Marionette

I have been wanting to create a marionette for some time now....but I had not the tools or knowledge.
I looked for a tutorial or book to no avail.
Finally, this past weekend, I decided to just give it a go and rely on nothing but my own eye to guide me through impressions of marionettes I have seen, experienced, etc.
This morning, I completed "Urashima" (named for our story this month). I am sure that I made many technical mistakes (I'm a novice sewer), but I am very happy with the outcome...
And so is W, which is what matters most to me.
I believe that Urashima will be much loved by the playgarden children as he tells his tale of the deep magical ocean:)

 

W is starting to really "connect" with his dolls. After he awakens from bed and naptime, I tuck his "babies" back into bed. he's been watching me do this for months now, and he is starting to imitate this in his own way. This is a great life lesson for him, I believe, as he watches me handle a loved object with care, quiet, and reverence. He still throws them on the floor (for my reaction of picking them up and starting over, I think), but he's learning in his way.

 

We had our first week together again at Playgarden since my school trip, and it's fantastic to be back in so many ways. I am already looking ahead to the Fall and all of the changes it will bring to our program with great anticipation. I'll also be "receiving" my mentor teacher from school; an experienced Waldorf teacher who will observe and support me throughout this journey.

 

My main goal for playgarden this season and beyond is to slow down in every way...

I've been feeling more "slow paced" throughout the day since returning from school and I can see a marked difference in the play of the children. Dishes might be piling up until after lunchtime, but if I am forgoing "cleaning as I go" for quietly and slowly folding dishtowels in the presence of the children, then that is something very valuable and telling. If I am not burdened by the nagging goal of being outside by 10:15 and instead arriving there very soon after when we are all truly ready and not rushed...

 

Although it is highly necessary that each person should be fully awake in later life, the child must be allowed to remain as long as possible in the peaceful, dreamlike condition of pictorial imagination in which his early years of life are passed.  For if we allow his organism to grow strong in this nonintellectual way, he will rightly develop in later life the intellectuality needed in the world today.
        —Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education