Washable Watercolours

We adore playing and puddling with watercolours of any sort. Some we take travelling, or pull out when we're working on something detailed. Sometimes we like to do some wet-on-wet painting, as our eldest daughter practiced at her Steiner kindergarten. Sometimes we like to just play with colour and water and see where the medium takes us.

We were thrilled to get our hands on some Washable Watercolours this week. Made in Australia, these paints promised to be vivid and easy to use, and they didn't disappoint. With a three-year-old artist in our home, art can sometimes get messy. Especially when attentions are divided among children of varying ages. She wants to work with the same freedom her elder siblings have. While we attempt to model appropriate use of the materials, we also don't want to hinder creative expression or experimentation, so we let them all go for it.

Sometimes MESSY is an understatement.

SO we were THRILLED to hear about these new washable paints. Very quick to set up, with no mixing required, they are ready to go when placed in small jars, ice-cube trays or the like. Easy to remove from clothing, hands and most surfaces means easy clean-ups for me and more creative freedom for them.

We were also thrilled at their affordable price. No more cringing at mixed colour jars or mysterious paint-coloured finger prints around the house… And despite all their playing and puddling, very little paint was actually used.




Not to mention the beautiful colours and the way they blended. Even just three simple primary colours yielded a whole, beautiful rainbow, with ease.




Best of all, they work well for all ages. The fact that they are made in Australia is an added bonus for us, keeping the product's environmental and ethical footprint to a minimum. We started with just three colours, Red, Blue and Yellow, but a whole spectrum is available should you desire more. Right now Spiral Garden stocks Orange, Green and Purple, but more are available on request.

We're wondering what to do next with our washable watercolours. Apparently they are fantastic for colouring wood, rainbow rice and other sensory play materials and anywhere you might use large quantities of food dye. Have a look at this blog post for some more ideas.  And this one too!

You can find our Washable Watercolours here. 

chalk

 

We've been working hard on our range of art supplies. Our aim is to bring our customers the same fantastic quality products they expect from us, but at more affordable prices. Many of our customers home educate, or have children attending independent schools and neither option is cheap - we know! So we want to pass on the savings to our customers, if we can... So little changes have started filtering in, beginning with our beautiful blackboard chalk. 

Traditionally, we've bought and sold this chalk under the Lyra label, but we've managed to track down the manufacturer in Germany to bring it here directly, under another label. For us, this means fewer hands transporting our product, which is great for our Global Footprint. For you, it means big savings. Still the same high-quality product, in the same colours and packaging we're used to, but at a fraction of the price. Great news all round!

Here's some inspiration for using our blackboard chalk:
The Parenting Passageway
Waldorf Chalk Speed Draw
Pinterest

Steiner Education Options

Steiner or Waldorf Education:

* Is based on a profound understanding of human development
* Provides a detailed, richly artistic curriculum that responds to and enhances the child's developmental phases, from early childhood through high school
* Cultivates social and emotional intelligence
* Connects children to nature
* Ignites passion for lifelong learning
* Is the fastest growing educational movement in the world

from Why Waldorf Works

I get a lot of emails from parents around Australia who would love to send their children to a Steiner school, but find that they are too expensive, too far away, the local one doesn't suit their needs or there is some other hurdle. There is a list of Steiner Schools in Australia here.

I have posted before about Steiner Homeschooling.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if more Australian public (state) schools had options like this one (go to Steiner Education under 'About')?

I received a call last week from a local Steiner school looking to expand into high school and boarding school in the near future.

All the possibilities...

Steiner Homeschooling

We recommend the quality Australian books from the Golden Beetle Books Spiritual Syllabus series sold through Spiral Garden. To get started there is the comprehensive title A Steiner Homeschool by Alan Whitehead. Alan has decades of experience in Steiner education.


Some more useful contacts for Steiner homeschooling curriculums include:

Oak Meadow

Christopherus Homeschool

For the correspondence course run through Candlenut Steiner School near Cairns in Far North Queensland, email Nila Chambers or email the school.

An Australian email support group for Waldorf (Steiner) homeschoolers can be found here.

Steiner Schools in Australia site - lots of useful contacts and resources.

Waldorf Homeschoolers - information, advice, resources.

Waldorf Without Walls - curriculum, support, advice, resources.

Golden Beetle Books

Thought about buying one of the Golden Beetle Books titles we stock? Choose from 33 Sun Songs, A Steiner Homeschool, Choir of Colours, The Golden Path, A Children's Anthologia, Susan Whitehead's little Seasonal books and more...

Now's the time to grab your copies because in 2010 the RRP has risen, and so our prices will rise to $16 each on February 1st. Last days...

Geometrical Drawings

This is a kaleidoscopic presentation of geometrical drawings by Waldorf school sixth graders. Eugene Schwartz provides commentary on a vast array of student work. Its beauty and mathematical precision testify to the rigorous curriculum of the Waldorf middle school experience.

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