Protection Story Workshop with Photos
The Colorado Regional WECAN early childhood conference last week was held at Shepherd Valley Waldorf School after a BIG snow, the views of the mountains were incredible, and set the tone for a great day. The theme was - The Protection Story - Developing stories that help a child feel safe in their world. One method is to visually show a 'shelter' that encloses a character in a way that makes them feel protected. as though 'held in the arms of a loving mother'. We created hollow stump homes for mouse, with a view of the stars above, and a window to look out at the land....yet the house was sturdy and cozy, when filled with bits of moss and feather. You can see from the photos that these mice will live well in their homes....adorned with flowers, mosses, mushrooms.....We had a good day...lots of laughter, conversation, and creativity from ...
continue readeingPosted by Suzanne, on March 28th, 2010
Easter Bunny Time
When I find a really adorable puppet project online I like to share it with you. It is nice for you, and in this case, it is nice for Martha Stewart. Never mind her personality, the lady has great taste. This will delight children, it is a little 'puppet card theater'...I love it! My Easter craft offering this year is coming up this weekend...a truly fun workshop evolving the felted egg into many story kingdoms...I have had a lot of fun designing egg story worlds...come along and join us! Read all about it here! Here is the link to the how to video of a very cute bunny finger puppet card from Martha Stewart....click here
continue readeingPosted by Suzanne, on March 22nd, 2010
The Healing Art of Solo Marionette Theater – workshop
It is said that the marionette is the best puppet type to portray the elegant fairy tale stories. Perhaps this is because these mystery tales portray the evolution of the human soul, and the marionette, especially the silk marionette, depicts the human condition with such grace and uprightness. Standing there from head to toe, they walk, sit, sleep, sweep the floor, dance, climb cliffs, chop wood. They can portray most human movement with truth in their gesture. They also can make the human inner life visible. We can 'ensoul' them with qualities such as sympathy, antipathy, humor, joy, anger, greed, reverence, interest. These wonderful puppets can also tell simpler tales, nursery rhymes, nature stories, and bring to life song and poem. The upcoming Professional Development summer workshops for teachers, therapists, parents, and other enthusiasts, will focus on building skills to present solo shows that are simpler than ...
continue readeingPosted by Suzanne, on March 19th, 2010
The Worker Character Workshop Photos
A few busy weeks ago, at the teacher's conference in Sacramento was so much fun. It started off for me and a wonderful group of ECE teachers,with my pre- conference workshop on what wisdom lives in the characters that are the 'doers' in story. Qualities such as 'reliability, capability, interest, focus, skilled, reverence for the materials, certainty, rhythmical,' were some of the comments from the circle of participants to set the mood for our creations. And what is it that the children gain from observing these beloved workers of the tale. They take in a modeling of healthy will and participation in purposeful work. And we worked and created characters that by now have told stories to children showing off all their abilities!! They chopped wood, baked bread, went fishing, planted crops, harvested, swept the floor, knitted, milked cows, and more. We all became artisan workers! Coming up soon is a ...
continue readeingPosted by Suzanne, on March 15th, 2010
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