Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Playtime deconstructed

So before our little Bean was born, I had read a lot about Waldorf and Montessori education. I found a lot of things that I really loved, especially the simplicity and importance of play in a child's early years and development.

There have been many reports on childhood development and sorting skills. With that, the lovely Wee Folk Art gave me an idea! I pulled out all the supplies for this project, having ordered acorns and bowls way before there were little ones to play with them from Casey's Wood Products



  • I got out the acorns, bowls, the paint, beeswax and olive oil and got started. (Be mindful, whatever the sorting toy you buy, that it is large enough not to create a choking hazard for your little one!)
  • I chose six colors, painted the bowls and acorns and let them dry.
  • While they dried, I used a cheese grater to get a hunk of beeswax to meltable size and used a double boiler technique for melting it down.
  • Then I added four parts olive oil (to one part beeswax) and added it to the hot wax. I put the polish in a container to cool down and it hardened up a bit to a coconut oil consistency which I could then rub over the paint to seal it.
  • I then buffed off the excess with a dishtowel.





After an hour of silently putting them in and taking them out of the bowls, I am really pleased with the homemade toy!

I think she likes it!!!