Waldorf Co-op - Week 1

What a great start to our Waldorf co-op! We have three new families joining us this year, adding a total of 7 new little friends. So now in all there are 7 families with 19 children ages 3 months to 8 years.

Our first day was a little bit out-of-sorts. We discovered that the spot where we normally meet at the park was being used by the staff for a program. Since the parking area is so small, and we had the flexibility, we moved our group just up the hill to the picnic shelter until we could get back to our usual place.

Teaser pic - keep on reading!

A small trail behind the shelter goes down to the lake. I took most of the kids (about 10) for a hike. The older boys ran ahead and by the time I had caught up with them, they were knee deep (literally) in mud! The lake had receeded, leaving a wonderfully gooey mudflat. With such an amazing opportunity for mud play, we put co-op on hold for the kids to enjoy the muddy mayhem.

They were all very hungry (and dirty!) since lunch was quickly approaching. We took full advantage of the outdoor sinks at the picnic shelter to get the kids (semi) clean. Luckily, I have a "close relationship" with the park's General Manager, so he came by to clean up our mess.

As soon as we got back to the creek and picnic tables, we set up for lunch. I sang a little verse while passing our the placemats I had made for the group. The kids instantly settled down and were ready for our blessing:

Earth who gives to us our food,
Sun who makes it ripe and good,
Dearest Earth and Dearest Sun,
We will not forget what you have done.




One of the mommas reads a story while the kids finish eating. It was amazing how much more peaceful lunch was that day, as opposed to how lunches go during playdates and last year's co-op. Definitely a new tradition!

After lunch, one of the mommas leads the children (except mine, who refused to participate) in some gentle yoga.

After yoga, they "om" or "aum".

Then we moved on to our circle. I don't have any pictures of that unfortunately. We sang our songs, lit our candle, then I told the story "The Giant Turnip". I was really happy with how it went. We moved from that into movement verses and more songs. I think that for next week, we should transition from the story (passive) to the movement verses (active) with a more quiet fingerplay. The kids really seemed to be jolted out of the story by jumping up and doing the song. Some of them didn't even jump up! So I think we need a better way to ease them out of the story. Hmmmmmm.............
After story, we moved onto crafts! For our first craft, we did watercolor.

I like to give my girls one color at a time - starting with yellow, then red, then blue. They fully enjoy and explore one color before adding the next. As always, the painting ends up a dark blue-green-brown. But that's okay, because right now they are just enjoying the painting (verb) and don't care about the outcome painting (noun).

All mommas agreed that it was a GREAT day! I'm so excited about this year!!!!