In addition to the first workshop, I wanted to create something for the children to take home for the 2 week spring break. For the 5 week-long workshop, we will be working with cedar as a natural material. I wanted to the children to return to the workshop after spring break with the idea that this natural material is gifted from a living non-human collaborator.
“Together we are going to be Nature Makers and Designers! There will also be a special guest that is joining us, a living being that will gift us with some materials to play with and create with! Do you know who that special guest is? Over the spring break, it is up to you to take the clues in this bag to discover the special guest that will be making with us in our sessions together! Once you solve the riddle, you can make / draw / write / share something from this special living thing to show the group when we see each other next!”
I created these packages for them to discover who this non-living collaborator is by filling them with: cedar back (we will use for dyeing, paper-making), cedar inner bark (we will be using for weaving, cedar paper), cedar wood and cedar essential oil that was gifted to me from someone that made it from the western red cedars of BC. These were all clues for the children to discover what we will be working with, and they were instructed to come back to the next class with something to share from this tree.
Cedar inner bark will be used for cordage, braiding and dyeing
Cedar bark will be used for dyeing
Cedar essential oil was gifted as a final clue for who the non-human living collaborator is
I split cedar into small pieces if the children wished to work with carving, etc with the supervision of their parents
final workshop packages, containing note and cedar, stitched closed and ready to go!
