Modeling beewax - and why it is the best.

So - there I was at Big Lots. I saw this super rad set of wooden castle blocks for crazy cheap. I had to have it - being the quality toy junky that I am - so - I did. I haves it.
Today Tilde and Papa went off to the Archery Range for a work party - so it was just me and the boy! So yeah! We did some finger games, some nursery rhymes and general circle stuffs - but... we were getting bored. I actually am not morning sick or really tired - so -  it would be actual child abuse to put him in front of a movie. Then I remembered my impulse wooden castle blocks purchase :D ! Oh yeah. We are buildin' some towers and knockin' 'em down and he asked " Hey! Wheres the guys?" Like - yeah! There are no "guys"?! So - I figure I'll felt something up right quick - but dude. These blocks are super small... felting sturdy "guys" was not happening. This sounds like a job for modeling bees wax. So we pulled out our materials and got to work. Here's what me and the Hugo made ^_^!

This is the boy hard at work on his "Cwockadiywil"

And here are the Gardens- you can see the Croc in the "stream" .And since Tilde was away - I got to be the fabricator - so i made a horsy and a kitty ^_^ !

Here we have the throne room... ummmm ... mama might be a George RR Martin fan... and that might be an Iron Throne.

The queen is in her chamber eating milk and honey! And look at the little baby Hugo made - he is such a sweet heart <3 br="">

And of course - all castles need a cat on the battlements!

And then when sister came home!

Look! They are playing together! So much awesome!
So yes. You SHOULD spend that much on beeswax. It is the best.

Lego shortbread cookies!

Lego shortbread cookie day.

So - to do this fun and silly little craft - we took a basic short bread recipe here- doubled it and added a bit water - to make it play dough like.

To color it - I have to admit you either have to purchase a nicer food dye - such as Wilton brand food coloring - but if you only have access to mccormick (like me) - just own the fact that you are going to need the whole bottle to achieve these colors. And I staight up just used my hands to mix it- like my hands got good and stained - but by the time it was mixed - the childrens hands stayed pristine -

My poor stained hands.

So here is the handy dandy lego mold I got off amazon here. I cut it down the middle so that I could use the outside to press the indents into the bottom of the lego cookies - making them actually stackable.

Then you press your different colored dough into the mold - pop it out - and bam. You have lego cookies. also - you can use the dough to just make little guys and stuff to go in your lego structures you will build with your amazing cookies.

Here are childrens enjoying their craft!

Ah! Look how hard they work!

Fun for even the littlest guy ^_^ !

It got experimental toward the end.
So there you have it! A quiet fun geeky craft for the littles on a late winters day!
Cheers!

Waldorf alphabet so far

A quick update - as of 9/9/15 ~ we dont us Live Education anymore. It is filed away like many other curriculum that we just couldn't make work for us.  This post - in retrospect - might be better seen as a cautionary tale - and not a recommended path. So pretty pictures though! ^_^! but those were actually very hard times for us. I now use Queens Curriculum and Children’s Garden of the Theotokos. Because - yeah. It just works better for us. Oh - and print outs of like 1970s activity books. Cuz - they tend to be straight forward with out a lot of product placement and gimmicky franchise centric marketing. ( I am not into leep frog for this reason)

We are just starting vowels but here are some of the first letters in order according to Live Education!

 B by tilde

 B by mama. We used Snow White and Rose Red for our story and the tongue twisters and verse from LE.

 C before I figured out how to be a bit more simple. We told Cat and Mouse and the tongue twisters and verse from LE

 M right around when I started wondering if chalk board is really for us. We made up our own story about a mountain goat and sang Climbing Up Sunshine Mountain.

 D looking alright - but Still - to messy. For Dear we told Brother and Sister but said Dear instead of Roebuck. And we used the tongue twisters and verses from LE

 R when we switched to note book - way easier.We told The Mitten as our story and used the tongue twisters and verse from LE

 L for lamb - but it looks like something is wrong with his leg :( We did verses from Mother Goose and Mary Had a Little Lamb.

 G for goose girl - and we read the Goose Girl and used the tongue twisters and verse from LE.

 F for the fisherman and his wife And did the tongue twisters and verse from LE.

S for Star A for Awe We are using the story of the Nativity - and doing  the tongue twisters and verse from LE.
That's it for now. We have taken 1st grade very slow. We have gone back and forth with kindi lessons and craft - just to keep it slow and gentle.