 years ago. And, with increased knowledge and awareness, it has become possible for a true flowering of understanding to arise within the Waldorf movement.

It is a flowering of understanding that Nancy Blanning has brought together in First Grade Readiness. This book is packed with the most comprehensive, detailed, sound and wholesome guidance about what first grade readiness really is and what teachers and parents should look for when considering whether or not a given child is ready to move into the world of abstract learning.

First Grade Readiness is both healing and inspiring. My feeling is that both educators and parents will be heard to sigh with warm relief upon reading it, it offers so much loving common sense and light-filled wisdom.

Read it, use it, share it.

Contents:

• Foreword
• Part One
  • Reflections on First Grade Readiness - Nancy Blanning
  • First Grade Readiness - Joan Almon
  • Some Guidelines for First Grade Readiness - Nancy Foster
  • School Readiness: A School Doctor's Perspective - Bettina Lohn, MSc
  • What are the signs that my child is ready for school? - Michaela Glöckler, MD and Wolfgang Goebel, MD
  • The Transition to Elementary School Learning: When is the right time?
  • School Entry and the Consolidation of Developmental Processes - Audrey E McAllen
  • The Development of Memory and the Transformation of Play - Louise deForest
  • Creating Partnerships with Parents in First Grade Readiness Decisions - Ruth Ker
  • Carrying the Transition to First Grade - Janet Klaar
  • A Transition Group at the Edinburgh Steiner School - Melissa Borden
  • Building the Bridge to the First Grade: How a Class Teacher Can Lead Children Gently into the Grade School - Kim Holscher
  • The Lowering of School Age and the Changes in Childhood: An Interim Report - Claudia McKeen, MD; Rainer Patzlaff; Martyn Rawson
• Part Two
  • Introduction
  • Developing Our Observation Skills for Understanding First Grade Readiness - Ruth Ker
  • The Red Queen: A First Grade Assessment Story - Valerie Poplawski, Celia Riahi, and Randi Stein
    • First Grade Assessment Form
    • The Red Queen Materials List
    • Reverence List for The Red Queen
  • A Therapeutic Educator's Approach: Keeping It Imaginative and Playfully Objective - Nancy Blanning
    • First Grade Readiness Observation Form
    • Equipment List
    • Activities to Support Healthy Sensory Development
  • Observation Forms for the Documentation of Development and Learning
    • Observation Form for Early Childhood Educators
  • Contributors

Little Angel's Journey

A Waldorf Birthday Story

Told and illustrated by Dzvinka Hayda

Hardbound, dustjacketed, large format

$21.95

Dvinka Hayda's birthday story is so beautiful and true that it brought tears to my eyes when first I read it. Out of her many years as a Waldorf kindergarten teacher, she has added elements to her story that I have never encountered anywhere else, and that serve to encircle the child whose birthday it is with the warm, glowing love of Heave and Earth.

Her story begins as Little Angel and Great Angel journey together toward Earth. On the way, they discover many things and Little Angel sees the Earth from cloud-filled distances, watching it and loving it more each day, learning that the Earth would be Little Angel's new home.

The day comes when Little Angel and Great Angel walk together to take Little Angel to Earth. Great Angel takes Little Angel to Radiant Sun and Silvery Moon, who have gifts that are just for Little Angel.

Down the Rainbow Bridge and into the hearts and home of Little Angel's parents they go. But Great Angel returns to Heaven, taking Little Angel's wings for safekeeping until all Little Angel's good deeds on Earth are accomplished, and Little Angel returns to use them again.

And it is this last facet which is such a poignant joy to see - that we enter the world with good deeds to do, and when they are done we shall return to Great Angel and the wings we left behind.

Any child enfolded in this tale will carry a seed of comfort, confidence and courage that will grow into an adult strength of purpose and love. My hope is that this story goes out into the world, and that for each adult who learns it, children ten-fold hear it; and for each child who hears it told to him/her, that child's confidence of life is shared with ten who have not had it told to them. May this seed become a great tree with many, many healthy, beautiful branches.

Goodnight
A Concertina Board Book

Marjan van Zeyl

Hardboard

$19.95

The soft watercolor pictures by Marjan van Zeyl follow the child’s journey into sleep, through the night, and to waking in the morning.

Goodnight is a “concertina” board book, with five sections that fold out to a beautiful four foot panorama—all in beautiful color.

(Ages 3–6)

Puppet Theatre

Maija Baric'

Illustrated by Kristiina Louhi

Hardbound

$30.00

This is just such a charming, happy book! Maija Baric' opens up the world of puppetry to young children and adults in ways that will make you smile and will lead you and your children on and on into the worlds you can create on a tabletop. Her puppet "recipes" range from those that are so simple a kindergarten child can make them to puppets that will require a kindly adult to bring them to life. Likewise, the staging: from the very simplest intended for the children to create themselves , to more complex stages for adults to use for the children's enjoyment.

I love the way all the instructions are illustrated with colorful drawings which somehow all manage to evoke warmth and love. Maija Baric's instructions follow the drawings to their conclusion as storybook characters and more, and are peppered with good advice all along the way.

Altogether a wondeful book for families, teachers and adults with exuberant inner children!

Gardening with Young Children

Beatrys Lockie

Softbound

$27.00

I have personally been waiting for over 20 years for someone to write this beautiful book. It is a joy to see it and to recognize in it everything I've ever wanted to see on this topic placed between two covers.

Beatrys Lockie is a passionate organic gardener who taught in a Waldorf kindergarten for many years and found a seemingly unlimited number of ways to pass along to young children her enthusiasm for gardening. Anyone wanting to do the same will love this book as much as I do.

In fact, anyone wanting to learn to garden from a master will love this book, for she includes all the basics of gardening along with her ways of sharing it with our little ones.

And, if you already know how to garden, but want to learn how to work with young children, she shows you that, too. The first part of the book is like walking into her kindergarten where she quietly shows us the rhythms and ways of what is to me a sacred space wherein children can blossom.

Gardening with Young Children answers so many needs with so much love that it simply brings tears to my eyes to read it. I hope that it becomes the seed to many, many gardens that invite children into the world of nature.

Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter
Hand Gesture Games, Songs and Movement Games for Children in Kindergarten and the Lower Grades

Wilma Ellersiek

Inside Spiral Bound

$23.95

Long awaited, it will be long loved! Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter brings with it the same love and warmth of Ellersiek's Spring and Summer volume and her incomparable Giving Love, Bringing Joy. Anyone with young children in their lives will discover a new world of joy in Autumn and Winter - one with crackly leaves and crunchy frost, one with beauty all around. This beautiful book is a gift to children and the adults who love them - we warmly invite you to enter its world.

Gesture Games for Spring and Summer
Hand Gesture Games, Songs and Movement Games for Children in Kindergarten and the Lower Grades

Wilma Ellersiek

Inside spiral bound

$23.95

These songs, hand gestures and movement games foster a joy and enthusiasm that leads our children toward a love and understanding of nature -- and no wonder, as they were created by the author of Giving Love, Bringing Joy. What an inspiring work! You'll love these as much as the children do.

Gesture Games for Spring and Summer, Autumn and Winter
Hand Gesture Games, Songs and Movement Games for Children in Kindergarten and the Lower Grades

A Learning CD

Performed by Connie Manson
Accompanied by Ilian Wilwerth

$14.95

Beautifully performed songs from Gesture Games for Spring and Summer and Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter -- for you to learn to sing with the children in your care.

Contains 19 songs of Spring/Summer and 18 Autumn/Winter songs.

Gesture Games Set

Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter - Book
Gesture Games for Spring and Summer - Book
Gesture Games for Spring and Summer, Autumn and Winter - Audio CD

Price if purchased separately: $71.90

Set Price: $68.95

Giving Love - Bringing Joy
Book & CD Together

John Wilkes

Brimming with full-color and black-and-white photos and drawings

Softbound

$37.00

See descriptions below

Giving Love - Bringing Joy
Hand Gesture Games and Lullabies in the Mood of the Fifth

Wilma Ellersiek

For Children between Birth & Nine

$28.00

Here is a beautiful collection of original songs, hand games, touch games, lullabies, and, well, just about everything you could want to create a joyful moment with a child or class of children. I have personally never seen an offering quite like this one - Ellersiek's gift is that the tapestry of her songs and games actually awakens love within the adult which then streams out in joy to the child(ren) with whom the adult plays and sings. These are wonderful! If you have young children in your life, try these. They are like liquid drops of golden sunshine.

Giving Love - Bringing Joy - CD
Hand Gesture Games and Lullabies in the Mood of the Fifth
A Learning CD

Wilma Ellersiek

Performed by Connie Manson

Poetic Translation by Kundry Wilwerth

$10.95

A beautiful way to teach yourself the lullabies, hand games and simple songs of Giving Love - Bringing Joy. Connie Manson sings all fifteen of of these very special songs with a simplicity and lilting grace that evoke the love we carry for our children. There's a bonus song, too!

Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures
Movement Enrichment with a Therapeutic Approach for Early Childhood

Nancy Blanning and Laurie Clark

Spiral Bound

$23.50

What a joy! Here is an entire book filled not just with charming circle games and songs for the kindergarten, but with charming games and songs that have been created to help our young children find their way into their bodies and souls. In more prosaic language, these games and movement songs address the spatial integration and sensory processing development issues that it seems more and more children are struggling with.

However you think about it, this is a book of genius and a gift to young children. The games are delightful - teachers and parents will have as much fun and the children. And, they are brilliantly thought out to include movement forms that will bring the children into the world in with strength and balance.

This is a truly essential resource of the caliber of AHE's Resource Teacher's Developmental Exercise Manual. Use it. Love it.

The Parent and Child Group Handbook
A Steiner/Waldorf Approach

Dot Male

Softbound

Published in partnership with the Alliance for Childhood

$30.00

The Parent and Child Group Handbook features lively case studies from Waldorf parent and child groups in the UK. It is an inspiring resource and guide that draws on the author's rich experience in this area.

Written in 12 chapters, this unique handbook includes Steiner's theory of child development; ways to structure a session; appropriate toys and activities; suggestions for a shared meal; the circle time; various festivals; issues of health, safety, and the law; marketing, publicity, and fund raising; and much more.

This handbook is worthy resource for parents, teachers and early years educators, health visitors, play group leaders, and family support services.

The Breathing Circle
Learning through the movement of the natural breath

Nell Smyth

Softbound

$28.00

A clear, imaginative, and flexible blueprint for teachers of early learning, describing how to integrate and support the child’s developing sensory systems and the movement patterns that underpin child development.”

—Anna Hubbard, Brain Gym instructor and author

Early childhood educators know that children love to be part of a learning circle. "Circle time" is an essential ingredient of Waldorf education. Circles offer participation in a larger whole and can foster the development of key sensory and neuromuscular faculties.

Nell Smyth developed "The Breathing Circle" techniques to help develop greater learning potential, to help integrate sensory and motor activities, and to help young children venture more freely into the social world while feeling fully grounded in body and mind.

"Our breath lives in the realm of movement. The quality of our breath changes, deepening and becoming more substantial through enjoyable movement. Different qualities of movement affect intimately how we breathe. As our breath flows more freely, the breath rhythm can come into greater balance. When this starts to take place, we can become refreshed and reinvigorated, feel more integrated and more aware of the boundary between ourselves and the rest of the world in which we participate. To breathe more deeply is to be more present and to be more present is to be awake with more resources available for learning."

(from the introduction)

The Breathing Circle brings practical new ways to understand how responsiveness, expression, and learning all depend on the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation, which carry children into the world and back into themselves.

The Breathing Circle offers movements, verses, and stories for children, working directly with their unfolding senses and the cycle of natural breath. These techniques can be used with children, from toddlers through seven years.

Here is an essential handbook for early years educators, preschooler parents, and caregivers, as well as storytellers, drama teachers, breathwork teachers and practitioners, and those involved in the many other somatic disciplines.

Published in partnership with the Alliance for Childhood.

A Lifetime of Joy
A Collection of circle games, finger games, songs, verses, and plays for puppets and marionettes

Collected, created, adapted and translated by Bronja Zahlingen

Softbound

$21.50

A Lifetime of Joy is a rare and wonderful tribute to Bronja Zahlingen's (1/8/1912 to 1/24/2000) life's work; in return, it is a gift from Bronja to all the children and adults whose lives it will touch and nurture. Just to look through it's pages is to feel the warmth, wisdom and love that every child in her kindergarten felt for so very many beautiful years.

Included in this volume are all the plays from her sparkling Plays for Puppets and Marionettes -- and much, much more. There are songs, wee stories for the seasons and other times, nature tales, circle games, verses. In addition, there is a touching account of Bronja's life and work, and articles for teachers and parents. The two articles, "On movement, gesture and Language in the Life of the Young Child" and "The Pedagogical Value of Marionette and Table Puppet Shows for the Small Child" are welcome additions to everyone's understanding. Even the photo on the cover speaks volumes about the wealth we can present to children through simple stories told with marionettes.

In short, this is a great book for anyone working with young children - a shining star over a child's garden.

The Nature Corner
Celebrating the year's cycle with seasonal tableaux

M. van Leuwen and J. Moeskops

2nd Edition

$20.00

The Nature Corner is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to add this to their child's experience of home. There are detailed instructions on setting up the basic table, including directions for making the draping cloths. Themes of the seasons and some of the festivals (most, but not all with a Christian theme), are portrayed with full directions for making the animals and dolls shown in the color photographs. There are instructions for making some of the dearest little mice, fluffiest of sheep, and the most charming gnomes ever. Do enjoy your creative romp through nature's year!

Birthday

Norah Romer

Illustrated by Heather Jarman

Softbound

$12.95

Five young children wait to travel with Father Time from Heaven down to Earth, on their Birthday.

Absolutely just right for our little ones!

Hanky-Panky
traditional handkerchief toys

Elizabeth Burns

Hand-tied booklet with white handkerchief tucked inside

$6.95

Hanky-Panky is a neverending source of laughter and delight disguised as an unassuming booklet of ideas. Inside you will find a white handkerchief, just like my own father carried every day, and page after page of instructions for transforming it into the most delightful toys ever. From Twins in a Hammock to a wriggling Mouse to Rabbits and Ballerinas -- the joy just never stops. All you need is a handkerchief and a small child for one of the sweetest ways to celebrate life.

The Waldorf School Book of Soups

Collected by Marsha Post

Arranged and Introduced by Andrea Huff

Illustrated by Jo Valens

Spiral Bound

$14.95

I've been watching and waiting for this book for a long time - now that it's here, I can report that it's even better than I had hoped. Soup Day was always a favorite of mine when I worked in a Waldorf Kindergarten, so I expected to find a collection of wonderful, tasty recipes. My expectations are deliciously rewarded -- there's soup for all seasons, occasions and tastes. You'll love them!

What I didn't even dare expect was the attention to nutrition and food sources. After reading through The Waldorf School Book of Soups, I've decided that next time, I'll set my hopes to a higher level. This book offers, in the clearest and most concise ways, a thorough introduction to the value of organic and biodynamic food as well as an outstanding overview of some of the most important nutritional principles articulated more fully in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

In other words, The Waldorf School Book of Soups is just plain excellent and destined to serve families, classes and, most especially, children for years to come.

The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book

Collected and Annotated by Lisa Hildreth

Illustrated by Jo Valens

Spiral Bound

$12.95

This is another one of those books that many of us have been waiting for years to see someone publish - hooray! that the day has arrived.

Lisa Hildreth has gathered up recipes and suggestions from many different Waldorf kindergarten teachers and topped them off with high-quality research and explanations about the whys, wherefores, and other considerations. This is book that any parent or teacher of young children will come to treasure and use daily for many years.

With contents that range from rich and rewarding considerations to mouth-watering recipes, The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book is such a celebration of food and children that you'll find yourself singing each time you prepare meals. This is one indespensible book!

Contents:

• Planning Your Snacks - How Are Snacks a Part of Our Day? What Foods Nourish Young Children? How Does Food Affect the Process of Incarnation? What Foods Might You Wish to Avoid? What about Sugar? What Types of Snacks Will You Decide to Offer? How Can Snacks Help Children Make Connection? Will the Snacks Meet the Needs of Your Special Group of Children?
• Snack Menus - 3-Day Nursery Menus; 5-Day Kindergarten Menus; 4-Day Kindergarten Menus
• Our Daily Bread
• Warming Soups
• Luscious Fruits
• A Grain a Day - Here's where you'll find the list of grains (and colors!) by days of the week!
• Happy Birthday Cakes and Muffins
• Festival Foods

Yummm! Gesundheit!

A Child's Seasonal Treasury

Betty Jones

Hardcover

Currently Out-of-Print

Worth finding in the used market

This beautifully bound (including a ribbon page marker!), large format book is well-named, for it is indeed a treasury. From cover to cover, it is filled not only with poems, but with songs, games, riddles, fingerplays - even recipes for cookies, cakes, breads teas and more to carry the whole family through the four seasons. This book is so good, I'm wondering how I managed to raise my children without it!

Clump-a-Dump and Snickle-Snack
Pentatonic Children's Songs by Johanne Russ

Translated by Lyn S. Willerth

Softbound

$6.95

This lovely collection of songs became an almost constant companion when our children were young. We sang just about all of them -- some, like the lullabies, were heard every day; others, like the songs for Christmas, Michaelmas, Easter and the seasons, became hallmarks of joyous times and occasions.

For sheer beauty and delight, and for songs that both children and parents love, Clump-a-Dump and Snickle-Snack is just the ticket!

Let's Dance and Sing
Story Games for Children

Arranged by Kundry Willerth

Softbound

$12.95

Let's Dance and Sing offers up some of the most beloved circle games of the Waldorf kindergarten. All of them tell little stories, some of them reflect fairy tales told during story time. The music is charming, engaging, memorable (the minute I saw these songs again, I started humming some of my favorites, so well did they live in my memory after nearly 20 years!). You'll love them, the children in your care will love them. A classic collection.

Contents:

• Introduction
• The Daffodil (a personal favorite of mine!)
• Eastertrain
• The Three Little Pigs
• The Seven Little Kids
• Birthday
• Aschenputtel
• The Carrot
• The Spinning Game
• St. George - A Play
• Stone Soup
• Old Joseph Goes Walking
• King Kaspar
• Christmas Night

Making Fairy-tale Wool Animals

Hardbound, full-color photos

Angelika Wolk-Gerche

Currently Out-of-Print
Backorders Accepted
Reprint Date Not Announced

$21.00

"Fairy-tale wool" is what many Waldorf kindergarten teachers call the carded, plant-dyed unspun wool they use to "paint" story pictures and create the inhabitants of their nature tables. In this beautiful book, the author takes us on a guided tour of the peaceable kingdom you can create with this simple material - and the beautiful engaging creatures who will greet you (and absolutely captivate and delight the children!) when you are done. Along with the clear instructions, diagrams and photos are songs and stories tucked here and there to accompany your creations. A gem!

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets

Hardbound, full-color photos

Christel Dhom

Currently Out-of-Print
Backorders Accepted
Reprint Date Not Announced

$21.00

Beautiful, soft, almost glowing puppets made of the same "fairy tale" unspun wool as that used in Making Fairy-tale Wool Animals. Imagine a child watching you tell a story with these simple marionettes or standing puppets enacting the parts. Imagine, too, what it could mean to that child to have watched you bring the unspun wool to life as prince or princess or woodman or fairy - now there's some magic for you! Wonderful for the nature table, too! This book and it's partner are gifts to children and the adults who create things for them.

The Wynstones Kindergarten Series

If purchased separately:
$92.70

Complete Set Price:
$86.70

Gateways
A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$14.95

Morning, Evening, Birthdays, Fairytales! The changing times and things of wonder that make the world go round! In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 31 poems for morning, evening, birthdays and fairy tales
• 40 songs about morning, evening, birthdays and fairy tales - with music
• 3 birthday stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Spring
A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$14.95

Awake, awake, it's Springtime! In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 50 poems celebrating spring
• 30 springtime songs with music
• 9 fairy tales and nature stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Summer
A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$14.95

Ah! Summer! Dear little violet, open your eyes! I'm busy, busy, busy said the bee! In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 59 poems celebrating summer
• 27 summer songs with music
• 13 fairy tales and nature stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Autumn
A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$14.95

It's golden in the treetops! Autumn's on it's way! In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 59 poems celebrating autumn
• 30 springtime songs with music
• 6 fairy tales and nature stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Winter
A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$14.95

Let's go walking in the snow! Let's put our mittens on! In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 52 poems celebrating winter
• 31 wintery songs with music
• 10 fairy tales and nature stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Spindrift
A Collection of Miscellaneous Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children

Wynstones Press

Softbound

$17.95

Celebrate the animals, the carpenters, the trees and mother making pancakes! Spindrift is a rich and wonderful celebration of daily life. In this volume of treasured songs, poems and stories from Waldorf kindergartens around the world, you will find:

• An outstanding essay on the value of music in a young child's life
• 156 poems celebrating all sorts of things
• 29 songs with music
• 43 fairy tales and nature stories
• recommended reading for parents and teachers

Plays for Puppets and Marionettes

Collected, created, adapted & translated by Bronja Zahlingen

$10.50

Don't let the cover fool you - this little gem is filled with life, love and everything you need to prepare and present simple puppet plays for the young children in your care. In addition to twelve plays that include both traditional fairy tales and delightful original stories, Zahlingen also introduces and clearly describes the simple art of puppetry as practiced in Waldorf kindergartens - plus there are patterns and instructions for simple marionettes to make yourself. A treasure that will carry you far beyond its covers.

Let Us Form a Ring
An Acorn Hill Anthology

Nancy Foster

$21.00

Let Us Form a Ring is the original Acorn Hill Anthology and anyone who has used it can testify to the happy richness these songs and games bring to children. This is truly a classic collection. The collection is organized by season, celebrations and daily rhythms and is a treasure worth its weight in hugs and kisses.

Dancing as We Sing
Seasonal Circle Plays
and Traditional Singing Games

Nancy Foster

$21.00

Dancing as We Sing is the second Acorn Hill Kindergarten anthology. It includes Daily Songs to use each day to introduce circle time, snack time, story time, and the end of the morning; Seasonal Circle Plays for circle time throughout the year; and Traditional Singing Games that have been longtime joys for children. Nancy Foster has added introductory commentary to these three basic sections which offers her experience in using the songs and games in a Waldorf kindergarten. Just reading through this collection makes me feel like I'm back in the kindergarten - what a delight!

An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten
Articles from the Waldorf Kindergarten Newsletter
1981-1992

Waldorf Kindergarten Association

$19.95

An Overview gathers together articles that both explain and seek to share the Waldorf Kindergarten experience. In it you will find information ranging from snacks to music to working with young children with a variety of behavioral and learning difficulties. The breadth of the topics and the liveliness of the discussions makes it one of the most valuable resources for our work with young children. There is practically no aspect of daily life in a Waldorf Early Childhood class that is not addressed. An invaluable resource!

A Deeper Understanding of the Waldorf Kindergarten
Articles from the Waldorf Kindergarten Newsletter 1981 to 1992

Waldorf Kindergarten Association

$19.95

The deeper wisdom of the Waldorf approach to early childhood education is the subject of this collection of articles found in the Waldorf Kindergarten Association Newsletters between 1981 and 1992. The breadth of the topics and the depth of the discussions can enrich and enliven both your understanding and your work with young children. Here is an opportunity to discover some of the most successful approaches to working with children with learning and behavioral challenges, to coping with the effects of the multiple strains families are subject to, and to nourish your own inner life so that you have a richness of soul to offer the children in your care. Most highly recommended.

Waldorf Kindergarten Special

Purchase both An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten and A Deeper Understanding of the Waldorf Kindergaten

Regular Price for both: $39.90

Special Price:
$35.90

Nokken
A Garden for Children
A Danish Approach to Waldorf-Based Child Care

Helle Heckmann

$18.95

Helle Heckmann describes in loving detail an innovative Danish Waldorf childcare center for children ages one to seven. She includes an in-depth look at the physical development of the young child. This book is a wonderful resource for both parents, teachers, and day care staff. Includes many black and white photos.

A Garden for Kids
More News from Nökken

Paperbound - saddle-stitched

Helle Heckman

$12.00

More loving wisdom from Helle Heckman and her beautiful Children's Garden. In this gathering celebrating 16 years of providing care and a joyful environment to young children. This is indeed a celebration we can all join!

Reports from and thoughts inspired by the successful Danish kindergarten. Includes articles on The Laws of Childhood, Pentecost Time, The Time-Pressured Family, An Outdoor Kindergarten…Why?, Imagination Surpasses Reality, etc…

Mentoring in Waldorf Early Childhood Education

The Gateways Series Four

Compiled from the workof the WECAN Mentoring Task Force

Spiral Bound

$16.00

When I first saw the title of this book, I confess I expected some fairly dry essays as its content. I am delighted to report that the articles it contains are warm, lively, beautifully and deeply considered and come from a rich selection of those who have mentored in many different settings. In short, if mentoring is something you or your school is ready to explore, you couldn't find a better guide than this one.

Contents:

• Self-Education as the Basis for the Art of Mentoring
• The Role of Mentoring Early Childhood Teachers and Caregivers: Context and Purpose
• Laying the Bass for the Mentoring Visit
• Teh Essentials of Waldorf Early Childhood Education
• The Mentoring Observation: Waht Do We Look For?
• The Art of Fruitful conversation
• Pearls of Wisdom: The Role of Advice in Mentoring
• Accountability: Written Records
• Meeting at the Eye of the Needle: Mentoring on the Path of Adult Learning

Professional Review and Evaluation in Waldorf Early Childhood Education

The Gateways Series Six

Holly Kotten-Soulé
with contributions by Patricia Rubano

Spiralbound

$20.00

Out of years of experience as evaluator and mentor, and out of a lifetime of love for children and the goals of Waldorf early childhood education, Holly Kotten-Soulé has offered an enormously helpful guide to creating a healthy teacher evaluation process for the Waldorf kindergarten and nursery. Here is guidance and love where they are often most needed - very highly recommend.

Contents:

• Foreword by Susan Howard
• Introduction
• Why Review?
• Cultivating Review
• The Self-Evaluation
• The Role of the Evaluator
• The Role of the Institution
• Obstacles and Hindrances
• Conclusion
• About the Authors
• Appendices

Multiculturalism in Waldorf Education

The Waldorf Multiculturalism Committee

Softbound pamphlet

$7.25

This jam-packed little booklet offers more richness per page than many books ten times its size. In it are articles about the concept of multiculturalism in a Waldorf context, fairy tales from around the world, kindergarten marionette plays, considerations for Waldorf in the public sector, a resource list of multicultural picture books and bibliography.

Painting with Children

Brunhild Müller

Softbound

$15.95

This wonderful book is once again available to parents and teachers wanting to explore with children the world of liquid color. And, it is still the best guide ever for those new to wet-on-wet painting and to painting with young children. Here is everything you need to know, even if you've never painted (or never painted this way) before:

• the author begins with a lovely discussion about how children experience the world of color
  
  
• she goes on to offer some thoughts on what she calls "the morality of color." I find that this section inspires me to become more imaginative when I work with colors - it really brings them to life in a very unique way
  
  
• there is a long section, filled with color photographs of both children painting and the paintings they produced, that takes us into the world of children painting with watercolors. This can become a welcome guide for parents who have never done this before - it should help everyone to paint joyfully
  
  
• then, there are clear instructions for mixing the paints, preparing the paper, distributing the water jars, paint pots and brushes
  
  
• ah! and then comes the painting! and the color stories! and the sheer wonder of it all!
  
  
• the author adds suggestions for seasonal painting themes, how to create the stories and what their basis is, the experience of color and the moods of nature
  
  
• finally, there are even instructions for preparing plant pigments for painting and photos showing the soft, inviting colors they produce.

There is so much joy to be had here - I've waited for years hoping for this book to reappear. What a treasure!

Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly
Enchanting Nursery Rhymes, Mother Goose Songs and Singing Games for Wonder-Filled Dance and Play

Songbook & CD
with Guitar Chords

Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Spiral bound

$21.95

Every nursery rhyme I've ever loved and sung to our children is here, accompanied Mary Thienes-Schunemann's soft, heart-opening voice on a learning CD. This is a beautiful collection of traditional children's songs and games - timeless, joyfilled, life affirming.

Today's children are starved for singing, just as they are for touch, story telling, and play. . . . This songbook is truly a treasure, one that should be in the hands of every parent, care-giver, and teacher. This book fills a critical need in American childhood (and parenthood) today!

- Joseph Chilton Pearce, Author:
Magical Child, Evolution's End, and The Biology of Transcendence

Sing a Song of Seasons
Singing with Children Series

Songs from the seasons of nature to sing with young children

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Arranged by Mary Thienes-Schunemann, Musician and Waldorf Educator

Songbook and CD

Temporarily out of print - Backorders Accepted - No reprint date announced

$21.95

Sing the new songs! Sing with Joy! . . . not only with your tongue, but with your life!

- St. Augustine

So begins - and rightly so! - this gift of a songbook for parents, teachers and children. Mary Thienes-Schunemann has created exactly the songbooks that I have for years heard adults who care for children begging for. As with her other songbooks, this one is packed with beautiful, mescal, expressive songs to share with young children - AND it comes with CD you can use to hear Mary sing all the songs in a voice so pure and simple it can bring tears (of joy and gratitude) to your eyes. And thus, in joy and beauty you can learn these songs and share them with your beloved children - who will grow with smiles and gladness and song at their singing.

Listen to a music clip 1 2 3

Sing a Song with Baby
Singing with Children Series

Delightful bounces and body games from fingers to toes to sing with your wee ones

By Mary Thienes-Schunemann, Musician and Waldorf Educator

Songbook and CD

$21.95

For a caress is abode and shelter;
I caress the child
so as to protect her
and bring her joy . . .
Thereby she receives a sign
on the velvet of her face.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"The City in the Desert"

The songs in The Singing Baby are indeed caresses - of laughter, the joy of discover, of head-to-toe delight and soft soothing wonder. Mary Thienes-Schunemann has created exactly the songbooks that I have for years heard adults who care for children begging for. This songbook offers up a feast of parent-baby games, bounces and joy - all beautiful and deliciously musical. It comes with a CD you can use to hear Mary sing all the songs in a voice so pure and simple it can bring tears (of joy and gratitude) to your eyes. And thus, in joy and beauty you can learn these songs and share them with your beloved children - who will bring your their giggles and squeals and joy again and again and again.

One of our customers writes:

At the time we ordered the songbooks from you, my new son was about two months old and Grace, my 2+ year old daughter, seemed to be doing the "big sister withdrawal" that older siblings sometimes do . . . The music, and the beautiful drawings, drew her in right away. Especially The Singing Baby, which incorporates so much play and touching, was just what we needed to reconnect. Of course, when she was avoiding physical contact it was really that she wanted it very much because she saw how much Luke was getting. This allowed us to get close again in a happy, fun way.

- RD in Massachusetts

The Wonder of Lullabies
Singing with Children Series

Lullabies from around the world to sing with children of all ages

Arranged & Recorded by Mary Thienes-Schunemann, Musician and Waldorf Educator

Songbook and CD

$21.95

. . . to all the children under the Sun, Moon and Stars

-Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Here are the songs mothers round the world use to grace their children at the close of each day. Mary Thienes-Schunemann has gathered lullabies from all over our dear planet, like glowing pearls on a necklace of love. This grace-filled songbook comes with a CD you can use to hear Mary sing - ever so sweetly - each lullaby in a voice so pure and simple it can bring tears (of joy and gratitude) to your eyes. And thus, in joy and beauty you can learn these songs to guide your children into sleep - and you can watch as your children smile into the arms of their angels.

The Christmas Star
Well-loved songs for the Christmas season from Advent to Three Kings Day to sing with your beloved children

Mary Thienes-Schunemann

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Songbook and audio CD
Parent/Teacher Resource

BACK IN PRINT!!

$21.95

In olden times, when a person wished to express something sacred and holy, they were not allowed to speak about it, they could only sing. It was recognized that singing contained a higher power than speech and was a holy activity. There are still echoes of this ancient practice in some cultures of the world today. The memory is still present that how we use our voices to sing and speak can contribute to healing and peace, in our hearts and in the world.

- Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Tears filled my eyes several times as I listened to the CD that accompanies this extraordinary song book. It was not just that the music and singing were so very beautiful, nor was it that the songs were so well chosen, nor even that they brought back some of the best memories of my life. It was that Mary's music is all these things and something much more as well - The Christmas Star is quite simply a sun-drenched outpouring of hope and love. What could have been just one more nice collection of Christmas carols has, through her healing artistry and deep sensitivity, come into the world a gleaming, golden gift of life offered to our children and their children beyond.

I can't think of a better gift for your children, your family, yourself - a true celebration of the Light of Love kindled in the darkest season.

Listen to a music clip 1 2 3

Toymaking with Children
NEW Greatly Expanded Edition!

Freya Jaffke

$17.95

Freya Jaffke managed to breathe her many years experience as a master Waldorf kindergarten teacher into a volume capable of inspiring, guiding and reassuring new parents toward a balanced, beautiful life with their children. This is a hands-on approach that is deeply suited to working with and understanding young children. This is a book to enjoy in the deepest sense of the word, and makes an excellent companion to Work and Play in Early Childhood.

The new edition adds color photographs, more toys to make (more joy to bring!), and wonderful discussions of which toys to give to children at what ages, how to create a beautiful, nurturing environment, even tips for clean-up! I have loved this book since it was first published - this most recent incarnation elevates it from "wonderful" to "must have."

Magic Wool
Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool

Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke

$15.95

Magic Wool unveils the secrets of captivating children with feltboard pictures "painted" with colored unspun fleece. There is nothing more magical to a child than to see a story spring to life as a parent or teacher "draws" it in wool during the telling. Because of the texture and nature of the fleece, these pictures invite the young child to enter the activity of the scene - it springs to life in their imagination. You'll love it, too!

Also include are instructions for making figures from fleece to grace your nature table or for your young ones to play with.

House of 3 Froggies
A Teacher/Parent Manual on Health and Nutrition

Alan Whitehead

$22.95

House of 3 Froggies is not only an excellent presentation of basic nutrition and health for our children (and ourselves!), it is the only such presentation I am aware of that is written directly for teachers and parents within the framework of Rudolf Steiner's educational impulse. Yet another outstanding offering by Alan Whitehead. Here's the contents: nutrition in school; infant nutrition, the liver, diet and health, food psychology; cereals, food and morality, fluoride in water, the common cold, tobacco, soy, 7 soul spices, milk, dried foods, bread, on dying, sun 'protection,' longevity, drugs, nuts, apples, sugar, edible oils, fibre, pasta, vitamins.