Waldorf Finger Puppets / Story Aprons

My homeschool purchase today?

8 mm habotai silk scarves from Dharma Trading Company!
These have hand rolled hems with 100% silk thread and are ready to dye.

Available in white in a dozen sizes:

6 x 24 inches

8 x 54 inches

8 x 72 inches

11 x 60 inches

15 x 60 inches

14 x 72 inches

22 x 72 inches

22 x 90 inches

21.5 inches square

30 inches square

35 inches square

44 inches square

We are getting twelve 30 inch square ones (these cost just $5.23 each, less with the quantity discount for orders of 12+), intending to dye some to use as play silks and some to make into story aprons. Suzanne Down -- whose work I cannot recommend highly enough -- is my very lovely puppetry teacher. I went to several one day needle felting and puppetry workshops at the Washington Waldorf School with her as well as driving from Maryland to Colorado to take a five day workshop (July 8 - 12, 2009: "The Sense of Touch and Warmth: Puppetry as Bridge for these Foundations for Life") at the Boulder Waldorf Kindergarten. There I remember Suzanne saying something about story aprons. She had made a wide circular piece of wet felted background scenery, with little slits cut in it for finger puppets to emerge from, that covered your chest and a large piece of coordinating silk sewed below it which draped down to cover your lap. A large ribbon loop at the top of the felt circle slipped over your head.

Put it on, sit down, and voila! Your body is an instant stage.

Around the World with Finger Puppet Animals
Juniper Tree School of Puppetry Arts

I suggested to Natalie, who is in 8th grade and is learning embroidery stitches, that she make some little wool felt finger puppets for Zac (9 months) and practice Suzanne's puppetry suggestions (patterns, poems, and puppetry ideas for each animal) in Around the World with Finger Puppet Animals. She LOVED the idea. Becca made a dog, Natalie made a seal and then a polar bear, Leah made a wolf and then a bunny... puppetry is all the rage around here! And Zac absolutely loves the little shows they are putting on with just a felt finger puppet and a large playsilk for scenery. That's when I remembered the story apron idea.

So a handful of silk scarves and a few packets of iDye are going to show up on my doorstep. According to the Waldorf Moms blog post How to Hand-Dye Waldorf Playsilks, one packet of iDye can easily dye two pounds of fabric (two dozen play silks) so consider doing this with a homeschool co-op or a group of friends! One five gallon bucket with lid, from the hardware store, for each dye color and you are good to go!

We picked Kelly Green, Gold Ocher, Deep Orange, Emerald, Royal Blue, Golden Yellow, Chestnut, Silver Grey, Bright Yellow, Crimson, Turquoise, and Violet.

Dharma has a helpful drag and drop "color palette" feature where you can see how your colors look together and if you are missing a color you had wanted to order. Looks easy enough!

iDye FAQs

I'm getting really excited about this... it totally falls in the category of "Waldorf-y Mommy things I've always wanted to do." I will post pictures next week so you can see how they turn out.