Poetry Tea Time
I’ve had a little break from the blog over the last few weeks. It wasn’t a planned break, more like one of those ones your body enforces on you! First the whole house had a sickness bug and then my asthma and an infection had me in bed for a week, then hospital. It’s lovely to be feeling a bit better. When we’re ill the normal rhythm of our house changes and things that we always do just don’t happen. One thing I hadn’t realised how much we all missed was Poetry Tea Time. The return of this time together has been total bliss.
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What Is Poetry Tea Time?
So, what is Poetry Tea Time for us? Well for us it draws on a mixture of Waldorf and Charlotte Mason inspired ideas and definitely follows a micro rhythm of its own. First and very importantly, you need to choose the tea! Floss, our daughter, loves herbal teas and really enjoys choosing a tea for us to share, but you and your little ones could have any drink you choose. We then boil the kettle and fill up the pot.
If it’s just the two of us then we share a little one pot, we love having guests and getting the big tea pots out though too. Then we set the table with our cups and saucers, plates specially for tea time and a tasty treat. Next it’s time to gather up books. We then sit and enjoy our tea and treat while sharing poetry and any other books we’d like (fiction or non-fiction). Often the books and poetry have a nature inspired theme.
Why Have Poetry Tea Time?
In Waldorf philosophy you would describe this time as breathing in, coming together and sharing time and space. We don’t have a set time, but it’s usually between 3 and 3.30pm when we’ve reached that afternoon slump. It’s a time together that really saves our afternoons from spiralling into overtired chaos.
We chat about the day so far and what we are doing the next day. Nearly always read a poem from the poetry anthology collection below – I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree, it’s one of our favourite books. We often share stories or topical texts too. It’s also a great time to get a little snack in and re-hydrate. It used to last around 10 mins, but often now it’s 30-40 minutes as books, poems and nattering goes on!
We’ve also started to include a little bit of phonics in our poetry time. The main time we do our phonics learning is in the morning, but Floss has been requesting more during our poetry tea time. Here’s some of the activities we’ve been doing.