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.

Papercraft

Angelika Wolk-Gerche

Softbound

$25.00

Paper is a remarkably versatile, easy-to-use, and easy-to-find material for use in arts and crafts. In this book, Angelika Wolk-Gerche presents detailed instructions for making hundreds of things out of paper. Papercraft includes easy-to-follow instructions for cutting out paper stars, folding birds and animals, making windmills, masks, and gift-bags. You can even cut a hole in a postcard that you can climb through!

Papercraft also includes instructions for making papier mâché and handmade paper and for working with pulp.

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!

Creative Felt

Angelika Wolk-Gerche

Softbound

$16.95

People have been making felt for thousands of years and Angelika Wolk-Gerche invites you to discover its fun and practicality. Within these pages, beautifully illustrated with clear photographs, she shows us one step at a time how to create toys, garments, household items in stunning felt. The best part? That making them is as much fun as using them. Do enjoy!!

For those of you without a local source for such things, we offer the highest grade Merino tops for felting. See them at our sister site, www.feltersparadise.com. Your shopping cart will follow you.

Woolly Thoughts
Unlock Your Creative Genius with Modular Knitting

Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer

Softbound

$8.95

Here is a book to delight knitters and teachers of mathematics - all at the same time!

How do they do this? Well, they are both mathematics teachers, amazing in their ability to make everything clear and fun. Right from the start, they forge a pathway to knitting heaven by having you take out whatever yarn you like, your choice of needles, and a small calculator. What happens next is a guided tour through a mosaic of shapes and colors -- all of them easy, all of them fascinating and beautiful. With Pat and Steve at your side, you can truly forget about conventional knitting patterns and follow your imagination where ever it leads you. Your students will begin absorbing and delighting in geometric and mathematical relationships without even noticing that's what they are doing. They will also being to love the time they spend knitting simply because they can follow their own inspriation so easily.

Happily and heavily illustrated throughout, with a section of color plates showcasing some of Pat's creations, Woolly Thoughts brings you everything you need for a lifetime of discovering the joys knitting and mathematics. This is a book that students and teachers will love equally - each will discover their knitting and their mathematical skills just get better and better, one stitch at a time!

A beautiful way to unite handwork with mathematics!

Zitron Natural Fibers
Children's Sweaters

Designs by Jutta Bücker

Complete knitting instructions for 16 wholesome, happy sweaters for children

Click cover image to see pop-up enlargement of cover photos

Softbound

$11.95

Here's the story: Bob and I were on a weekend yarn- buying trip for our yarn shop web sites. We dropped in to visit with some of our favorite people in the business, just to say hi!, really. We thought our business was elsewhere (goes to show, doesn't it?).

They handed us Zitron's children's pattern book and our eyes popped open. It contains some of the best-for-children sweater designs we had ever seen gathered into one place! These sweaters are the sort any of us would want to see children wearing - some are sweet, some beautiful, some handsome, some playful. All of them are wholesome, warming and endearing.

It was an affirming surprise when we then learned that Zitron's yarns are very popular with Waldorf schools and parents in Europe - we saw some beautiful catalogs featuring all manner of lovely things for children and families, and always, there were Zitron's natural fiber yarns.

We immediately bought a case of these pattern books (published in Germany, but with instructions in English) and headed on home to share them with you. If you knit for children, you will rejoice to see these designs.

The instructions are clear as to gauge so that you can substitute other yarns - should you want to use Zitron's yarns, we carry almost all of them at www.euronaturayarn.com

Joyous knitting!

Sock Doll Workshop
30 Delightful Dolls to Create & Cherish

Cindy Crandall-Frazier

Softbound

$9.95

Ahh! What a wonderful book!!

Way, way back when our children were very little (think, early 1980s), there was a sweet little book published by Floris with the title Creative Toymaking. What set it apart from others of its type among the newly-emerging "Waldorf crafts" publications was that the author (Alice Gorge) was not someone accustomed to going out and buying whatever she chose to make toys for children in hospitals. She was accustomed to making wonderful use of whatever fabrics were at hand - and her wee creations always had so much love poured into them that I'm sure they became magical, nurturing playmates for every child who received one. I loved this book, used it frequently for inspriation and instruction, and was very sad when a few years later it went out of print (never to return) in favor of books that only used the "right" materials. While I love the craft books, their materials and methods, that have come along since then, I have very much missed the availability of a book that allowed for the possibility that simpler materials and techniques might also be wonderful for children.

Needless to say, Cindy Crandall-Frazier's Sock Doll Workshop makes my heart jump for joy. Her dolls are everything anyone would want a doll to be for a child, yet can be made with one of the most readily available materials (socks) and only a few tools (needles, thread, some yarn when needed for hair, etc.). Her creative zest and love of children result in ideas for 30 dolls (with so many hints and tips that will lead you to find your own directions, should you wish), each of which expresses love and happiness in a way that warms the soul.

I feel myself sighing with relief that Cindy, a former Waldorf Kindergarten teacher, has thought to share her Sock Doll Workshop with us, and that we can share it with you. It is that sort of gift to children.

Cindy Crandall-Frazier is also the author of Single Crochet for Beginners

The Knitted Farmyard

Hannelore Wernhard

Hardbound

$9.95

I have had a copy of this little book for over 20 years - and have regretted more than occasionally that it was no longer in print. When I bought mine (for the same price as this new edition!), our oldest daughter had just started first grade and I was part of a craft circle whose members were also mothers at the same school. Everyone just loved the book and soon we all had copies and were knitting away at chickens and pigs and horses. I know that none of us actually finished a whole farmyard, but that all of us still have the little animals we made together and cherish them as reminders of precious times with each other and with our own children.

Anyway, the little farm world that Hannelore Wernhard has created is filled with rich imagination and love. She gives complete instructions for creating all the animals, people, buildings, streams, ponds and fields that make this knitted farm such a treasure. It is a joy to see it spring to life again for new children and the knitters in their lives.

Knitted Animals

Anne-Dorthe Grigaff

Beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs throughout.

Hardbound, Sheer Delight!

$29.95

Delight a child while using odds and ends from your stash!

Here is an irresistable collection of animals to knit in soft, natural materials: ducklings, teddy bears, lambs, piglets, hedgehogs, a handsome rooster and clucking hen, mice and more and more. Most of the projects can be quickly and inexpensively knit with odds and ends of yarn, and many can be completed in an hour or two. Not to mention that then you can present them to a beloved child and watch their eyes light up at the sight of their new friend.

Knitted Animals includes:

• Step-by-step, clearly written instructions for making over 20 dear little animals
• Beautiful full-color photographs throughout
• Many projects that are suitable for older children to make themselves

Beginning and experienced knitters alike will love this charming book.

Making Flower Children

Sybille Adolphi

Softbound

$17.95

What sweet wee folk you can make with this book! Charming little flower children for every season and mood -- wonderful for nature table or play. These are just so adorable I want to hug them all. Directions are clear and simple to do, too.

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!

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.

Zen and the Art of Knitting
Exploring the Links Between Knitting, Spirituality, and Creativity

Bernadette Murphy

Softbound

$10.95

Contains outstanding descriptions of knitting classes in a Waldorf school!

This book has an enormous amount to say about the value to human beings, young and old, of working with our hands. It also happens to contain two wonderful chapters devoted to someone who is an amazing handworker and the best Waldorf Crafts Teacher it has ever been my privilege to know: Elizabeth Seward.**

Bernadette Murphy has given the most detailed, life-filled descriptions I've ever read of knitting classes actually taught to first and fifth graders in a Waldorf school (Highland Hall). Even better, what you'll find is what I have always hoped someone would do for these classes -- Elizabeth presented everything to the children in ways that united their hands with the hearts and heads, and left an opening for spirit and soul to thrive. We can all be inspired by the simple, yet deeply resonant way she guided the children through the techniques and led them into a loving, caring relationship with the work of their hands. All this, while maintaining an atmosphere of joy along with setting high standards for the outcomes of that work! What she accomplished is truly what we all want for our children.

N.B. Contrary to what the title may lead you to believe, it is not a treatise on Buddhist meditation, though Murphy's exploration does include this. It is a heartfelt consideration of the core essence of what knitting evokes in the inner life. Interestingly, about 80% of the people she interviewed or observed are practitioners of Christian prayer and meditation. It is a book whose contents and intents are still living in my heart, well past the reading of it. I think you'll love it, too.

**Elizabeth is no longer active as a Crafts Teacher, but does still offer classes and workshops to adults and makes herself available as mentor and guide to Waldorf Crafts teachers. I have known Elizabeth for about 20 years and can think of no one better to call upon in this role. Whether you are involved with a Waldorf School, public or private, that is ready to deepen its crafts program; or are part of a home school cooperative and would like a workshop to help the adults become more skilled at both the crafts and teaching them; or are an adult wishing to enrich your own life with a deeper, more joyful relationship to handwork -- Elizabeth Seward, in my opinion, is someone you could call upon with confidence that your needs will be met and your time and resources more than well-spent. Elizabeth can be reached through her web site: www.workofourhands.net

Knitting Without Tears
Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes

Elizabeth Zimmermann

Softbound, Large Format

$16.95

This is simply the very best "how-to-knit" book ever written - it not only gives you clear, easy-to-master instruction on all the basic techniques of the craft, it sets you free to knit whatever wonderful hat, sweater, vest or anything else your imagination can envision. And, you will be able to use any yarn that strikes your fancy. Did I mention how easy this all is? You'll see that I'm not making any of the up when you read Knitting Without Tears - the only knitting book I know of that is so entertaining to read that I used to cozy up with it at bedtime.

If you have never knit before, this is the best possible place to learn - you will enter the ranks of the "expert" by the end of the book - without strain, I might add. If you already know how to knit, but want to move beyond patterns and into freedom, there is no finer guide than Elizabeth Zimmermann. Whatever your level of knitting - you will love this book.

". . . properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either."

- Elizabeth Zimmermann, Knitting Without Tears

Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book

Barbara G. Walker

Softbound

$20.00

Ideal for adults and teens who want to learn to knit, or wish to explore the world of stitch patterns - but beware: knitting these squares can become addictive!

This book caught my eye because I'm someone who doesn't like to waste time or materials on the sort of projects that are often suggested as ways to learn a craft. It also intrigued me because I had concocted such an afghan way back when I was in high school, and I wanted to see what Barbara Walker's approach was to the task.

Barbara's approach is an enticing combination of clear, orderly, progressive instruction and great design. The squares that comprise the afghan, and upon which you will practice your new-found skills, are presented with each one building upon the skills of the one before it. Her sense of design -- which she teaches you -- results in an afghan which is as lovely to look at as it is warm and cozy to snuggle up in.

By the time you finish the 63rd square, there will be very little you do not know about stitch pattern techniques, finishing techniques, and basic design strategies -- and, you will have a snug and beautiful afghan as a bonus.

Very highly recommended. A plus is that the publisher, who also sells great wool yarns, will create a kit for you with the yarns used in the book!

A First Book of Knitting for Children - New Edition!

Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton

New photos - 20+ more pages!

$19.95

This charming book is nothing less than the Waldorf approach to knitting captured between two covers. Here is everything - rhymes for each stitch, excellent step-by-step photographs, and the most delightful collection of projects we have seen gathered in one place. With the help of this book and a kind adult, any child can master the basics of knitting and then go on to create more animal and people friends than you can shake a knitting needle at! We are often asked questions about how knitting is taught in a Waldorf school - we are delighted that now we have such a wonderful way to answer them.

Knitting for Children
A Second Book

Bonnie Gosse & Jill Allerton

Softbound

$24.95

The long-awaited continuations of the authors' wonderful A First Book of Knitting for Children has finally arrived! Building on their first volume, the authors bring many new skills and a wider variety of patterns to eager children and adults. Here is everything anyone needs to know about:

• reading a pattern
• increasing and decreasing
• dividing work
• picking up stitches
• ribbing
• multi-color knitting
• knitting in the round
• turning
• double casting off
• making proper holes

Included too are patterns for everything from sweaters and hats to gnomes, frogs, hand dolls and their clothing. This is a great book to have fun with - whether you are a child expanding your knitting horizons or an adult knitting for a beloved youngster. A terrific and inspiring resource!

Children's Knitting Special

Purchase both A First Book of Knitting for Children and Knitting for Children - A Second Book

Regular Price $44.90

Special Price $39.90

This combination of approaches is sure to help establish any child (or adult!) as a great knitter!

Contemplative Crochet
A Hands-On Guide for Interlocking Faith & Craft

Cindy Crandall-Frazier

Softbound, black & white photos

$16.99

One of the most important books ever written on evolving through handwork, the connection of the heart and our hands. Crocheting and the patterns are just the gravy on top.

- Pardis Amirshahi, editor, Living Crafts magazine

What can you learn about yourself though your crocheting? What deeper realizations lie behind the loops and patterns that you create? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path?

Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that can become your spiritual friend, teacher and sanctuary. Follow the crochet journeys of the author and other crocheters to discover how they have used their crocheting to explore and strengthen their spiritual selves, and how you can do the same.

In this joyful and engaging look at a traditional craft, you will find ways to:

• find a sense of fullness and gratitude
• have more within a structure of less
• combine the spiritual practices of meditation and prayer
• create tools for intensifying spiritual practice
• find your spiritual path with crochet
• connect with community through crochet
• make crochet uniquely yours
• and much more

Magical Window Stars

Frédérique Guéret

Softbound

$20.00

Who would have thought that by simply folding colored tissue paper, you could transform a window into a source of a truly magical, captivating beauty?

Frédérique Guéret provides step-by-step instructions for making twenty-five window stars. Each is graded for difficulty, allowing the beginner to progress with confidence. She also shows how the stars can be painted with additional color accents that allow sunlight to create a dazzling veined effect.

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.

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.

More Magic Wool
Creating Figures and Pictures with Dyed Wool

Angelika Wolk-Gerche

Softbound

$15.95

When Magic Wool first appeared, I thought, "It just doesn't get any better than this!" Now we have More Magic Wool and I have to say, "It may not get better, but the journey can certainly unfold in wonderous ways!"

The scenes that have been created in this book are so enticing, so imgination-inspiring that, frankly, I just wanted to jump into the page and meet the little people who lived there. I think your children will want to do that, too. More Magic Wool picks up where Magic Wool left off, adding little hand dolls, three-dimensional landscapes, gnome caves, and much, much more into the captivating mix. There's a goodly dash of practicality, too, as the author shows you how to card and dye and make beautiful wool ready (and willing!) for your projects.

Here is a craft that will be as nurturing to the heart of the adult as it is for the child for whom these wonders are created. The possibilities are without end - the beauty beyond compare!

Toymaking with Children

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."

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!

Waldorf Doll Making
with Joy Chambers

2 hour DVD

$39.00

As anyone who's seen her dolls knows, Joy Chambers is one of the most accomplished dollmakers ever. Her dolls spring to life with an energetic expressiveness as well as outstanding craftsmanship. That she is able to share her skill and techniques through this DVD is truly something to make us all glad.

In Waldorf Doll Making, you'll get to spend 2 hours with Joy and watch her demonstrate her techniques in the most wonderful way. And, unlike a workshop, you can revisit these techniques as often as you need or want.

You'll learn how to make Joy's favorite dolls: the 16" Honey and 10" Brother/Sister doll, the Baby Companions, the 13" Little Love and her Button-jointed dolls. Follow along in the comfort of your home while making a doll head using the Copper Head Frames guage, stuffing the body with Joy's Stuffing Tool, hand sewing, embroidering facial features, creating and attaching a wig.

With Joy at your side, even if you are a beginner, your dollmaking will be a happy affair and the child who receives your doll will find a lifetime friend of his or her heart.

Here's the DVD Chapter list: 

• Preparing the Pattern 
• Forming the Head
• Shaping the head
• Stuff/ Assemble and Sew the 16" Honey Doll
• The Little Love Doll
• The Baby Companion Doll
• The Button-Jointed Doll
• Embroidering the Face
• Attaching the Wig 
• Crocheting the wigs

Making Waldorf Dolls

A revised and retitled edition of the beloved Kinder Dolls

Maricristin Sealey

Softbound

$30.00

Since The Doll Book went out-of-print many years ago, I have been searching and hoping for either a reprint or a book that could genuinely take its place. This is that book - and it is a gem to be treasured!

Maricristin Sealey is a professional dollmaker who is able to convey her techniques both clearly and with a full heart for the world of childhood. Making Waldorf Dolls shows how to create - with love - handcrafted dolls from natural materials. The ten different dolls include soft, baggy, puch, angel, sack and limbed dolls - all of them sure to be loved by both children and the adults who make them. These dolls are old favorites, happy companions of children and beloved residents of Waldorf kindergartens.

And there's more - in addition to the ten doll types that are so fully described, you'l also find clear suggestions for colorful and pretty ways to make dolls' hair, twelve basic clothes patterns with variations, help with tools, techniques and materials, safety guidelines, recycling tips and resources.

There is no better gift to a child than a doll made just for him or her with love. This book promises to bring many such gifts to our children. Outstanding!

Wig Making Instructions
for 13"/14", 16" & 18" Waldorf Dolls

Joy Chambers
Joy's Waldorf Dolls

Softbound Booklet
Great "How-To" Illustrations

$6.00

In simple, clear, step-by-step instructions, master dollmaker Joy Chambers takes you through 11 different hair styles, just right for your child's Waldorf doll. This is the sort of booklet that you'll want to keep right in your handwork basket - it reveals everything you need to know about making even difficult-looking hair styles for the love-filled dolls you make yourself. I think it is a perfect companion to Kinder Dolls, as it extends and completes the wig making information. Also, if you are looking for doll making supplies, Joy's Waldorf Dolls offers the most complete selection I know of - several different skin tones, a wealth of hair yarns and colors, patterns, kits and much more. This book and Joy's service are both highly recommended.

Spring
Nature Activities for Children

Irmgard Kutsch and Brigitte Walden

Hardbound

$22.95

It is thrilling to see the second of this vibrant 4-book series in print in English. It is every bit as beautiful and as inspiring as it's companion volume, Autumn, and I expect it will do a great deal to get all of us outdoors and loving our dear world more and more.

Spring is the time of creating and cleaning, of building and renewing, and each of the activities suggested here harness our impulses as they connect us and our children with the earth and nature. It's hard to imagine more exhilarating and inspiring activity ideas than these.

Here's what's inside:

Introduction
Between Heaven and Earth

MARCH

• Nesting
  • Our Native Birds in Spring
  • Even Younger Children Can Help Build a Nesting Box
  • Nesting Help for Birds
    • Box for hole nesters
    • Box for eave or platform nesters
• Sowing, Planting, Growing
• Sprouting Grain
• Caring for Flowers
• Sprouting Walnutes
  • Johnny Appleseed Grace
  • Johnny Appleseed
  • Thought about trees

APRIL

• Creating Garden Spaces
  • Garden Work and Health
  • Landscaping a Garden as a Group Project
  • Actively Shaping Our Surroundings
  • Gardens at the Root of Social Change
• What to Consider When Landscaping a Garden
  • Initial considerations
  • Action guidelines
  • Conclusions
• Landscaping Ideas
  • Layered tree trunk wall
  • Climbing wall
  • Tree stump spiral for climbing and sitting
  • Twig layer wall
  • Building with stone and wood
  • A root mountain
  • Nesting places for insects, bats, wild bees and wasps
  • A willow arbour
  • Making a spring flute from a willow branch
  • Play pit
  • Stone herb garden
  • Paradise garden
  • Earthworms - compost in a worm box
  • Potato box
  • Strawberry pots
  • Keeping pets
  • April does what she wants

MAY

• Plant-based dyes and paints
  • Making Dyes
  • Color chart for plant dyeing
  • Characteristics of plants used for dyeing
  • Painting with plant-based paints
  • The invigorating effect of plant colors
• Milk Processing
  • The Cow - Serving humankind since ancient times
  • Milk - Lifeblood of the child
    • What can be made from milk
• Beekeeping
  • From forest bees to beekeeping
  • The Bee Colony
  • Biology of the Bees
  • Beehives
  • Bee products
  • Swarming
  • How can children be included in beekeeping

Further reading and resources
***********************************

So - grab your sweaters, put on your shoes and let's go outside!

Summer
Nature Activities for Children

Irmgard Kutsch & Brigitte Walden

Hardbound

$22.95

Ahhh! Those lazy, hazy days filled with wonder and adventure and the vibrancy of life. In this sunny book that completes the seasonal Nature Activities series, Irmgard Kutsch and Brigitte Walden take children on a stroll through the wonders of the outdoor world in full bloom. Whether you are fortunate enough to have a rural countryside at your front door, or have window box gardens and city parks as your touchstone to nature, you'll love this book and find hundred's of ways to delight the children in your care with the natural world.

Inside you'll find:

Foreword
The Story of This Book
An Invitation

JUNE

Working with Herbs

• The Herb Garden
• Raised Beds for Herbs
• Working with Herbs: Basic Skills
• Herb Recipes

Breeding Butterflies

• Butterflies: a Symbol of Beauty
• Looking after Caterpillars
• A Butterfly's Favourite Places
• From Caterpillar to Butterfly
• Making a Butterfly Cage

JULY

Water

• A Bridge to Lie on
• Ponds and Streams
• Water: Lessons for Life

Earth

Air

• Giant Soap Bubbles
• Conscious Listening

Fire

• A simple fireplace
• Building an underground oven
• Building a clay overn
• Building a clay ball oven
• A wood-fired kiln
• Some thoughts on responsibility, safety and supervision

AUGUST

From Grain to Bread

• Healthy Nourishment
• Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
• Creating an Eating Culture
• From Whole Grain to Fine Flour: The Story of Grain
• Grain Recipes
• A Quick Reminder

Resources
Further Reading
The Children's Nature and Garden Centre
Credits
Special Thanks

Autumn
Nature Activities for Children

Irmgard Kutsch & Brigitte Walden

Hardbound, full color photos and drawings throughout

$22.95

What a wonderful, exciting book! This is one of the best "activities with children" books I've ever been privileged to hold in my hands. Both the authors and publisher deserve a big "Thank you!" from all of us who care for children. The author's experience as teachers at the Children's Nature and Garden Centre in Reichshof just radiates off these pages!

Each and every activity suggested within this beautiful book forges a simply tie between those who do the projects and crafts and the world of nature. Here you have everything from harvesting fruits and vegetables, to building houses (including a chapter on house building in the Waldorf 3rd Grade!) to beeswax modelling. The authors exude such an enthusiasm that I think anyone who reads this book will want to get started on one of the crafts right away.

Most of the activities can easily be done within cities and towns, also -- you very definitely don't need to live in the country to create with autumn's gifts. There are some, such as extracting honey, that do require knowing someone who works vocationally with nature (and are very much worth pursuing, if possible), but the overwhelming majority of activities are simple and easy to do with materials that are not difficult to come by unless you live in the desert.

I should also add that although autumn is the theme of the book, the activites given for late autumn can take you well into winter as well -- they are very suitable for those days when we like to gather in our snug homes and make things

Here's what you'll find in between the covers:

SEPTEMBER

• Harvesting fruit and vegetables
  • Where do fruits and vegetables come from?
  • Biodynamic Farms & the environment
  • Natural wholefoods in the kindergarten
  • Information and advice
  • Eating together: A good influence
  • Understanding how things are connected
  • Training the senses
  • Recipes for freshly-harvested fruit
  • Drying fruit for the winter

OCTOBER

• Basket-making
  • Plants used for basket-making
  • Making a willow basket or hanging basket for flowers
  • Weaving round or oval objects
• House-building
  • Simple houses and huts
  • Building: Putting down roots
  • Imaginative structures: Large and small
  • Building as an archetypal experience
  • Building a house together: Developing social skills
  • House-building in the third grade
  • A dedication ceremony

NOVEMBER

• Caring for birds
  • What we can do to protect birds
  • Food for birds
• Working with Beeswax
  • Modelling with beeswax
  • Beeswax: A precious material
  • Dipping candles
  • Related Activities
• Making paper
  • History and production of paper
  • Making paper with children
• Painting and handicrafts without toxic chemicals
  • Paste and plaster
  • Glue
  • Finger-painting
  • Sand pictures
  • Nature mobile
  • Pan pipes
  • Castanets
  • Pinwheels

Winter
Nature Activities for Children

Irmgard Kutsch & Brigitte Walden

Hardbound

$22.95

Kutsch & Walden's third nature activities book leaves me simply breathless with excitement -- this is the best-ever compendium of winter-y joy! It all but guarantees that gloomy winter days will be a thing of the past, replaced by day after day of discovery, creativity and accomplishment. Just the ticket for home and school - which I predict will take on a warming glow of wonder with the help of these two wonderful ladies.

Here's what's inside:

Foreword
The Story of this Book

DECEMBER

Advent

• Advent: A Time for Contemplation
• The Advent Wreath
• Advent: A Time for Candles
• Blowing Ships
• An Advent Story
• Blooming Branches
• Rattling Walnuts
• Christmas Scenes
• The True Meaning of Advent

JANUARY

Working with Wool

• Working with Wool: A Rich Experience
• Processing Wool
• Clothing: Our Second Skin
• Wool: from the Sheep to a Ball of Wool
• Wool: from a Ball of Wool to a Toy Sheep
• Free Play with Wool
• Stories

FEBRUARY (Part 1)

Working with Willow

• February: the Last Chance to Cut Willow
• Willow: a Good Plant for Children
• Willow: Creative Possibilities
• Making a Latticework Willow Hedge

Woodworking

• Wood: A Valuable Material
• Forests
• Wooden Toys
• Listening to Wood
• Rattles and Stick Instruments to Scare away Winter
• More Woodworking Projects

FEBRUARY (Part 2)

Working with Clay

• Pottery: a Valuable Activity
• Basic Rules for Doing Pottery with Children
• Clay Bowls for Easter Grass
• Clay Insect Nests and Bird Baths

Resources

• Further reading
• Craft Suppliers
• Conservation of rare domestic animals
• The Children's Nature and Garden Centre

The Big Summer Activity Book

Anne and Peter Thomas

Hardbound

$30.00

Although we can't guarantee that you'll never again hear, "There's nothing to do" from your children, we can guarantee that with this book at your side, you'll have a ready suggestion that's likely to be met with delight.

Based on many years experience of keeping children busy and happy, Anne and Peter Thomas have compiled a huge collection of summer activities that will help keep boredom at bay and help parents feel better, knowing that their children are busy having wholesome fun.

The authors include both indoor and outdoor activities, things to make, things to see, and things to do. It is packed with handy tips on food (like sweets for car journeys), health (such as sunburn), and safety. The Big Summer Activity Book covers everything from simple games that parents might themselves have played as children, to inspiring projects that will challenge the whole family.

Fully illustrated in colour throughout, this is an indispensable handbook that every parent will want to keep handy throughout summer vacations.

Contents:

• Introduction: Whose holidays? — Three important factors
• Holiday preparations: Tips for going on holiday
• Checklist
• In cases of illness—from motion sickness to insect bites and stings, plus a traveling pharmacy
• The weather
• The stars and planets
• Nature
• Orientation in the wild, in nature, and more
• On the beach
• In the mountains
• Games to stretch the muscles
• Living and playing in the countryside
• Tag and other outdoor games
• Playing on the beach
• Indoor and outdoor games
• Creativity with natural materials
• When it rains
• ... plus a revolving celestial chart, songs, and more
  

Crafts through the Year

Thomas and Petra Berger

Hardbound

Hundreds of Photos and Drawings

$25.00

Here's the book to carry you beautifully through the entire year. Thomas and Petra Berger have completely revised their previous books, The Christmas Craft Book, The Easter Craft Book and The Harvest Craft Book and combined them into this one sumptuous volume. All the tricky techniques are well illustrated, and the results are beautifully presented with full-color photographs. These simple crafts elevate daily life to a rich artistry - there is enough here to gift both child and adult with a lifetime of wonder.

First Steps in Natural Dyeing

Joan Almon

$18.00

Joan Almon has given us a great introduction to dyeing with plant dyes. Whether you are a teacher wanting to prepare your own silks and cottons for your classroom, or a parent wanting to bring both the craft and its beautiful colors into your home, this book is an outstanding place to begin. Joan knows well the limitations of time that can face us all, and has written her instructions with remarkable clarity and simplicity. In addition, there are recipe cards and lists of suppliers - just to make everyone's life a little easier. A great place to start!

The Gnome Craft Book

Thomas and Petra Berger

$15.95

Gnomes, gnomes, gnomes - of all sizes, shapes, colors, and styles! All yours for the making when you follow the simple instructions in The Gnome Craft Book. You can never have too many gnomes!! This book offers fun and delight with whatever materials you have available.

Rose Windows and How to Make Them

Helga Meyerbröker

$15.95

Remember the paper snowflakes we used to make? The ones where you fold the paper and cut delicate, interesting shapes out of the resulting triangle? And then, you unfold them as though you were opening a mysterious package, never quite certain what you would find inside? We remember them, too, which is why we love this book. Using the exact same technique, but with layers of different colored tissue paper, you and your children can create breathtakingly beautiful transparencies to hang in your windows. And each one will be so wonderful, you'll still feel like you're opening a present when you unfold them!

Feltcraft: Making Dolls, Gifts and Toys

Petra Berger

$14.95

This book is so charming and the little people and animals so delightful that we couldn't resist having it as part of our bookshop. We can imagine homes where children and visitors find these little fellows tucked into all sorts of surprising places. What fun! And so easy, too!

The Field and Forest Handy Book

D. C. Beart

Softbound

$14.95

A year's worth of outdoor activities and projects from the author of The American Boy's Handy Book.

This is the Handy Book I wish I had when I was growing up. I longed to know how to go out into nature and create shelters, find food, keep myself safe. It's all here in this great book which introduces young people to the pleasures and challenges of camping. There are chapters on packing a horse, on making clothes and moccasins, on camp cooking, on building piers, boats, and sleds. Not to mention the serveral designs for simple shelters - from lean-tos to cabins sturdy enough to last the whole summer.

Beard also suggests any number of projects, plans, and schemes to entertain those whose travels take them into the open fields and forests, who want to know everything from how to build kites and birdhouses to snow houses and snow men.

Hard to imagine ever hearing "I'm bored" with this book around!

A Museum of Early American Tools

Eric Sloane

Softbound

$8.95

This book is exactly what the title says it is: a museum of Early American tools. And, as with any great museum, simply to enter is to find oneself awash in awe and admiration and wonder. This is simply one of my all time favorite, best loved and remembered books ever.

Seeing Eric Sloane's work come back into print and regain popularity gives me cause for hope for the world. His every sketch, every comment embodies a respect and love for things made by human hands, hands that know and understand the nature of their tools and materials. A Museum of Early American Tools in particular evokes a love of both nature and human effort without ever saying a word about it. Open the pages, you'll see!

In the context of Waldorf education, there are so many places where having a copy of this book simply available for browsing would enliven a student's understanding and warm his or her interest -- for instance:

• during the house building and farming blocks in Grade 3
• kept nearby as woodworking commences in grades 4 and 5 and beyond
• perhaps even referred to during lessons on the Industrial Revolution - as it is bursting with examples that bridge the pre-industrial and industrial ages

There is life and the magic of imagination on these pages!

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots
Gardening Together with Children

Sharon Lovejoy

$13.95

In this high-spirited, biggest of all third book, Sharon Lovejoy presents 12 enthusiastic, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that will have parents and children discovering more and more reasons to stay in the garden! Lovejoy's ideas, as always, are so alive with possibility that we bet you don't finish the book before you start a new garden. If you have access to land, check out the Zuni Waffle Garden, the Flowering Maze Garden. If you live in an apartment, the Buckets, Boxes and Boots Garden will make your heart sing. May every seed you plant, flourish; may every garden you dream spring to life!

Sunflower Houses
Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages

Sharon Lovejoy

$13.95

"Once you care about gardens, birds, bugs, and flowers," says author Sharon Lovejoy, "you will never have a boring day. Even the tiniest experience can seem like a miracle." As if this weren't reason enough to introduce children to the burgeoning life of a garden, Lovejoy has given us a book (actually, two books - you'll want to see her Hollyhock Days also) packed with all manner of simple pleasures and treats. Make clover chains, maple seed spectles, firefly lanterns. Have you ever checked your watch when the Four O'Clocks bloomed? Made a teepee from runner beans, morning glories or sunflowers? Hundreds more delights and diversions are gathered together in this book which will make gardening a joyous adventure for the young and the young-at-heart.

The Woodchuck's Guide to Gardening

PLUS Foraging for Wild Plants in Spring, Planting by the Stars in Summer, Putting Food By in Fall, and Gardening with Children All Year Round

Ron Krupp
A Vermont Organic Gardener

Softbound

$16.95

The Woodchuck's Guide to Gardening is a terrific introduction both to the art of gardening and to the wonder of the natural world. Ron Krupp is not only a master gardener, he is also a great storyteller - as a result, this really engaging book is not only packed with every technique or tip you may need to know to succeed in your own garden, it is also overflowing with historical lore, stories about different plants and anecdotal asides into the author's life. In other words, it's a great read as well as an outstanding guide.

Woodchuck's Guide is divided into the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter plus a special section on children and gardening. There are four appendices that augment the book with technical information and commentaries. And a glossary of common gardening terms shores up the back pages.

You'll love this book - I predict it will become one of the most worn-out books on your shelf, it's pages sporting the tell-tale garden-soil fingerprints of the enthusiastic tiller of the soil.

Planting the Future
Saving Our Medicinal Herbs

Edited by Rosemary Gladstar and Pamela Hirsch

$22.95

Planting the Future is the result of the collaboration of over 40 of the most respected herbalists practicing in the US. These members of United Plant Savers, an organization dedicated to preserving America's native medicinal plants, have focused their attention on endangered medicinal plants - resulting in this book which is as much an in-depth herbal as it is a cultivation guide. Actually, I am so overwhelmed with the deep level of research and experience, the clear writing and presentation, and the fact that the cultivation instructions may well enable both the survival of endangered wild species and the continued use of these effective gifts of nature that it is hard to find words to express the true greatness you will find in Planting the Future. If you like to garden, if you use herbs, if you love the world of plants, if you care about our planet - you will find an abundance of knowledge and insight to interest and inspire you in Planting the Future. Includes color photographs of all the medicinal herbs that are discussed.

A Child's Garden
60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children

Molly Dannenmaier

Softbound

$19.95

It's clear that Molly Dannenmaier loves children and gardening with all her heart -- and has shared those loves with us in A Child's Garden, a heart-stoppingly beautiful, wonderful book.

I should be clear that this is not a book about gardening with children, but rather a banquet of ideas for creating gardens that invite children into the wonder and beauty of nature. Between its covers, she presents us with ideas for gardens large enough to encompass areas of parks and schools all the way down to postage stamp gardens and wee corners made to delight a child.

Among the hundreds of photos beckoning you into the realm of garden design are articles that invite us adults into the world as seen from the eyes of a child. In fact, her essays on the history of children's gardens and the nature of play could easily grace books on Waldorf education, so to-the-heart-of-the-matter are they.

Whether you are considering your window box, your back yard, or the landscape design for a school or community play area, A Child's Garden will breathe life, inspiration and lots and lots of warmth into your gardening and into children's lives. Simply wonderful!