Alithia Nature Art Workshop

Alithia's October Play Day included a beautiful workshop run by Anais, who studied Fine Art in her home town in the Netherlands. The children (and their family) were introduced to the idea of patterns and symmetry in the form of mandalas, both as a collaborative project and as individual works to take home. Each parent would help the younger ones understand symmetry by mirroring the object that they were placing on one side of the circle.

The children enjoyed time collecting treasures to use in their mandalas... and painting with brushes they found in nature. A favourite "paint brush" was the tip of the bud from a Bird of Paradise. Different textures worked with the paint in interesting ways and created an array of patterns.

We encouraged families to also bring along treasures that they found during the week to include in the art works (feathers, flowers, leaves, shells etc). Our VP brought along some ochre rock to paint with, turning our bodies in to the canvas.

Thank you to Christina for bringing along the ducklings... we are very excited for November Play Day at the Farm to see how Luna and Sunny have grown and changed!

Our colourful mandala attracted many friendly wild birds to interact with. It is so wonderful to see a supportive community coming together and to watch how the children work things out.

At our closing gathering we were delighted that one of the 9 years olds suggested that children run an activity at each Play Day and volunteered for next month (perhaps sharing her bamboo weaving skills!)