Beginning our journey

by Nova
(New Zealand)

We've only just stumbled upon the natural toys/waldorf style a couple of months ago when my partner did an essay on waldorf education for his teaching degree, I looked into it further and it immediately resonated with me, it seemed to me to be exactly how childhood should be - creative, simple & beautiful!

We share our bedroom with our two youngest, so we've turned our dining area into a play space for the three kids. The pavilion, a present from granddad, has become a cozy & comfy place for storytime. The tiered baskets on the far left hold dress-ups, including our *one* playsilk (they are hard to find & very expensive here in new zealand!), dolls & their clothes, and instruments, the dolls house is home to little animals, knitted finger puppets, and tiny mostly homemade wooden furniture, next to that is our hug-a-planet, and the little basket holds toys for our 3 month old - wooden rattles, felt balls & a tag blanket. On the other side of the pavilion is a wooden dolls crib, and two boxes holding wooden blocks, roads & train tracks. We hang the kids recent artwork on the wall above the dolls house, and the window overlooks our sandpit & veggie garden (it's a very wintery day here today!).

Our favourite things are the dolls house, the crib, and a little wooden armchair, all of which were made by my parents when I was a baby, that we have tidied up for our children! Hopefully to carry on that trend, I have just started learning to knit and needle felt so that I can make nice toys for our kids too. I can't wait for christmas when i can give them some more playsilks, and our first waldorf doll for my little girl!

It's quite a small and basic space, but it seems to keep our 5 & 2.5 year old happy, and hopefully our 3 month old as well soon!