Waldorf in the Home

[Suzanne Down, Waldorf early childhood educator, master puppeteer and director of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts shares the following information in her spring/summer newsletter. You can contact Suzanne at PO Box 1688 Port Angeles WA 98362 ; 888-688-7333 (toll free) or suzanne@junipertreepuppetscom or www.junipertreepuppets.com]

May has arrived on Vancouver Island, bursting with rhododendron blossoms! Flowers last forever here because it doesn't get too hot. It is a beautiful spring location. Since the last newsletter I have journeyed with puppetry to many places. What speaks to me the loudest is the puppet fun each region brings out: Arizona story and puppet creation brought out coyote, fox, and cactus filled desert stories. Florida inspired dolphins leaping over clear blue waves. California had daff-o-down dilly coming to town!

The LifeWays training in Wisconsin is offering an "open-to-the-public" workshop on puppetry and speech development with Master Puppeteer Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree Puppets September 23-25, 2005 in East Troy, Wisconsin. Come join the training students for this inspiring weekend of creativity and fun. To receive a registration form, contact Mary Schunemann at mary@naturallyyoucansing.org or Cynthia Aldinger at ck.aldinger@sbcglobal.net.

Suzanne, who offers trainings and workshops around the world, is highly respected in her field and brings a delightful element of whimsy and joy into the puppetry work for young children. Her workshops fill up quickly, and a limited number of spaces are available. Registration deadline is September 10th.

What a pleasure to make felted wool puppets to illustrate an autumn story for your child! Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts makes it easy with her wonderful new "Feltng Needle Magic" Story Kit. Suzanne writes:

The Bunny and the Snowman
by Suzanne Down

The following craft project, poem, staging information, and puppet making kit are all available from master puppeteer Suzanne Down at www.junipertreepuppets.com.

Caterpillars and Butterflies!!!
from Suzanne Down

Suzanne has sent out directions for a simple spring craft project and mini puppet play with your children. Information on some of her wonderful kits follow, and you can subscribe to her newsletter at www.junipertreepuppets.com. --Rahima

Selecting Stories from Grimm’s Fairy Tales
By David Darcy

[David Darcy is a keynote speaker at the Waldorf in the Home Conference in Fair Oaks in September, 2006 (Click on "Learn More" on the right). He has been a Waldorf class teacher, admissions director, high school teacher and sconsultant to home schoolers. He andh is family live in Austin, Texas.]

During the summer before I taught first grade at Austin Waldorf School, I read each of the stories in the Pantheon edition of The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I kept track of which I liked and which I disliked, and took notes on the plots since some of the stories are very similar to others. The simpler stories I used early in the year, saving more complex stories until the end of first grade.

"The Greening of Story"
Keynote address with 2 puppet shows by Suzanne Down

When we trust the depths of goodness living in nature's stories and share them with our children when they are young, we build skills and understanding for them to want to become the future earth healers in a challenging world. Suzanne shares practical suggestions and some of her puppetry.

A marionette making retreat will be offered in Ashland, Oregon from August 4-8, 2008 with Analuisa Witt, a Waldorf kindergarten teacher who trained with Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree Puppets.
The retreat includes an early morig nature walk, euryhtmy, the theory of "Philosphy of the Gesture," marioneete making with seil and needle felting sulptin, and practice with the marionettes. For more information contact Analuisa at auroraskinder@hotmail.com or call 541-552-0231.

Storytelling from the Heart
By Cynthia Wand

I believe that one of the greatest contributors to dis-connection from our children today is technology. I feel it is has somewhat replaced one of our most cherished threads of bonding in families, the art of storytelling.

A St. Nicholas Story
The Fiercest Little Animal In The Forest
Book by Terri Reinhart; illustrated by Patrick Reinhart

Terri Reinhart spent 18 years teaching kindergarten at the Denver Waldorf School. One of her favorite duties as a teacher was telling stories. She relates:
"The image of this pine marten came to me one morning after I had been struggling to find just the right St. Nicholas story to tell to my kindergarten children. I could almost see this little creature in my imagination carrying the gold coins in his teeth and dropping them into the stockings. When story time came, I just started speaking the story and I allowed the pine marten to lead me. The story in this book is what resulted. This is the first time it has been published in book form."

I've written a long segment in First Teacher on how to select stories to tell with younger children--they especially like simple stories with repetition, like "The Gingerbread Boy" or "The Three Little Pigs." But what about sharing longer stories, especially if you have a mixed-age group?
Our group of 1- to 5-year-olds is a younger mix this year, so when I first told "The Snow Maiden" after Christmas break, I was losing them. Even using the adaptation by Bronja Zahligen in the WECAN book Plays for Puppets, this is still a fairly complex Russian tale.