DIY Toys #2 Rolling Cylinder with Natural Dyed Balls

I really thought this toy looked like amazing fun! I saw many, many versions of this little toy on natural and montessori sights. I decided to have a go at it with a few fun experiments of my own. The cylinder rolls, rattles, and provides lots of ability to grasp. It is perfect for a little one to crawl after. It also allows them to practice holding onto something. And of course, if it didn't make noise it wouldn't be quite as important to them!

The finished Rolling Cylinder with Natural
Dyed Balls! 

So, the above picture of how mine turned out. Now for instructions on how I did it. 

First, I started with 4" round mounting boards from the craft store. You can use ones without the decorative edging, but I like the look of these. Dowels from the craft store come in various sizes. I bought a couple sizes. These are 3/8". Lastly, a few wooden balls are needed. I ended up adding one more than the picture below for a total of four balls. These are 1". 

The Materials

I cut my dowels into 7" long sections though now, I think you could easily make them shorter if you wanted. Probably 6" would work just fine for four balls this size. Then, I marked the round wood discs for drilling. Below is a step by step pictorial demonstration of how I did it.

1. Trace the circle onto paper and cut it out. 

2. Fold it in half. 

3. Line up the first folded lines and fold it in half the opposite direction. This creates four "pie" slices as seen above. 

                                                            

4. Then, lining up the four lines, fold it again. 

5. I repeated this the opposite direction resulting in eight "pie" pieces perfectly divided. 

6. Next, as seen above, I marked with a pencil 1/2" in on every line. At each mark, I shoved the pencil point through to make a tiny hole. 

7. Place the template on your wood disc and mark with a pencil through each half inch hole. (mine here has 16 marks because the original was going though a knot and I moved the marks over)

8. Using a 3/8" drill bit I drilled about 1/4" down into the wood disc for each of my marks. You can mark your drill bit with a bit of colored tape for a guide on depth. 

9. Dying the wooded balls came next. I could have painted them, but what's the fun in that when you can experiment with making natural dye?! 

Green: I used spinach at first, but that didn't do very dark for me. Maybe, I was missing a step or something. A bunch of weed leaves outside did wonderfully. I just rubbed them vigorously against the ball. 

Red: Cooked beet skins. I had some cooked cold beets my mother-in-law had given me. I rubbed the skins all over the ball. The main part made a beautiful and yummy salad! 

Blue: Blueberries cooked down and rubbed into the grain made a beautiful hue though it is slightly more purple than blue. 

Yellow: My favorite yellow dye is tumeric. I boil water with some tumeric and vinegar in it. Then, I soaked the ball. Since doing this ball though, I have come up with a WAY better method. Take your tumeric(I never measure), water, and vinegar and boil until thick. The paste can be rubbed into the wood and solved the possible problem of expanding and cracking your wooded ball or whatever else you're dyeing. 

The Beautiful balls! I rubbed them with olive oil after they were completely dry. 

10. Assembly requires more patience than I thought. A little glue and a hammer for tapping help a lot! Try getting all the dowels into one side first, and then slowly and carefully lining up the top. It helps to do this at an angle because the balls inside your "cage" work against you. Keeping the balls in a straight line is important during assembly. Sorry, but I was way too occupied with my assembly to remember to take a photo of this. 

11. Lastly, I let it set overnight with books on top so the glue would dry. The next morning a quick coat of olive oil and the project was complete!

Toys

Play is an important part of any baby or child's life. When we  think of play our minds usually travel first to toys.  Toys have a wonderful place in a child's life, but toys are often overrated. Mom's worry about having enough toys or the newest toy. If you could never buy a toy, I don't think your child would be the least deprived or harmed. The best part of a child's life is discovering. Nothing can take the place of exploring the real world and discovering all it has to hold. We forget that our world is new and extraordinary to a little mind.  Children should have the freedom to explore and experience their world at their own pace and choosing. Their job is to learn unfettered and free as much as possible. A child in a playpen or fenced area of the home with a menagerie of toys is being robbed of true exploration and discovery. They are given an artificial world, and that which is pretend can never take the place of the real living, breathing world around us. As little barriers and boundaries as possible are best for the education of a child. Toys can be wonderful learning tools and have their place, but they too often are the only focus and experience parents allow in a small child’s life. 

No toy ever compares with mud. 

This is how it looks on our home front. If my little boy wants to open the cabinets, that should be ok. If he wants to unload and load the shelves that is also ok. He should be allowed to touch the broom and even at six months try to “sweep” even if that’s nothing more than holding the handle and squealing as he sways it back and forth. The house to as much of its entirety as possible is open to him. From the first few month, a child is perceiving and developing the attitude and perspective about life that will be carried with him into adulthood. Our attitude and method by which we live has a huge impact on our little ones. I spend a ton of time in the kitchen it seems. I have two cabinets in my kitchen locked. One has cleaning supplies and the other has my better breakable glass dishes. Everything else dangerous is on a top shelf out of my little man’s current interest area. When I unload the dishwasher, I load the knives last and unload them first. This allows him complete access to the dishwasher and all its contents. Work should be something a child wants to be included in and cares about from the very beginning. We should consider our daily work a delight and the only way to communicate that to our children is by including them joyfully. Sweep with your little one in a sling and let him hold the handle. Soon, it will be time for him to have his own little broom. Will he be much help? Probably not, but that’s hardly the point. Wash dishes with your helper sitting in the other sink doing his own “washing”. Take care of chores with the little one included as much as possible. With a little creativity, even a baby can be included in almost every task.  In almost all of my life I try to include him even if that can only be observation. My little man’s favorite toys are often his new daily find in the tupperware bin or the canned goods shelf.

His favorite lid and notice the little potato he fetched from
bin in the background. 

Some people would say I should teach him to leave those things alone and play with his own toys, but I don’t think segregating a young life from ours is really that healthy or beneficial. Exploring the canned goods is just the first step in learning to stack them for mommy. Play becomes work and work becomes play in a seamless progression. Small children may not be able to do everything just like we do, but they carry in them a great and persistent desire to be part of our daily life. We do children a disservice by making their world one that is catered to and revolves around them. They need to be included in our world, but not the center of it.  We best teach children not by creating fences around them, but by helping them learn to understand and operate in the real world, our world. A babies job is to explore and learn. My job is to facilitate this learning process and guide it gently. I don’t control his learning. I do observe and then provide what he needs. Toys alone can never provide this beautiful and necessary step in learning and growing. 

A glass makes a great find to play with.

Now that I’ve explained how overrated toys can be and how important including little ones in our world is, I will also tell you that I LOVE toys. I love discovering fun new ones, making them, and finding out all they can teach. A few truly well made and purposeful toys are a delight and wonderful experience for any child and some adults. We may think that small babies do not notice quality or quantity, but we are wrong. A child absorbs more in those first few years about how their world should be than at any other time. Poor quality and great quantities of piled toys create a lasting impression of cheapness and clutter. One doesn't need a lot of money to live with quality. Quality not quantity makes all the difference. The are two problems with too many toys. First, if they are not well organized, the little one only senses chaos. Even babies appreciate a well organized and orderly environment. They are born with this appreciation and we would do well to foster this natural tendency towards neatness and order. Too many toys are also distracting and over stimulating.  A baby constantly stimulated at every angle by a different toy is not truly allowed to discover what is in front of them fully or allowed to explore the real world without distraction. Constant stimulation from new, different, exciting, and artificial sources sets the stage for the need to be entertained. A child should learn to explore and entertain themselves, even alone. Our society is far too overstimulated and entertained. We have lost the ability to discover the deep joys and wonders of the simple things in life. Enjoying our world for what it is, what is truly is, seeing our world instead of seeking some new thrilling artificial stimulation, and discovering the hidden gems of real, natural life is a skill few these days possess. This is what I want my children to learn. Discovering life, real life begins early.

DIY Toys #1 Grasping Beads and Such Things

I am an artist so I appreciate quality. Plastic, cheap made toys make me shiver and assault my search to make learning beautiful. Many moms feel like I do about toys, but may be overwhelmed at the thought of finding and funding high-quality toys. How expensive it probably seems to think of giving one's child beautiful, well-made toys from natural, quality materials. However, it is not so expensive or overwhelming as you might think. Quality toys are easy to make and truly worth the effort in your child's development.

Grasping Beads are a toy one might find on a natural toy website, especially if it is dedicated to montessori learning(more on montessori later). I think they are a delightful first toy. Toys should have a purpose and meet a child's developing needs. Grasping beads and toys similar to them are perfect for the small infant just learning to hold things in their hands. 

Below are some pictures of possible materials. I chose a variety of wooden beads, glass beads, spools, rings, and anything else that looked like fun finger work. Use your imagination!

Here are a few different grasping string ideas I came up with for my little man. I wanted to try a combination of different things and see what he responded to best.

1. 

Wooden beads on a leather string with a few alternating colors. 

2. 

Wooden beads on a suede leather string with different shades of brown glass beads. 

3. 

A traditional grasping bead set. I made the string longer that most I've seen
for both sensory reasons and safety. The beads should have knots tied in-between each of them.  

4. 

A string of just glass beads. 

5. 

A variety of grasping materials. I just LOVE this one and so does my little man!


So, after all this work, what were the baby ratings?

He really enjoyed all of them, but number five on the list soared to the top. Next, he loved either one or two. The difference in colored or not colored beads didn't seem to matter. He did like the traditional grasping beads, but since I didn't get around to making these until he was at least 6 months, I think he had progressed past such simplicity. The traditional ones are best for a small 3 month old baby because of weight and maneuver-ability. I know he would have loved them back then.

These projects cost very, very little and resulted in hours of fun play with a beautiful quality toy. More posts on toys will follow.

My "Little Girl"

One would think that having a baby would seriously cramp my ability to work livestock, but that is not so. Ok, well, I take that back. While pregnant, my husband and a few other people did comment on my waddling technique. Now, I am indeed slower and more clumsy with my little eight month old hijo riding my back. However, even though my ability to work livestock personally has been cramped, my first “child” makes it look like I am a first class stock-woman.  She is my true, skilled partner in all things related to moving around four legged beasts. In fact, we probably look like we know more now that I do less. Soak-n-wet, she weighs nothing more than 30 pounds at best. This small size is due to her massive amount of energy and incapability to remain still for any length of time. Dally is a furry, black and white border collie. And yes, she is still my “little girl” even with a human baby in my arms.

I have determined that any ranching or farming woman who works with livestock should obtain a good stock dog prior to having a baby. Dally is a working border collie whose mind revolves around livestock, livestock, and did I say livestock?  She was a wildly energetic tiny thing when I got her. She still is wild and energetic but its wild energy directed towards helpful places(most of the time).

Dally has always been sheep crazed. She is crazy about anything on four legs that will move when she wants it to. It took me about two years to learn to put all that energy into my use,  but finally this winter after we went to a dog clinic it all came together.  

Finally, I have a genuine working dog I can depend on. With my little man riding along, I no longer run back and forth and jump fences herding sheep myself. For the most part, I stand in one place as much as possible and shout commands like “come by”, “away”, “down”, “stand”, “move up” and all other sorts of dog lingo Dally has come to understand.  The black and white streak runs to and fro determined to gather, separate, or do whatever is needed for her master. We may not yet be good enough to compete in a dog herding trial, but Dally and I can gather, move, load, and hold a thousand head of stock for you any day.  

The little man think she is delightful to watch and play with. Though her energy is crazy with other animals, she is as gentle as a mother with my baby. She tries to get him to play with her and chase her. He simply watches amused right now. In the not-so-far future, I expect to watch my furry “little girl” and my little man running around playing together. For now, I am simply grateful to be working livestock with a baby on my back and it is all possible because of Dally, my dog.

Moving Sheep to the High Country

Baby Feeding

My little man has now reached the “older baby” stage of eight months. This has brought on many comments and questions concerning his eating and sleeping habits. Somehow, our society has made eating/weaning and sleeping through the night hallmarks of parenting. 

In raising my son, I believe allowing him to naturally mature and grow at his own rate is vital to a healthy discovery of life and learning. When we stop thinking about deadlines, dates, and goals to reach, we can enjoy the ride.  Controlling other human beings in order to make our world what we think it should be has never made anyone happy or at peace. A graceful, non-controlling environment is conducive to true learning, and learning should be enjoyable. When we each are allowed to grow at our own pace we can enjoy the journey. Most of life is a journey. Destinations signal the end. So, I believe even the smallest learning step such as eating a sleeping are no different. 

Young lambs mimicking mom. They couldn't live without milk yet, but they are practicing. 

In nature, we see that babies are first born with a natural need to rely solely on mothers milk. Food is always available, but their ability and need for it are not. I have never seen an animal force feed their baby. The development of eating solids just comes as the baby decides it should. When a ewe has a baby lamb the lams first only drinks milk. After some time, I will observe the small lamb “playing” with solid foods. A nibble here, a tiny bite their. Sometimes, they will roll a tiny morsel in their mouth and spit it out. Then, they may experiment with some water. Sips here and there. A lamb with adequate milk supply will never fill up on water unless sick. So, what is happening here? Learning. They are learning to eat and learning to drink at their own pace. Suddenly, one day they just take off eating by their own choice and have a full meal of alfalfa or corn. Then, a few drinks from the stream naturally follow. The next meal will probably be back at mom. There is no schedule or requirements placed on the little animals. Their bodies know what they need, and the lambs respond and learn as they choose. Eating and drinking for the human baby should be little different.

A lamb a litte bit older taking a few sips. He will still remain
drinking mostly milk until he is a lot older. 

At almost six months, my little man went from zero interest in food to an uncontrollable desire to taste everything. So, I let him. He didn’t eat really anything. He just tasted, made a face, and went on. Why not? He was learning about his environment and developing an important step in eating.  About a month later, he wanted to actually eat something. I just started making food available. The decision was up to him. Somedays, he ate a couple spoonfuls probably totally a teaspoon of ingested food. Other days, a little more. A couple rare occasions he ate a whole banana and shocked me. Eating is an adventure in exploring tastes, textures, and mechanics of the body. Now, he always wants his own spoon. I fill the spoon for him and he carefully tries to eat as he see us do. It is a messy affair, but he is learning to feed himself. All in all, he still only eats about a teaspoon or two a day. I give him a tiny baby spoon half dipped in blackstrap molasses each day. A healthy treat for iron levels. Other than that, coconut yogurt, coconut cream, bananas, pears, asparagus, apples, mangos, egg yolks, and potatoes of every kind are his favorites. He continues to taste here and there and build his world of food every day. As for water, I do leave a sippy cup out with his toys. More than a couple sips a day and I am surprised, but he is left to it on his own. The mechanics of using one fascinates him along with the occasional taste of water. He will help himself to a few drops in the bath every now and then too. Just like those little lambs, he is discovering his little world and incorporating what he learns as he pleases. I am simply happy to watch him on his discovery journey. After all, with a lifetime to go, the beautiful journey has only just begun.  

My little man playing with his spoon,
trying to mimic his mom and dad. 

Natural Mothering

Early springtime has come. This time of year, I wake up and either head for the lambing sheds or drive to various pastures to check on thousands of sheep with their 3 day to 4 week old lambs. Today will be no different. After feeding my little man, we will grab a couple breakfast burritos and head out the door. Somewhere along the line, I will meet up with my husband and hand off a burrito as we both keep going in different directions. The beginning of lambing marks our busiest time of year from dark to dark. However, I often find it one of the most rewarding. Watching little lambs scurry about with their mothers is one of my favorite sights in all the world. Such sights always bring my mind to an appreciation for what nature holds if we pause to watch and listen. 

As a mother, I know that we humans desire the simplistic, beautiful, and effortless relationship with our child that we see in nature. We all have a desire to get close to nature in some form. Natural mothering is about as close to nature as one can get. We humans are the only ones it seems that are so far removed from the natural design of life that books, doctor endorsements, articles, and support must be given to follow what people call “natural” mothering. I appreciate such things, but reality is that mothers are born not made.  Ewes(mother sheep for those wondering) are perfect examples of this phenomenon. 

As a sheep rancher, I get an up close view every year of what real natural mothering looks like in livestock. Ewes usually give birth to one or two lambs though sometimes it is as many as four. Most of the ewes all give birth within a month of each other. Sheep naturally cycle best in the fall so around October the bucks(male sheep) begin their work, and five months later lambing begins. 
Right before lambing, we gather all the ewes into a few pastures and a corral for close monitoring. Many, many ewes give birth easily without any help or intervention of any kind. However, there are a few every day that require some assistance. This assistance usually takes the form of someone gently guiding the lamb out of the birth canal. Lambs that are too large, coming backwards, or twins coming at the same time require a little bit more twisting, turning, and moving before they emerge. maneuvering a little one around inside its mother may sound scary, but lambs are really quite tough little creature when one thinks about it. Quite unlike we humans. After all, consider the fact that they arrive ready to stand and within in a few minutes some can even run quite efficiently. As soon as the lambs are born,  the herder removes himself from the scene immediately so nature can do its best work. Licking her lambs vigorously, the ewe quickly cleans and warms them up. Even on frigid days, we never worry as long as a ewe is busy licking her little ones. Then magically the little lambs start migrating without any help in the direction of the ewe’s udder. Warm milk makes happy tummies and wiggling tails. A few swallows of warm colostrum is the difference between life and death for a little lamb. 
For the ewe and lambs, this whole bonding process is vital. If a ewe isn’t allowed to bond with her lambs within moments of birth,  the chances of her mothering(caring for) the lambs without a lot of human intervention is very poor. The ewes must be left alone until they have mothered the lambs and formed a good bond. Mother ewes who choose to abandon their lambs are rare.  Most cases of ewes rejecting their lambs stems from traumatic births, still born lambs, or unnecessary human intervention. The cure for this lack of mothering instinct is locking both ewe and lambs in close quarters for a few days and forcing the ewe to allow the lamb(s) to suck. As one can imagine, this is not an easy job. For the sheep rancher, it is far better to have a mother and lambs bonded naturally and without any intervention. 

Two day old lambs with ewe. 

After the ewe is done cleaning and sucking her lambs, she is moved to a small individual pen in order to have privacy and solitude with her new offspring. This is done by grabbing the legs of the lambs and carrying them in front of the  ewe to their destination. Good mothery ewes follow, sometimes almost running the poor herder over. 

My husband helping a struggling lamb suck in a individual jug pen. 

After a couple days of watching for any complications the ewes are turned out into a pasture with other ewes and lambs of the same age. This is where my favorite time to observe begins. 

Out in the pasture, the ewes and lambs all seem like a sea of sheep mixed up and combined. A casual observer could easily wonder how they don’t all get mixed up and lost. Closer inspection reveals small ewe and lamb groups dotting the pasture.  Ewes resting with two lambs by their side or eating close by their lambs. One can tell who the mother is by watching her eyes which frequently return to the location of her lambs. Every day for a couple weeks now, I  walk slowly through the entire herd in each pasture observing. As I look for signs of sick or weak lambs and ewes an organized community emerges.  

Around two week old napping. 

When I approach seemingly abandoned lambs, out of nowhere ewes appear with obvious concern. When I catch a sick lamb ewe run to me out of a sea of white wooly faces.  Really mothery ewes keep their lambs close by. We have a couple ewes who seem to never let their lambs leave their sides. They watch, feed, sleep with, and care for their lambs like few mothers ever could do. They also have the biggest and healthiest lambs in the flock. Out of 2500 sheep, I never forget those two ewes. when a lamb wanders,  a few bleats and the lambs and ewes are together once again. As the lambs get older they begin to frolick together and play away from the ewes, but a ewe always knows where her lamb is.

This would be called nursing on demand(emphasis on demand) 

Nursing is done whenever a lamb desires or as we would call it, on demand. Lambs can be seen running up to their mothers and “attacking” her udder without any warning at all. Sheep are truly are social and intelligent (despite a few misguided beliefs to the contrary). I have marveled before at these creatures, and found myself understanding them better and better as I observe.  But,  this year, I feel closer to understand them than before. After having my own baby who is now seven months old, I can comprehend much more of the beauty, devotion, and natural drive which makes these ewes do what they do so well. I can now understand the ties and desperation with which lambs seek their mothers. These animals have inspired me. So many voices in our world are calling and telling us what to do with our mothering instincts. So many voices are calling out to us with advice and directions on how to be that we can often hardly hear or if is we do hear we begin to question the natural instincts inside us. I am confident that if left alone and never taught to question our natural mothering drive, we would be just a amazing and beautiful as these ewes. Mothers are not taught to be mothers, they just are. No one has to teach someone how to have a child and no one has to teach someone how to care for it unless the natural instincts have been distorted by societies artificial expectations. Those who need teaching have first been untaught what was naturally there. This year, the ewes have inspired me to listen to the natural voice that was placed into my being by design. The ewes have encouraged me to ignore the voices that would discourage and drown out who I was born to be. The ewes have shared with me the beauty of their journey and helped me to see the beauty of mine. Lambing has always been a favorite time for me, but from now on, I believe it will hold an even greater light in the discovery of life.