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~Developed by a Waldorf-Inspired Childcare Provider and Mother of Four Daughters

Welcoming January

Welcoming January 
In This Issue
Creating Warmth
Festivals and Holidays
Winter Fingerplay
Make a Snow Lantern
Snowflake Story
Winter Childcare Menu
warmth for children
Winter, the days are crisp and the nights are long. Our children come in with red cheeks and rumbling tummies ...Click for More Details
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warmth for children Creating Warmth 
 
In my natural childcare guide this month, we are focusing on creating a warm environment for our families and the children in our care.  Warmth is important both physically and emotionally for every human being.
 
As caregivers, we work hard to provide a loving and nurturing environment for the children in our care. We must work just as hard to create an environment and practice that gives our own soul the warmth it desires.    Read Full Article
 Festivals and Holidays This Month

Twelfth Night/Three Kings Day/The Epiphany - January 6th
Full Wolf Moon or Moon After Yule - January 10th
Martin Luther King Jr. Day - January 19th
 Winter Fingerplay
 
Winter is cold
(hug yourself and shiver)
There is snow in the sky
(flutter fingers above your head)
The squirrel gathers nuts
(pretend to gather nuts)
And the wild geese fly
(flap arms)
The fluffy red fox
(cup hands over head to form ears)
Has his fur to keep warm
(stroke arms as if stroking fur)
The bear's in her cave
(form a cave shape with your arms)
Sleeping all through the storm
(fold hands under cheek and pretend to sleep)

 Make A Snow Lantern
 
warmth for children
 
Supplies Needed:
Snowballs
Candle on Plate or Other Small Light Source Such as Battery Operated Light
Long Stemmed Lighter or Very Long Match Sticks
 
Form snowballs and make one layer of a small circle on ground.  Continue to build up like an igloo and about halfway up place candle or light inside.  If you are using a battery operated light source, you can light it now.  If you are using a candle, continue to build up your lantern wall and use a very long lighter or matches to light before completing.  Be very careful doing this activity with young children. This is a perfect way to welcome in the light of the New Year.
 A January Story
 
Snowflakes

Once there was a little raindrop that thought it had played long enough up in the clouds, and said it would go down to the earth and see what it could do. So it started.

While it was falling, it had to pass through a cloud that was very cold, and this funny little raindrop, instead of shrinking together as we do when we are cold, stretched out and stretched out, until it was not round any more, but was long, and thin, and hard like a needle; and that is just what it was, a little ice needle.

As it went on falling, it met another just like itself.  The second said, "Little Ice Needle, where are you going?" "Down to the earth, to see what good I can do." "I'll go, too." So it joined the first needle, and they fell together.

Pretty soon they met a third, who said, "Little Ice Needles, where are you going?" "Down to the earth, to see what we can do." "Then I'll go, too." So it joined the others, and they fell together.

Then they met another, and another, and another, and another, who all joined them. Then there were six little ice needles falling together, and they had a new name; "Snowflake".

Little Snowflake met others who were also snowflakes but each and every one was different than the other.  The snowflakes asked Little Snowflake where it was going. "Down to the earth, to see what good I can do." "We'll go, too. But where shall we go?" "I know," said one of the little flakes. "Last summer, when I was warm and round, I saw a place where a poor little sick boy had planted some seeds which a kind lady gave him. Let us fall on that place and keep it warm, so that the seeds in the ground may not freeze, and the little boy may have some flowers next summer." "Oh! so we will," said they all; and they fell faster and faster, so that they might get there sooner.
 
Other snowflakes saw them and went too, and the ground was covered more and more thickly with snow, till there was enough to keep the seeds from freezing during the winter.
 
When the weather began to be warm, the snow turned into water and ran down into the earth, and the seeds drank it, and swelled and swelled, until by and by, little leaves came out above the ground, from each seed. Then other leaves grew, and, when summer came, little Frank had his flowers again, and all because one little raindrop wanted to do some good in the world.
 
January 2009 Monthly Natural Childcare Guide

warmth for children

 
Week One, January
Sheep's Wool, Warmth

Week Two, January
Animals in Winter, Deep Rest

Week Three, January
Snowflakes, Tolerance

Week Four, January
Ice, Forgiveness
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