There have been a lot of big changes in my world lately - perhaps that is why I have been so drawn to this craft that is all about change. I have been not-so-quietly obsessing over dyeing (the good kind, not dying!) for some time. Those of you who follow my Facebook or Instagram will know that I spent a wonderful weekend facilitating a Dyeing and Weaving Workshop for with some incredibly passionate Montessorians a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to have The Story Of Dyeing ready to share with them, but didn't quite make it so here it is for all of you to share and enjoy. Of course there is a ..read more

People often ask me how I manage the amount of time children spend doing handwork in my classroom. They worry that if they make all these beautiful materials and activities available all the time, the children will do nothing else. I can honestly say, this is not an issue in my classroom. That is not to say that I don’t have the occasional child who needs coaching on balancing their time, but generally the handwork shelf receives just as much attention as the geometry shelf. If too much time spent on handwork is a concern, I think we need to ask ourselves some questions before we introduce me ..read more

With so many of us back in school but still living with uncertainty and higher stress levels, we need to take every opportunity to reduce anxiety and bring light. This simple handwork activity does both of these things and ties beautifully with several areas of the cosmic curriculum. We made beeswax candles on our Fundamental Human Needs Camp earlier this year and it was a huge hit. As we try to obtain all of our materials for camp from as close to the original source as possible, our first step was visiting a beehive and learning about how the wax is made. The keepers of these hives don’t tu ..read more

If you haven't already heard all the chatter on social media about the huge online event planned in celebration of Dr. Montessori's 150th Birthday, head over to the event website at Montessori Everywhere to see what all the excitement is about. It's a free, day long event where Montessorians from all over the world will gather, chat, discuss, share and generally celebrate all things Montessori. I will be demonstrating how to make Guatemalan Worry Dolls (don't worry the video will be available afterwards if you can't make it live) to give you something fun to do with your hands whilst you enjo ..read more

Since posting my lesson on Making and Using a Cardboard Loom I have had several requests for the next stage: removing weaving from the loom and finishing it off. Your wish is my command! This lesson is straight from my book The Work of Wool - A Montessori Handwork Album. As always: Regular text = what I do Italic text = what I say Removing Weaving from the Loom Step 1. Gather children who have woven up to the top of their cardboard loom (or as far as they want to go.) I can see you have been working hard on your weaving and have produced some beautiful work. Now it is time to take your work o ..read more

I have to begin with a huge THANK YOU! This webinar raised $162USD for Educateurs San Frontieres. To explain: the Zoom webinar platform costs me $155 per month - which is effectively $155 per webinar. Whilst I really wanted the webinar to be free, I did invite donations from those who were able to help cover the cost and promised to give any extra money to Educateurs Sans Frontieres. You guys were incredibly generous with your contributions - so much so that I have been able to pass on $162. It makes me so happy to think that not only are we all going to be doing more handwork with our student ..read more

With the wealth of information and ideas to keep us busy floating around the internet at the moment, I have felt like there has been no need for me to add to what could easily be an overwhelming abundance. But then I noticed that despite so many of us knowing how important immersion in the arts is at this time - there really don't seem to be that many resources for practical activities available. But we must still find ways to help our children engage in handwork. WE MUST. It is as simple as that. As teachers and parents, we are responsible for our children's wellbeing all of the time, and now ..read more

Last week we took our three 9-12 classes on our annual Fundamental Human Needs Camp and it was EPIC! As our school year begins at the end of January, we spend the best part of the previous year preparing for camp, so it is a huge deal when it finally comes around. You can read about how we do camp here and here, but the basic concept is that we try to meet all of our Fundamental Human Needs for ourselves. This includes building shelters to sleep in, making food from as close to the original source as possible (catching fish, grinding wheat, collecting honey from hives etc.), making our own tra ..read more

As we slide into the New Year and start to look at fresh ideas and new things, I’d like to tell you about a way my students have rekindled their love of the old. Following Greta Thunberg's example last year, many of my students became concerned about climate change and began looking for ways they could help prevent this. Being second plane children, they are also very concerned with social justice and are quite indignant about the morals of ‘modern slavery’ in the fast fashion industry. We have had many conversations about these issues, and what we can do to make a difference, and we came up ..read more

Spring has most definitely sprung down here in the Southern Hemisphere and all our attention has turned to the garden. We use the produce from our garden for two significant parts of our community life – the first being our weekly community lunch, which the children take turns to cook for the whole class, and the second being our annual camp, where we try to meet as many of our own fundamental human needs as possible. Growing our own fruit, vegetables and herbs are a big part of this and the children know that they need to get everything planted in time to harvest and preserve it so we have pl ..read more