A Picture is worth 1,000 words
We are so pleased and delighted to be doing this work, and so grateful to our participants for joining us, and for sharing photos of some...
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Waldorf Handwork Educators Blog
Shellie Smith
3 min read
Our Oceans, Our Air, Our Clothes
We have all heard about the problem of microplastics in our oceans. Tragic images of whales caught in plastic fishing nets or turtles...
220 views1 comment
elizabeth
5 min read
Mending - why bother?
We hear a lot about mending these days, it seems to be a moral imperative – “Mend that hole, save the world!” But how many of us really...
270 views1 comment
elizabeth
5 min read
WHERE CAN I GET A WALDORF KIT? Not Here! The Curriculum? Maybe
Waldorf education is not something you can buy, plug in, or put on a table with a lovely plant-dyed silk. It’s a daily practice, and an...
409 views0 comments
elizabeth
2 min read
SOMETIMES, it’s nice to be getting older.
I can look back on the seeds I have sown by teaching basic handwork skills to children, teachers, and parents, I can see how they have...
189 views0 comments
Shellie Smith
3 min read
Developing a Child’s Sense of Touch - the Value of Natural Materials
Our sense of touch connects our bodies to the outside world. Humans use this sense to gather information about our surroundings and as a...
450 views0 comments
elizabeth
1 min read
CRAFTIVISM AND CROSS STITCH
Textiles convey meaning in a strong and enduring way that can impact us in a silent, subtle way. So much in our work as handwork teachers...
573 views3 comments
elizabeth
3 min read
Stories, Handwork, and More Neuroscience
Listening to stories together can synchronize heart rhythms in the listeners; this is more effective when the listeners are able to...
434 views0 comments
Michael Howard
1 min read
WHY DO WE DO WHAT WE DO? What does this have to do with wooden spoons?
Michael Howard was a guest teacher at our Summer Handwork Teacher Conference, July 2021, and has written up and expanded his presentation...
868 views0 comments
Shellie Smith
14 min read
Craft, Flow, and Cognitive Styles
Originally a talk to the Waldorf Handwork Educators Teacher Conference on the 15th of July, 2021. Watch a video here. Hopefully this is...
291 views1 comment
elizabeth
3 min read
Questions, questions
Have you ever had a day when nothing seems to go right, when nothing seems interesting or engaging? I had one of those days recently. My...
174 views0 comments
elizabeth
2 min read
Exciting review for our 1st grade handwork curriculum for homeschoolers and new teachers
We were so thrilled to read this reflection on our first grade handwork curriculum, we could not wait to share it with you! We were so...
257 views0 comments
elizabeth
2 min read
Knitting Grannies
Preparing for our next conference, I’ve been thinking a lot about clothing, about how first impressions are made by clothing, how there...
146 views0 comments
Elizabeth
5 min read
Handwork Teacher Workload & Recommended Best Practices
Waldorf Handwork Educators has been working with the Fiber Craft Studio in New York to establish a Handwork Teachers’ Association to...
525 views3 comments
Shellie Smith
2 min read
Who WHE Are - Waldorf Handwork Educators
The Wonder and Wisdom of Handwork was founded in 2013 for anyone who self-identifies as a teacher of handwork in a Waldorf setting. We...
293 views0 comments
Shellie Smith
3 min read
Distance Learning Gifts & Challenges
“Where is the book in which the teacher can read about what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to...
142 views0 comments
Elizabeth
2 min read
Color and DEI in the Handwork Classroom
How do we welcome and affirm children of different cultural, social, racial, or ethnic backgrounds into our handwork classrooms? This...
230 views0 comments
Shellie Smith
1 min read
Prepping Handwork Kits for Sashiko Flute Cases!
Prep, prep, prep those kits! I’m preparing to send home a simple sashiko flute case project for my Second graders. As we have been online...
407 views1 comment
elizabeth
2 min read
Cell biology, human development, organizational theory, love, - and HANDWORK?
Yes. I want to share one of my favorite thoughts with you, as we handwork teachers enter new and un-chosen territory: teaching online as...
195 views0 comments
elizabeth
1 min read
Can Knitting Cure Covid?
NO. Can it help? Yes. Knitting, or most any other handwork activity which requires rhythmical repetitive movements will promote the...
106 views0 comments
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