Date Night

I forgot to mention that the school moved my Natural Gift Making Workshop to Friday evenings to masquerade as a kind of Date Night for parents. The idea is that parents will pay for a sitter to have their Friday evenings free, the school makes enough money to pay me by the hour with plenty left over, and I get to plan fun stories and activities for the kids while they are with me. We are trying this for the first time this Friday evening from 6 - 9 pm. That means that I have to prep some kind of theme. I'm not quite ready for my ideas for December so I think I'll do painting with them. How about

1) sewing beanbags

2) making playdough

3) watercolor painting


I'd like to do Nurse Lugton's Curtain by Virginia Woolf as the story, then we can choose fabric for our beanbags, mix up some batches of playdough and make animals with them, and do lovely paintings. We can do a piece of seasonal poetry and a color story. I am not sure how old the children I get will be so I am not going to try for any kind of form.



Autumn Leaves
by Marilyn Helmer

Wind blows
and fills the skies
with gold and yellow
butterflies

which flit to earth
with skips and hops
to dance and twirl
like spinning tops.

The last one dips
in a puddle to float
like a single scarlet
sailing boat.



Autumn Leaves
by Eve Merriam

Down
down
down
Red
yellow
brown
Autumn leaves tumble down,
Autumn leaves crumble down,
Autumn leaves bumble down,
Flaking and shaking,
Tumbledown leaves.

Skittery
Flittery
Rustle by
Hustle by
Crackle and crunch
In a snappety bunch.

Run and catch
Run and catch
Butterfly leaves
Sailboat leaves
Windstorm leaves.
Can you catch them?

Swoop,
Scoop,
Pile them up
In a stompy pile and
Jump
Jump
JUMP!



In Autumn
by Fannie Montgomery

They're coming down in showers,
The leaves all gold and red;
They're covering the little flowers,
And tucking them in bed.
They've spread a fairy carpet
All up and down the street;
And when we skip along to school,
They rustle 'neath our feet.