Wintry Dreamtime

1/15/2026

"In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold." ~Ben Aaronovitch

Mad About Puppets

As we slow down and turn inward, storytelling and dreams emerge! From co-creating a story all together around the table as we play 'pass the story' game to improvising new characters and tales, we've had a lot of fun embodying the creation of story.

We loved making puppets! First we began with watercoloring our wooden shapes.

Then we made them come more alive by adding eyes, mouths, and magic sparkles!

Finally, we got to perform and play with them!

We took turns coming up with where to create a stage and let the characters take us into a magical world!

Our unicorns, elephants, butterflies, dinosaurs, and kitty cats went on all kinds of adventures.

Puppet shows began to spring up in all kinds of places!

Even the youngest in our tribe sailed off into deep imagination with these little pirates and their boat.

Dreaming in the Cave

It's not just us feeling dreamier in the wintertime, much around us is resting! Many plants and trees have gone dormant, and there are even less animals active in the cold. We've been talking about how creatures such as bears hibernate, and what kinds of homes or habitats they live in. We got hands-on in creating cozy little caves for our bear-friends to rest in. Stories and play naturally began to unfold with a bear family all cozy and snug in their cave.

These three bears continued their story into the teepee cave.

Dream Pillows

Our Herbal Ally this month is Lavender! Bridging the dreaming and waking worlds, lavender is great aromatherapy for relaxation and sleep. We created these Dream Pillows from burlap, Lavender grown in our own Herb Garden, stuffing, and a few stitches!

As we crafted our dream pillows we listened to winter dreamtime stories inspired by master storyteller Danny English! Highly recommend his website for a lovely collection of nature stories, We Be Kids: www.webekids.net/community/storytelling

Apple Lavender Muffins

2 1/2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup coconut milk (or almond milk)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons dried lavender, muddled or finely chopped
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cup diced green apples

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk the almond flour, coconut flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon until combined.
Then, using a wooden spoon, mix in the vanilla, coconut oil, coconut milk and eggs until well combined. Then, stir in the dried lavender, lemon juice and zest and combine well. You can add more almond flour if the batter seems too thin, but it should be moist!
Add in the diced apples and mix until incorporated throughout the batter.
Scoop the batter into the a buttered muffin pan. You can also use muffin liners. Top each muffin with a few extra blueberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon,
Bake at a 350 degree oven for about 22-25 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking and checking on the muffins around 20 minutes. Take out when the tops are golden.
Let cool for a few minutes. Run your knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen them from the pan before taking them out. Take out and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve with Lavender Chamomile Tea, delicious for dunking!

Sewing Cranberries

So fun to help our bird friends with sewing a string of cranberries for a bright wintertime snack.

Snowflakes and Symmetry

These snowflakes provide a great hands-on way to work with fractions, shapes, and symmetry!

We fold our coffee filters in 1/2 then in 1/4 then in 1/8.

So fun to watch the paint travel up the paper!

Slumberkin of the month - Dragon

We loved practicing Dragon's affirmation and reading her story. Check out the link below for more resources of working with Dragon at home:

cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1058/8734/files/2024_Dragon_Activities.pdf?v=1708535238

Fun With Rhythm

We love playing with the tambourines!
We get to experience the making of music and sound firsthand. Great for developing brains, musical instruments strengthen hand-eye coordination and the understanding of cause-and-effect. Taking turns copying rhythms and counting beats, we love to make music together.