Baptismal Candle / Taufkerze

Our son is getting baptized on Sunday, so my latest late night project has been making his baptismal candle. Although I have been working on it for some time, he had no idea and asked me at the dinner table tonight if I could please make him a candle "just like the ones in our Advent Club"? Unser Sohn lässt sich am Sonntag taufen. Deshalb ist mein letztes Kunstprojekt seine Taufkerze gewesen. Obwohl ich schon eine Weile dran bin, wusste er dies nicht und fragte heute Abend, ob ich ihm eine Taufkerze machen würde, "sowie die Kerzen bei der AdventsAG".

After coming up with a design and trying it out with tracing paper, I used the technique here, but cut the Stockmar decorative wax sheets with an exacto knife for more precision. Nachdem ich ein Design überlegte, habe ich  die Stockmar Wachsfolien mit einem Cutter geschneidet.

Now I just have to hide it until Sunday. Shhhh . . . don't tell him! Jetzt muss ich sie bis Sonntag in der Wohnung verstecken. Pst! Sagt ihm bitte nicht!

Interactive Autumn Nature Table

This year I wanted to do something different with our autumn nature table and take it a step beyond the imaginative play by making it a little more interactive. While my 7-year-old still loves to play with wooden animal figures, my 10-year-old needs something a little different. Being a fan of Land Art, I decided to put a "blank slate" of sorts in the middle of the table that could be used as a palette for  creations with nature materials.

Below you can see the "slate", a wooden plate used for table decorations. Around it in small bowls are chestnuts, berries, bark, acorn caps and seed pods to be used as art materials. I used felt leaves, since we don't have any real ones that have changed colors yet.

Here are a couple of mandala-like pictures made with the materials.

I am a big believer in not buying lots of expensive stuff for nature tables, and almost everything you see is something we already had. The only exception are the four wooden animals that we bought for sixty cents each at a craft show. They were unpainted and unfinished, so I let my kids have at them.

And here is the result. Aren't they adorable? The kids used watercolor and vinegar to make a stain for the background colors. Then, they used permanent markers to draw in the details.

And my little girl, who still loves her wooden figures, made a nest for the squirrel with a mint leaf and gave him an acorn.

Linked to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

"ich + du = wir?" Week 1

"Ich + Du = Wir?" Gute Frage. Diese Frage stellen wir uns in der neuen September-SchülerAG. Wie soll ich mit Menschen umgehen, die aus einem anderem Hintergrund kommen? Was kann ich im Streit tun? Was wenn ich den Streit lösen möchte, aber der andere macht nicht mit? Was heisst "Nächstenliebe", und wer ist mein Nächster? Diese und andere Fragen untersuchen und besprechen wir zusammen. "Me + You = We?" Good question. In our new after-school club, we are asking ourselves this question and many others. How so I respond to people who may look or speak differently from me? How can I resolve a conflict with someone? And what if the other person doesn't want a resolution? Was does it mean to love my neighbor, and who exactly is my neighbor? 

Wir fingen an mit einem Gespräch über das berühmte Bild der alte/junge Frau. Wieso sieht einer eine junge Frau und der andere eine alte Frau, wenn es um das gleiche Bild geht? Vielleicht betrachten wir Menschen auch manchmal so. Der eine sieht etwas so, aber der andere etwas Anderes. Wer sieht's richtig? Vielleicht kann Gottes Liebe eine Art Brille sein, um uns zu helfen besser sehen zu können. We started with a look at the classic picture of the old and young woman. How is it that some see a beautiful, young woman and others see an old, wrinkled woman in the same picture? Maybe we do the same thing when we look at other people. One person sees something beautiful and someone else sees something completely different. It all depends on our perspective. Perhaps God's love can be a type of lens to help us see better. 

Danach gab's natürlich eine Geschichte: die Bergpredigt von Jesu.
Afterwards, we had a story: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount

Jesus war unterwegs mit seinen Jüngern und Jüngerinnen, und viele kamen zu ihm mit ihren Problemen und Fragen. Er gab ihnen Worte für Ihr Herz und öffnete Ihr Herz für seine Worte. Es gab zwei, die wegen einer dummen Sache im Streit gerieten und fingen an einander zu hassen. Beide litten darunter. Was werden sie dann tun, nach dem sie Jesu Worte hören? While Jesus was travelling around with his disciples, many came to him with their problems and questions. He gave them words for their hearts and opened their hearts for his words. There were two people among  them who got into a fight over something small. They began to hate one another and both were feeling the weight of the conflict. What will they do after they have heard Jesus' words?

Diese Geschichte, im Godly Play-Stil, wurde von Religionspädagogen in Deutschland entwickelt. Sie betont Jesu Worte: "Glückselig sind die Menschen, die Frieden stiften. Liebt nicht nur eure Freunde, sondern auch eure Feinde." Am Ende lässt die Geschichte es offen, was die beiden im Streit entscheiden.  Und im Ergründungsgespräch danach haben die Kinder lange diskutiert, was die Möglichkeiten sein könnten, und die Kinder haben sinnvolle Lösungen zusammen gefunden. This is a story in Godly Play style that was developed by some theologians and religion teachers in Germany. It retells the most important part of the Sermon on the Mount, including the famous lines: "Blessed are the peacemakers . . . Love not only your friends, but your enemies as well." What happens to the two who are fighting with one another is left open at the end. The children discussed what they thought could have or should have happened for quite sometime. And together we came up with some meaningful ways to deal with conflict.  

Nach der Geschichte gibt es immer eine Kreativphase, in der die Kinder weiter über das Thema sich Gedanken machen können. (Durch Kunst u. Spiel kommen die Kinder auf Ideen, die sie im Gespräch manchmal nicht gedacht hätten.) Jedes Kind dürfte ein Angebot aussuchen. After the story, there is a  Response Time in which the children can choose an activity and think more about what they have heard. This time of imaginative play and artistic creativity often helps the children to express thoughts that they might otherwise have difficulty finding words for. 

Wir hatten die folgende Angebote:
The children could choose from the following activities:

1) Angebot 1: Wollebilder
Station 1: Wool roving & Burlap Pictures

Hier konnten die Kinder Bilder aus Schafswolle auf Jute gestalten. At this station, the kids could "paint" pictures with wool roving and burlap.

2) Angebot 2: einen Friedensbaum gestalten
Station 2: Peace Tree Collage

Hier konnte die Kinder eine Collage mit Farbe und Buntpapier gestalten. Als Symbol des Friedens bekamen die Kinder Schablonen in der Form einer Hand, um bunte Hände auszuschneiden, die als Blätter o. Teile des Baums dienen könnte. Here the children could make a collage with paint and construction paper. I gave the children patterns of  a hand  in different sizes. These hands were then to serve as the leaves or other parts of the tree. 

A work in progress. 

3) Angebot 3: Gebetsecke

Station 3: Prayer Corner

Hier konnten die Kinder ein Bild für Gott malen o. ein Gebet schreiben. Sie hatten Buntstifte und Stempeln zu Verfügung. At the prayer corner, the children could draw or write a prayer with colored pencils and stamps.

4) Angebot 4: Lego-Ecke

Station 4: Lego corner

Hier konnten die Kinder mit Legos etwas gestalten. Ein Junge zeigte mir am Ende ein Haus, das er gemacht hatte. "Das ist das Haus, das der kluger Mann auf dem Fels baute," sagte er, was ein wichtiger Teil der Geschichte war. No need to guess what we did here.: ) One of the boys built a house and told me that it was "the house that the wise man built on the rock", which just happened to be one of the main parts of the story.

5) Angebot 5: mit dem Material von den Geschichten zu spielen

Station 5: Playing with the materials from the story

Zum Schluss haben wir ein kleines Fest zusammen gefeiert und gemeinsam Lieder gesungen, u.a.  "Herr, gib mir Mut Brückenbauen".  Und das wäre mein Wunsch und Gebet für diese Kinder, dass sie ihr ganzes Leben lang Brücken bauen werden. Our time ended with a small feast and singing. We sang a song that goes "Lord, give me courage to build bridges". And that is my prayer for these children, that they will be bridge builders the rest of their lives. 

Mehr nächste Woche!

More next week!

Click here for Week 2.

Click here for Week 3.

Getting Ready for Autumn! + Link-Up

Autumn is definitely my favorite time of year. I find beauty and peace in the transformation of the leaves. The sights and smells of pumpkins, butternut squash, figs and falling chestnuts make me smile.

It's not quite autumn here in Berlin, though. It's been quite warm and the leaves are still green. But I know that autumn will come soon enough and I am already preparing. Just in case you are also gathering autumn ideas - maybe it already looks like autumn where you are - here are some things that we have done in years past.

Make an autumn nature table.

 Make a leaf crown.

Make animals and people out of chestnuts, acorns, or other nature finds.

Make rubbings with block crayons.

I've been sharing these lovely poems that are well-known in Waldorf circles with my students here in Berlin. Both are from The Waldorf Book of Poetry by David Kennedy.

“Summer is ending!” the father bear said,

“In yonder tree hollow I’ll build me a bed.” 

“Summer is ending!” said all the gold weeds,

And so, softly sighing, they scattered their seeds. 

“Summer is ending!” the hurricane cried,

Hurling and whirling harsh winds high and wide. 

“Summer is ending,” said fiery King Sun,

“My flame must grow fainter, then fade out to none.“

We recite this poem by using hand motions to act out the different autumn characters. We growl and make a bear face for father bear, sway our hands above our hands for the golden weeds, etc. My 1-3 graders love it!

The north wind came along one day,

So strong and full of fun.
He called the leaves down from the trees

And said, “Run children run”.

They came in red and yellow dress,

In shaded green and brown,

And all the short November day

He chased them round the town.

They ran in crowds, they ran alone,

They hid behind the trees,

The north wind’s laughing found them there

And called “No stopping please”

But when he saw them tired out

And huddled in a heap,

He softly said, “Goodnight my dears,
Now let us go to sleep."

We also act out this poem. One child is the North Wind, then others are the trees, and then the rest are leaves. It's organized chaos when the North Wind chases the leaves around the room. Definitely a bit hit with the kids!

Material Upgrade for the Good Samaritan

When you first start out with Godly Play, you don't always have the funds to buy the proper materials or even the time to make quality ones. Sometimes, you just use what you have. When I first told the Parable of the Good Samaritan almost 5 years ago, I used Playmobil figures, because that was what I had. Then, a couple of years later after I had collected a few nicer materials as funds would allow, I told the story using the wooden People of God figures (used in the Sacred Story genre) and the wooden donkey from the Holy Family story. 

My friend, Storyteller, in Finland has even made figures out of cardboard to preserve the flatness in the parable genre. (The figures in the parables should actually be flat in order to have a storybook feel to them, since they are stories that Jesus told.) And some of my German colleagues have made paper figures and laminated them. 

Now, I've upgraded to some beautiful flat figures made by Johanna from Godly Play Finland. She offers some reasonably priced DIY figures that are easy to paint. I painted mine with watercolor and vinegar to create a stained look. 

Here's a glimpse at my old set-up for the Good Samaritan with the People of God figures.

And here are the new figures in the parable box ready for action!

"The Great Family" Continued: Sarah & Hagar

We went on a retreat with our church this weekend to a lovely spot beside a lake about an hour outside of Berlin in Brandenburg. The weather was perfect for swimming and playing ultimate frisbee. 

Since we started our school year off with "The Great Family", I wanted to continue and tell the kids some other parts of Abraham and Sarah's story. So, I prepared the story of "Sarah and Hagar". In the German version of this Godly Play enrichment story, we use the desert sack. Since our cars were heavily packed for carpooling to the retreat, I knew it was out of the question to try and bring the desert bag and planned to substitute a felt underlay. To my surprise and delight, there was a playground at the retreat center with a sand floor, so we just sat in the sand for our children's service and began the story!

In this picture, you can recognize features of "The Great Family". This is the scene where Abraham and Isaac go off to Mount Moriah and Sarah wonders what will happen.

Here Hagar and Ishmael drink from the well that the angel of the Lord has showed them  just as Hagar had given up all hope.

The story of Sarah and Hagar is a difficult and important one. Based on the account in Genesis 16, Sarah grows impatient with God's promise to make her and Abraham's family as many as the stars in heaven and the sand in the desert. (And honestly, would I have reacted any differently? She was already really old!) She then asks Abraham to take a second wife - her slave, Hagar - with whom he can bear a child that Sarah will presumably adopt. 

Seems like a good plan, but what she doesn't count on is her own jealous emotions and Hagar's new spiteful attitude towards her. After Hagar's son Ishmael is born and God's promise to Sarah is fulfilled in the birth of baby Isaac some time later, the competition doesn't stop. When Sarah sees Ishmael teasing Isaac, she persuades Abraham to send them away. (I know it was a different time and place, but why, Abraham does this, I cannot begin to comprehend.)

Hagar and Ishmael get lost in the desert. They have no more food or water, and she sets Ishmael under a bush and walks a bit further, because she can't bear to see him die. Just as she gives up all hope, God shows her a well of water that saves their lives.

I also added my favorite part of the story, which is where Hagar names God "the One who sees me". She, a slave, is the only woman in the Bible who gives God a name. Such a great example of God's upside-down kingdom.

What I love about this story is God's mercy and forgiveness in it. He blesses both women and makes each of their sons into a great nation, despite their wrongs toward one another. 

In our Wondering, the children thought the most important thing was that Hagar and Ishmael lived. They also spent time thinking about how the two children in the story felt about all of this. Don't all siblings fight and tease one another? Maybe Isaac really missed Ishmael after he was sent away? Maybe Isaac was lonely and didn't have anyone else to play with. 

Our Response Time was then spent digging tunnels and making mountains with all of that wonderful sand.: )

 

"Me + You = We?"

"Me + You = We?"  That's the name of our new after-school club! Starting Monday, for the next three weeks, we'll be exploring diversity and conflict resolution together. How do I feel when I am around people who look or speak differently from me? What if I am in an argument with someone and they don't want to make up with me? What if someone I don't like needs my help? We'll look at these and other questions through the context of the biblical narrative. And in the last week, we'll visit a children's club in another district to know some people in a different part of Berlin. 

While Melinda, my co-teacher, and I developed the concept for this after-school club, the credit for the name goes to the religion teacher at our school. She is a wonderful lady with great ideas. I love the open-endedness of that question! We don't want to give the kids pat answers. We want them to think critically,  explore the possibilities, and see what the Bible says about such situations. 

We all know that in the real world,  "me" + "you" does not always equal "we", even when we really want it to. Something that again reminded me of this and helps me not give easy answers happened a couple of weeks ago. A person that I tried in good will to offer help to lashed out at me, making some pretty heavy accusations, and refused to believe that I was not belittling him. Even after I did everything I could to make peace, the person was and is still angry at me. It was a real challenge for me to go on, forgive  and bless a person that had so misjudged my character! But that's real life, isn't it? I'm actually thankful in retrospect that this happened, so that I think carefully about what I say to the children. 

My hope is that God will meet all of us and show us new things through this club. That's one of the things that I cherish about Godly Play - we adults are co-learners with the children and learn from them as much as they learn from us!