Feeling Festive?

Let's face it, most of us grown ups aren't feeling terribly festive at the moment, with good reason. Luckily the children around us are able to keep our spirits up with the help of their vivid imaginations, boundless energy, and willingness to engage in any excuse for a party!

From a nature point of view, it's no surprise that many Northern Hemisphere cultures hold celebrations at this time of year, with the promise of spring so tantalisingly close. This year learning about these festivities is helping to bring colour, light and excitement into an otherwise dark time.

Tree by Britta Teckentrup is a beautifully illustrated comforting story about the cycle of the seasons.

Groundhog Day

The tradition of using a mammal to predict the start of spring was brought to America by European settlers, who unable to find their usual badger, chose a groundhog to stand in. Every year on 2nd February the Groundhog comes out of his burrow, and if he sees a shadow this indicates that there will be six more weeks of winter. Apparently the predictions have only ever been accurate 37% of the time, but it makes for a good story!

It's also a fun opportunity to explore light and shadow with your child. Use a lamp or torch to make objects appear bigger or distorted, or learn how to make some simple hand shadow puppets. My daughter got really excited about doing this, which reminded me that sometimes the simple, old fashioned games can be the ones that capture their imaginations.

Year of the Ox

There are lots of traditions and customs associated with the Lunar New Year, which in China is also known as chunjie, or spring festival. The festivities last over two weeks, and culminate in a lantern festival and dragon parade. We made our own parade dragons with a simple egg box.

Well done Blake and Iona for these fabulous creations!

We love all the animals in the Chinese zodiac story, but perhaps the most exciting is the TIGER! There's a Tiger in the Garden by Lizzy Stewart is a great story about a little girl using her imagination to stave off boredom.

Carnival Time!

Here in the UK we celebrate the start of Lent with Pancake Day. Mr Wolf's Pancakes by Jan Fearnley is a cautionary tale about the importance of being helpful!

Elsewhere in the world Shrove Tuesday is marked by a full on party. Venice Carnival, New Orleans Mardi Gras, and the Rio Carnival are some famous examples. We decided to head to Brazil for some samba in the sunshine.

Make this really simple shaker that fits perfectly in your little one's hand (and makes a nice sound without being too noisy!)

Take your loo roll tube and pinch it shut at one end, sealing with some tape. Then add a small handful of rice, lentils or similar, and seal the other end at a ninety degree angle to the orginal seal, so that you create a space inside, rather than squashing it flat. Decorate your shaker however you want!

Now that you've got your instrument, how about learning some really simple samba moves from this short video.

Once you've got your groove on, try out your moves and your instruments with some famous samba pop songs by Gloria Estefan and Bellini. You'll need a sit down afterwards, but I bet you'll feel energised!

For more ideas of how to use up old egg boxes and loo rolls, check out these blogposts from last spring.

Roll on spring, we're nearly there!