Summer Solstice Last Year
Last year we really enjoyed making decorations for our home in readiness for Summer Solstice. We found some lovely ideas on Pinterest that we tried out – here’s a link to my June Play Ideas – Summer Solstice board if you’re looking for ideas and here’s the blog post from last year with our threading sun decoration and sun catcher.
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I love seasonal celebrations. They’re a great opportunity to gather together as a family and make memories. Floss (our daughter) loves candles. This love comes from the snack time candle lighting at our wonderful Waldorf parent and child group that we go to each week. So, I was looking for candle related crafts.
Beeswax Candles
First up was beeswax candle rolling. This was such a beautiful, calm activity and Floss (Currently 2.5) was totally absorbed in what she was doing. The feel of the wax and the smell made it a real sensory experience. I wasn’t sure if the wax would just break, but at a nice room temperature it was very forgiving! The little kit we got was a starter pack – link here and you can make a good few candles from the pack. Once you’ve got the basic idea there are instructions to make some more elaborate designs too.
It’s wonderful how children get so much from doing practical activities like this. During our creating session Floss was using lots of mathematical language related to size – big/ small, tall/ short, thin/ thick. Once we’d rolled the candles we decorated some old jam jars to use as candle holders.
Pastel Candle Decorating
Later this week Floss will decorate candles. It was an idea I had that I wanted to try out first as I wasn’t sure how it would work out! Using plain pillar candles – link here and chalky pastels from Nexus I drew suns onto the candles. I love the subtle pastel colours and they went on really easily onto the candle.
Here’s a link to a post with more ideas for using pastels with toddlers and children. Playing music alongside crafting is one of our favourite things. We’ve been having a ‘sun’ themed playlist on over the weekend that will continue this week. It’s still been a little rainy here in the UK, so I’m hoping our efforts will encourage the sunshine.
We’ll read the book Summer by Gerda Muller – her books are so beautifully illustrated – and see what inspiration we can find for designs before we start to create. What designs would you do? I’m sure Floss will want to do a bee as she’s bee obsessed right now. We’ve had a little bee theme going on to follow her interest recently too.
Beeswax Modelling
One item we haven’t used yet, but will be making decorations with for Summer Solstice is the beeswax modelling sheets – link here. They look and smell lovely and it would be good to try out a new type of modelling medium. Have you used beeswax sheets before?
What crafts do you do in Summer time? Do you have specific things you do for Summer Solstice? I’m on the look out for ideas to try ready for next year.
Disclaimer
I would recommend adult supervision with activities and take care to ensure the items you are using are suitable for your child in both age and development. I would also discuss candle safety with little ones and keeping candles out of reach when lit or still warm.