The last month of the year it is a time of reflection. This is Hawthorn Press’ 40th year and those 40 years have gone by quickly.
Continue reading Hawthorn Press is forty years youngHawthorn Press is forty years young
Tag: seasonal crafts
Lughnasa – Harvest Time
Early August sees the start of Lughnasa, the late summer festival celebrating the ripening of berries and nuts in the forest and the first harvest in the fields.
Continue reading Lughnasa – Harvest TimeBeltane Celebrations
Beltane takes place on 1st May, exactly half way between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The word comes from the Old Irish, meaning ‘bright fire’, and the day is now often known as May Day.
Continue reading Beltane CelebrationsEaster Activity from The Children’s Forest – natural egg dyeing
The egg, so fragile and yet so strong, with its promise of new life, has always been a potent symbol and a part of Easter celebrations. In this extract from The Children’s Forest we show you how to paint eggs using natural dye, leaves and flowers.
Continue reading Easter Activity from The Children’s Forest – natural egg dyeingPresent and Activity Ideas for a Quiet Christmas
For many of us, Christmas will be quieter than usual this year, with fewer friends and family members around us. But there is still plenty we can do to embrace this atmospheric time of year and plenty of fun to be had.
Storytelling
Short days bring cosy nights, which are perfect for storytelling. For seasonal stories, Advent and Christmas Stories includes a treasury of verses, stories and songs.
Interested in telling nature stories? Then The Natural Storyteller has stories for telling orally. Using the story maps, you can easily tell the stories without reading and become a family storyteller.
You can find world stories in 147 Traditional Stories, for children aged 7-12 to retell, and storytelling tips. And it wouldn’t be Christmas without Findus and Pettson and their seasonal fun in Findus at Christmas and Findus and the Christmas Tomte.
Seasonal Nature and Craft
Books such as The Children’s Forest offer stories and songs, wild food, recipes, crafts and celebrations for all the year round. Families can enjoy these, with seasonal things to look out for while out walking.
If you have ever wanted to try a new craft but never seem to find the time, now is your moment. Crafting is a great way to either spend time with family or to lose yourself in to counter feelings of anxiety or loneliness.
Making with your hands is a great way of giving children the creative life skills for navigating this age of disruption. We have a wide range of craft books, including Making the Children’s Year, Making Simple Needle Felts, Making Soft Dolls and Making Peg Dolls. Materials supply shop, The Makerss, have hosted many online tutorials this year, that can help you get started and are still available to watch on YouTube.
Lastly, we recently came across the wonderful work of Star in the Apple Stories and their beautiful, seasonal musical storytime, now available to watch online.
For more ideas, visit the storytelling and craft pages at hawthornpress.com
