Two Playscapes, Limitless Play

Sunshine has finally come briefly came to Seattle! I'm celebrating with two colorful playscapes:




Strawberry Hill Playscape by Alkelda with flowering shrubs by The Enchanted Cupboard



Picnic Playscape by Alkelda with trees and flowering shrubs by The Enchanted Cupboard

KidLitCon 5: this time in Seattle, WA

This year's gathering of children's and young adult/teen literature bloggers will be in Seattle, Washington. It's called KidLitCon, and it'll be held September 16-17, 2011, at the Monaco Hotel in Downtown Seattle. Information and registration is here.

Avid book blogger Jen Robinson, who has been to all of the KidLitCons (even when she had a 6 month old baby bookworm), writes about why going to KidLitCon is a good idea.

It's easy for me to say "Please come," because I live here. I'd like to see you, though, and show you my new octopus tee-shirt.

Crafty Thursday: The Jewel Tones Doll Series

A friend of mine grew up with three other friends who called themselves "The Gemstones" and took on different monikers based upon various precious and semi-precious stones. These friends have stayed in touch and periodically have reunions. They inspired me to create this doll series called the Jewel Tones (not to be confused with the Bay Area or St. Louis performance groups):


The Jewel Tones: Garnet, Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, Peridot, Amethyst

In other crafty news, I'm doing a link trade with fellow NaturalKids Team member Germandolls, which is why there's a photo of her dolls in my sidebar with a link to the shop. Germandolls blogs here, where she writes about her Waldorf-inspired dolls, shares recipes, and reflects upon life experiences.

Last, I made my best treasury yet: Gnomes vs. Aliens, inspired by Zombies vs. Unicorns (which I have not yet read).

Pippi Longstocking Fans

Over the past couple of weeks, I've read aloud Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking books to Lucia. We'd finished Ronia, the Robber's Daughter previously, and Lucia really enjoyed that book, so I brought out Pippi to see how the humor would work with her. (Lucia herself is reading beginning readers series.) Often, things that are funny have to be explained to her why they are funny, but Lucia has been laughing outright over Pippi's utterances and actions.

I realized recently that Pippi is a child's superhero. She has amazing strength, and she uses it for good to defy those who would squelch children, i.e. bullies, robbers, domineering grownups. Her table manners are deplorable, but she is generous and sensitive to those in need. She is "rich as a troll" with her suitcase of gold coins, but she herself wears rags and lives in a ramshackle house called Villa Villekulla, and uses her wealth to buy presents for others.

Lucia admires Pippi greatly, and wants to be like her. We've had to talk about some caveats besides the obvious (don't eat mushrooms in the forest, drink coffee before you've stopped growing, or tell tall tales about how people live in other countries). We've also had age-appropriate talks about post-colonialism and perceptions of people outside one's own culture as "other."

In the meantime, Lucia has made paper dolls and dioramas inspired by the Pippi books. Here are her latest creations:


Villa Villekulla with Pippi (Mr. Nilsson the monkey is on her shoulder), Tommy, Annika, and the horse


Tommy, Annika, Pippi

Last night, we learned of the the existence of Astrid Lindgren's World. Who's up for a trip to Vimmerby, Sweden?