We are very fortunate to coordinate and teach at the Davis Waldorf School Summergarden Camp in Davis, California. This summer was our 4th year. Children entering grades 2-6 attended for one-week sessions. Older students could attend as Jr. Counselors. We have highly qualified teachers for handwork, gardening and cooking, and a host of amazing high school and college volunteers who help the program run smoothly. Children come to us from the Davis Waldorf Schools, and also from the local public schools, Waldorf schools from other cities and states, and homeschooling families. Some families travel from afar and stay in Davis for a week or more on vacation while their children attend camp.
Children rotate each day through the kitchen, garden and handwork room/woodworking area. The calendar provides breathing in (learning) and breathing out (playing) times throughout the day. Gardening includes planting, harvesting, weeding, composting, learning about herbs, and garden crafts.
Week 3 - Wood Toy Boxes, Flower Essences, Herbal Cheese
Children help prepare their own snack and lunch made mostly from local and organic ingredients. This summer, we were fortunate to have produce from Good Hummus Farm in nearby Capay Valley. Live musicians perform for the children during lunch once per week (harp, guitar, fiddlers, flute, clarinet). A beautiful aftercare program is available for children who want to stay longer than 1pm each day.
Each morning starts with circle time: Good morning song, gardening song, yoga stretches, summer song. Each learning session includes an opening and closing verse. Eating times begin with a meal verse. By the end of the week, children learn 8 verses and 3-5 songs. Children watercolor paint a cover for their journals which includes the week's recipes, songs, verses, and drawings.
Summergarden 2015 information will be on the website around February, 2015!
So fortunate to have incredible teachers -- Jennifer Tan, Par Duncan, Bill Critchfield, Robyn Wolfe, Jan Plotkin, Dahlia Haberman, Hue Thao, and Aftercare providers Karen Hansen-Downey and Misty DeGennaro
Below is a photo album that we created featuring our 5 weeks of summer camp adventures!
Wonderful August enrichment book from Little Acorn Learning (OVER 100 pages!).
Four Full Weeks of Waldorf Crafting, Verses, Songs, Stories, Recipes, Caregiver Meditations, Adult Inner Work and Seasonal Celebrations
Some of our articles are featured this month, including yoga poses for handwork, weaving, painting, and planting a healing garden. More information and to order online: http://littleacornlearning.com/augustenrichment.html
Week One, August- Wild Herbs & Flowers, Healing ~Sing Songs of Herbs and Flowers ~Make Homemade Herbal Soaps ~Create Scented Herb Wash ~Plant a Healing Garden with Your Children ~Enjoy Homemade Lavender Bubble Bath ~Make Herbal Acrostics ~Meditate on Healing Yourself Spiritual and Physically
Week Two, August - The Ladybug, Gentleness ~Read Stories of Gentleness and Ladybugs ~Learn Sweet Fingerplays and Songs ~Sew a Felt Ladybug Bracelet ~Paint Ladybug Pet Rocks ~Enjoy the Ladybug's Tea Poem ~Learn the Let's Find a Ladybug Song on Your Pennywhistle or Flute! ~Receive the MP3 Version of the Let's Find a Ladybug Song with Your Purchase ~Teach Your Child the Gentle Art Form of Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting ~Take Time for Your Spirit and Ponder Being Gentle with Yourself in this Life
Week Three, August - Starfish & Seahorses, Movement ~Share Movement Songs with the Children ~Read Stories of Starfish and Seahorses ~Sew a Seahorse Toy ~Create Beautiful Starfish out of Felt for Your Children ~Enjoy the Movement of Yoga ~Make a Sea Stars Banner to Decorate Your Home or School ~How do you find the balance necessary between Movement and Rest in your life? Mediate on this and more in this week's Caregiver Meditation.
Week Four, August - The Unicorn, Imagination~Share Tales of Unicorns and Imagination ~Create a Unicorn Stuffed Toy ~Sing Songs and Move this Week! ~Make a Unicorn's Labyrinth ~Practice the Unicorn Song on Your Pennywhistle or Flute and Receive the MP3 Version with your August Enrichment Guide! ~Spend Time Weaving with Your Imagination with a Special Craft ~How can you create an environment which fosters Imagination in the children you care for? What do you imagine for your life?
Looking for summer ideas for your family? The Little Acorn Learning July Enrichment Guide is here!
Week One, July
The Mermaid, Independence ~Sing Songs of Mermaids! ~Take Time for Yourself with Our Caregiver Meditation ~Create a Beautiful Felted Mermaid ~Make a Mermaid Aquarium for Summer Play ~Read Poems to Your Children ~Make a Mermaid Costume with Wrist Ribbons!
Week Two, July Stargazing, Reverence ~Spend Time this Week Considering What Reverence Means in Your Life ~Making a Felted Big Dipper ~Draw Down the Stars to Your Soul with Our Star Singing Activity ~Read Stories from a Summer Night Sky and Learn About Constellations ~Read Books All About the Stars and Sky
Week Three, July The Great Outdoors, Solitude ~Celebrate The Great Outdoors with Your Children this Week! ~Read Books on the Woods, Forests, Trees, Meadows and Brooks ~Can You Find Peace in Being Alone? Meditate on the Beauty of Solitude This Week. ~Take a Listening Walk with Your Children ~Create an Outdoor Nature Table ~Learn to Play 'The Great Smoky Mountains' On Your Flute or Pennywhistle ~Enjoy the MP3 of the Song As Well ~Listen to the Gifts of Solitude ~Cook Up a Delicious Batch of Caldron Chicken for Your Next Outdoor Adventure
Week Four, July The Ocean, Inner Balance ~Read Stories of Waves, Sand and Sea ~Sing to the Ocean ~Find Inner Balance in Your Life ~Learn 'The Mighty Ocean' Song on Your Pennywhistle or Flute ~Listen to the MP3 Version of the Song with Sweet Children's Voices ~Make a Labyrinth in Your Own Backyard! ~Create Beautiful Seashell Candles ~Make a Seashell Sun to Hang for Summer
We celebrated Summer Solstice with a family bike ride, singing, drinking "vruit", eating a Solstice salad and listening to summer poems. The next day, we made summer crowns, solstice tea and needlefelted butterflies with friends.
Solstice Salad Mixed greens from a biodynamic farm and veggies from our own garden (green tomatoes, parsley, mint, green onions, zucchini, chives)
Vruit Carrots and apples, plus biodynamic kale, and beet greens, spinach and parsley from the garden, all through the juicer. Added a bit of orange juice to each glass.
Solstice (Sun) Tea Joey and her friends went on a hunt through the yard for the ingredients, then placed them in a clear carafe with water and left it out in the sun for a few hours. Yummy!
Summer Crowns Ivy, rosemary, Japanese maple, roses and wire made beautiful crowns!
Butterflies Needlefelting leftover bits of wool from other projects created pretty wings that were slid into painted wood clothespins.
Solstice Eve(Melody and piano by Rick Tan, lyrics and flute by Jennifer Tan, 2001) Look out to the sea On a solstice eve Through the ancient trees An isle with rocky lees
Bless all the spirits Kiss their hearts divine Sing to the angels Play the flutist's line
We will eat with thee Boil the herbal tea Thank the blessed leaf Honor the willow reed
Bless all the spirits Kiss their hearts divine Sing to the devas Play the harpist's line
Dance in circles round Feel the energy's sound Share your dreams and love Dance to the moon above
Bless all the spirits Kiss their hearts divine Sing to the dryads Play the drummer's line
