“The Second Light of Advent is the Light of the Plants, Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance” -Rudolph Steiner
Happy Second Week of Advent friends!! I hope you enjoyed some slow, cozy times with your family ❤
Our first week was lovely. The mist has temporarily lifted here and we’ve had some sunny days. At storytime each morning, the sun was just right, as to beam through the window to highlight the story table adding an amazing glow to the moment.
The children were excited about the Advent crafting, and in true Phoenix style, he had a few ideas, which added to and changed the crafts I had planned. As always the co- created activities became the most memorable, highlighting the importance of remaining open to change and working to support an emergent curriculum.
Building on last week’s structure, each day this week includes a daily advent gift. On homeschool days the gift ties in with a craft along with a story.
Advent Week 2- Plants
Sunday-
Advent gift-Mini wooden Christmas trees displayed in a giant walnut shell https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/246244064/order-1-to-6-piece-of-2-34-inch-3?ref=pla_similar_listing_top-
Activity- Go for a family walk to collect chosen Christmas tree. Decorate Christmas tree!
-Add a few plant based nature treasures to join the crystals in the Advent garden.
Mon-Homeschool
Advent Gift-Paper white bulbs
Story- The Tree that Dreamt a Flower (See story below) This story is one of my favourites from childhood and I’ve been looking forward to sharing it with my kids. It might be a bit long for under 5 year olds, but could be told using felted puppets in a simplified version or read to older children. For children and adults alike this story holds powerful meaning which expresses the spirit of the season without focusing on the religious aspect.
Craft- Make planters for the bulbs with vases and crystal pebbles, add water and place bulbs in a sunny window to be ready to bloom for Christmas.
The Tree That Dreamt A Flower, adapted from the story by Isabell Wyatt
“There was once an archer, who lived amongst the stars, and his arrows brought not wounds but love for all things. One day he loosed an arrow which fell to earth on a cold and naked mountain side, where no plant had ever grown. The arrows feathers turned into roots, and the arrow grew into a tree. This tree was the first fir tree.
The tree grew up pointing to the stars, and as the tree looked up at the stars, she loved them. So, every day she grew taller, for always she longed to reach them. Now the stones of that desolate place had rejoiced when the green fir tree came to live amongst them; but when they saw her yearning always towards the stars, they figured she would grow right away from them. So, the stones cried out to her: “Do not forget us all together, dear fir tree. It is right that you should love the stars, but love earth a little too.” The fir tree listened and looked down and was sorry for the stones imprisoned in the ground, and she sent her roots down deeper to embrace them. She began to love the stones and the soil a little, as well as the sky and the stars.
Then the small creatures who lived on that cold and bare mountain side, who longed for shade and shelter, cried out also to the firtree: “Dear fir tree, do not forget us either. We are glad that your head should be lifted towards the stars; but will you not lower your arms a little towards the earth, to bring us shade and shelter?” And the fir tree listened and looked down and was sorry for the small creatures of the mountain side. She let her branches droop until the lowest brushed the ground with their outstretched fingers and the small creatures of the mountain side crept beneath the fir tree thankfully, and found shelter there from the storms, and warmth when the night was cold.
Now with her sturdy trunk, her drooping branches, and her sharp tip pointing to the stars, the fir tree begin to show in her shape that she was an arrow which had turned into a tree. She grew to love earth more and more, and to take more and more soil into her sap, until presently she was wrapped in bark, and her wood grew to have less and less the softness of a plant, and more and more the hardness of a stone. And now, where she had dropped her leaves to the ground, the soil became gradually richer, so that mosses, and small creeping plants, and presently taller plants, also began to cover the mountainside.
Water plants begin to grow in the little mountain pools, which the rain left between the rocks. Amongst these, was a lily plant which looked up in love and wonder at the fir tree and listened with delight and longing when the fir tree spoke of the stars, to the stones and small creatures nestling beneath her bows. To them it was all like a wonderful fairy story, for the stones were imprisoned in the ground could not see the sky, and the little animals going on all fours could not lift their heads high enough to gaze upward at the stars. The moss, and the stones, and the small creatures and the lily plant said: “Oh if only a star would come down and live amongst us!”
Now the fir tree often pondered how this might be brought to pass, for she too longed for the stones and mosses and the small creatures of the mountain side to be able to share her own joy in the stars. One night she had a dream, in this dream she spoke aloud a magic spell, which called strongly upon a star to come to earth, and a star came curving like a falling spark out of the sky and entered her sap. Presently, out through the bark of one of her branches the star broke, and folded in a bud; and the bud opened into an exquisite delicately tinted flower with tender petals. That flower was the most beautiful thing which had yet been born upon the earth. For all this happened long long ago, when the earth was still very young, and there had never yet been any flowers at all; so that the Fir tree ‘s dream was the first dream of the first flower.
The lily plant looked up in love and wonder at the fir tree and saw the wonderful pictures of the fir tree’s dream painted on the air around her. Now when the fir tree woke, she remembered her dream; and she remembered the magic spell she had spoken aloud in her dream. She said to herself: “Is this then the way to bring down a star to gladden the earth? Can I make my dream come true?” So now she spoke aloud again the magic spell of her dream, calling strongly upon a star to come to earth.
The lily plant looking up to her in love and wonder, heard her speak aloud the magic spell. Then, just as in her dream, a star came curving like a falling star out of the sky, and enter the fir tree’s sap. Presently, again as in her dream, out through the bark of one of her branches broke the star, and folded into a bud. But what happened next was different from the dream. For the strength and stiffness of the fir trees wood entered into the bud, so that this became woody too. It sat on her branch like a stone, the colour of a stone; and when it opened it had not the tender delicately tinted petals of the exquisite flower of her dream, but thick, hard scales. It was not a real flower; it was a fir cone. The fir tree cried in distress: “I can never make my beautiful dream come true! There is too much soil in my sap.”
She was so sorrowful at her failure that she began to weep. But through her weeping she heard a sweet voice, speaking words of comfort to her from below. When she looked down, she saw that it was a lily plant which grew in the mountain pool the rain has made between the rocks. The lily plant said: “Do not weep dear fir tree, for you have done a new and wonderful thing. You have taught the stars the way to become flowers; and with your leave I and other tender plants can still make your dream come true.” And the fruit tree dried her tears and answered: “With all my heart.”
So, the lily plant spoke aloud the magic spell which she had learned from the fir tree, calling strongly upon a star to come to earth. A star came curving like a falling spark out of the sky and entered the lily plants sap. Now there was no soil in the lily plants sap, for she lived with her feet in the water, and every part of her was soft and delicate and tender. So now a stem rose from between her leaves, lifting the star aloft, enfolding in a soft bud. The soft bud opened into a delicately tinted flower with tender petals, as beautiful as the flower in the fir trees dream. This was the first real flower; and the first real flower was a lily. Because the star which had entered the lily plants sap was a six pointed one, the lily had six petals.
Just as a lily plant, in love and wonder, had learned from the fir tree, so other tender plants learned from the lily plant how to call stars down from the sky and turn them into flowers. The fir tree rejoiced to see her dream come true, and the flower of the lily plant told her: “I heard a prophecy among the stars, dear fir tree, while I was still a star myself, before I came to earth. And this was it: because you were the first plant to long to bring a star to earth and give birth to a flower, and because you long to give this beautiful gift to the stones and the small creatures, the time will come when once every year you will be covered from tip to toe with stars and flowers and gifts. And just as the small mountain creatures love you now, so little children everywhere will love you. “
And that is how the archers arrow became the Christmas tree.
Tue-Homeschool
Advent Gift- Handmade pine cone ornament
Story- The Tree Who Dreamt a Flower, By Isabel Wyatt
Craft- Make pine cone ornaments or pine cone bird feeder.
Link to craft method here: https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/pine-cone-crafts-decor/
Wed-Homeschool
Advent Gift- Small wooden acorn pendant on a golden twine, displayed in a a giant nutshell.
Story- The Tree That Dreamt A Flower, Isabell Wyatt
Craft- Make felted acorns with real acorn cap. Link to method here: https://youtu.be/NvGGamOWtbc
Thur-
Advent Gift- Book, The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow
Bonus activity: Make an invitation to play with oranges placed in a bowl, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in little wooden bowls and a mortar and pestle for grinding. Kids could experiment with scents and create preserved oranges by sticking the cloves into the oranges.
Fri-
Advent Gift-Houseplant for child’s room
Sat-
Advent Gift- A variety of sprounting seeds such as Chickpea, Mung Bean, and Lentil to be grown into nutritious sprouts for eating through the winter. https://www.westcoastseeds.com
HeartSong 