The Best of Mama Rosemary 2012

Happy New Year! Before we move on into the transformation that 2013 promises, I wanted to share the top five viewed posts from Mama Rosemary during 2012 plus a few of my personal favorites that you may  have missed along the way...

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.  I truly value each and every one of you!

Most Viewed Posts Of 2012

Inside A Flower

Have you ever looked inside a tulip?  There is a lot going on!

Playing With Peppermint

Hands-on aromatic fun!

Some Sweet Foot Lovin' For Mother's Day

The perfect present for mom because it is cute and relaxing at the same time.

Butterfly Circle

A study of the butterfly life cycle.

Cinnamon 'n' Spice Ornaments Craft Style

Aromatic crafting for the holiday season!

All Natural Candy Cane Bath Salts

And an honorable mention.  Mentioned because it was not posted in 2012 but got a lot of attention

and hopefully gave some folks a fun herbal craft idea to try!

Some Of My Favorite Posts From 2012

An Aromatic State of Mind

This was by far one of my favorite activities I have ever done with the kids at preschool.

It was just so much fun!!

At Long Last An Essential Mommy Time Out

Mommies need a break too!

Meditation Friends

Creating a tool for helping kids with their emotions.

Fairy Crowns And Mint Magic Cookies

Tasty fun for a summer day!

Violet Equinox

Cute little kids learning about beautiful violets.

Best wishes for a wonderful new year!  May it be full of what ever you are wishing for!

A Kindly Gift

At the coffee shop one recent Fall morning I struck up a conversation with the spunky sweet woman behind the counter.  We got to talking about the coconut caramel for sale near the register.  I asked her if she thought I could use them to make caramel apples for my kids who are desperate for a gooey creamy apple.  Our conversation drifted to how amazing apples are which is when I noticed the apples earrings she had doing a dangly dance from her ear lobes.  Before I knew it this wonderful woman handed me a brown paper bag full of delicious red-green apples from her neighbor's tree.  A kindly gift indeed....

And then....

The very next day, I was blessed to receive another gift.  And this was huge for me, in fact the drama queen in me would say it changed my life, or at least my October.  My daughter wanted to be "Trixie the Halloween Fairy" from the Rainbow Magic Books.  I knew a little girl who had worn that very costume a few years before.  I asked her mother if she still had it and could I buy it from her?  Not only did she still have it but just she gave it to me.  A full costume, complete with resplendent fairy wings.  Now, I don't sew unless it is a simple repair job like re-attaching a button.  And before I was gifted with this costume, I was looking at hours of potentially trying sewing or trying to figure out how to make the costume without sewing.  It was a huge relief to know that I had nothing to do, the costume was done and I was free to focus on having fun with my kids.  Another kindly gift...

How could I thank these lovely ladies and let them know how much their gestures meant to me?  I pondered a bit before I remembered a favorite "thank you" that I love to give, an aromatherapy spritzer!

Most people love spritzers and delight in receiving them.  Spritzers are so easy to make user friendly  and bring a bit of plant magic into life.  When I make a spritzer for someone who's preferences I don't know, I almost always use lavender essential oil.  Most people love lavender and it is one of the safest essential oils.  In fact only lavender and tea tree essential oils are okay to put straight on the skin with out dilution (this is called a neat application ~ neat right?).

Here are basic instructions for making your own spritzer

Supplies ~

• Bottle
• Atomizer (Spray Top)
• Water
• Essential Oils

Instructions ~

Fill the bottle almost to the top with water but leave enough room for the sprayer tube to insert into the bottle.  You may have to trim the tube a little bit to make it the right length.  Then just add you essential oils.  You will want to put a safe amount of oils into the bottle.  Here is a good guideline for recommended dilutions:

• 1% dilution: 5 to 6 drops of essential oil per ounce of water (this is the safest dilution for the very young and elderly)
• 2% dilution: 10 to 12 drops of essential oil per ounce of water

So basically if you have a 4 ounce bottle for your spritzer you would use 20 to 24 drops of essential oil to make a 1% dilution or 40 to 48 drops for a 2% dilution.  Information on proper dilutions taken from the oh so excellent Mindy Green & Kathy Keville's Aromatherapy, A Complete Guide to the Healing Art.

Then just give it a good shake.  Add a ribbon and a label to make it pretty.  That is it!  So simple.  What a great way to give thanks and tell someone you appreciate having them in your life.

How do you say thank you to the people who have touched your life?

A Happy First Day of Preschool With Calming Aromatherapy

The new school year is quickly approaching for us at our very sweet little preschool.  Some of the kids will be coming to school for the very first time.  In fact they may have never been away from their mama.   Because needless to say, for some kids (and their parents too), the first day of school can be intimidating, scary and even a bit traumatic.  I know I sat in my car and cried for a good twenty minutes after I dropped my oldest daughter off on her first day of preschool. Every year on this very special day we help the kids adjust to their new environment by offering a time-honored and much loved activity, playdough, made a bit friendlier with the addition of calming essential oils and herbs.

Playing with playdough on its own provides stress relief through tactile squeezing and massaging of the smooth squishy dough.  With essential oils added the child instantly gets all the benefits of aromatherapy.  Breathing deepens as the oils are inhaled calming the mind and body,  bringing about a sense of peace.  Read Herbal Playdough for more info on the benefits of playdough and to get some great ideas for making your own colorful fragrant completely chemical free playdough. It is fun to let each child custom make their own playdough to take home.  They have something fun they made to share with their family at the end of the big day.

Materials you will need:

Prepared Playdough or you can make the playdough with the kids. Here is my favorite recipe:

•  1 cup of flour 
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 cup of water
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp oil

Combine dry ingredients in a sauce pan.  Add the water and oil.  Stir together and heat slowly over low heat.  Stir almost constantly until the playdough sets up.  Let it cool to warm before playing, playdough right off the stove is hot.

Food Coloring (Please note that I am searching for affordable coloring made from natural materials that are healthy.  I do use powdered herbs for coloring when making a large quantity of one colored playdough for the school, yet I need something wonderful for coloring playdough when we are making personal playdough for taking home.  If any one has a source, please share!)

Essential Oils  I like to offer lavender, sweet orange, cardamon, spearmint, rosemary and rose geranium.

Dried Herbs like lavender blossoms, ground cinnamon and rose petals

Glitter 

Here is how I do this fun activity:

1. Give each child a nice blob of playdough and some playdough toys.
2. Have them pick out one color from your food colors to add to their playdough.  Put a couple of drops of food coloring in their playdough and start mixing it in for them so they don't get a big blob of food coloring on their hands.  You will have rainbow hands at the end.
3. Let everyone smell the essential oils.  I usually talk with the kids a bit about smelling the oil by inhaling, not exhaling.  And then we practice.  I tell them to be sure not to touch their nose to the bottle.  This keeps the oils clean and safe for everyone to use.  Then let them choose which oils they want in their playdough.  I have found that most kids will want every oil!
4. Have the child make a hole in the playdough.  Then you place a drop or two of oil in the hole and take a moment to personally squish up the oil into the playdough so that the oil doesn’t come into direct contact with the child’s skin. It is safe once it diluted into the playdough.
5. Offer herbs and glitter for the kids to mix into their playdough.  Just dust a bit over the top of their playdough or make a little pile on the side for them to add in.  Some kids find the glitter and herbs to be "sharp" but usually they love adding in more and more as they go.
6. When the child is done playing, bag up their playdough so they can take it home at the end of the day.

How do you welcome little ones to your school for that first big day?  I would love to hear all about it! 

Well, the first day has come and went.  We had a blast making our playdough.  Some of the kids made some really neat pieces of art with their playdough and all the additions we used.  Fresh lavender stalks became trees and dried roses became lava.

Enjoy the pictures!

Please Note about essential oils: Essential oils are concentrated plant substances.  They are dangerous and should not be used unsupervised around children.  Always keep the oils up and out of reach when you aren’t using them and be sure that an adult is the one who holds and uses the bottles.  I tell the kids that the essential oils are for teachers to use.  Some oils smell like really yummy food, so please do be careful.  Use mild oils like the ones listed above.

Shared on: The Weekly Kid's Co-op, DJDaniel4's Mom, Charlotte Mom Favorites

An Aromatic State of Mind

 Art inspired by Aromatherapy and  Emotional Awareness with Children

Breathe deep and what do you feel?  Taking a slow deep breath relaxes mind and body bringing clarity and calming anxiety.  Now take a deep breath of a high quality aromatic essential oil and all the therapeutic benefits of the oil are added to the experience.  Um, I am feeling more relaxed just thinking about it!

We conducted our own little experiment to see how different essential oils made us feel.  Seated in a circle on the floor I passed around smell sticks I had made from card stock.  Each stick had a number on it which corresponded to my list of essential oils.  I did this because I didn't want the kids to know what oil they were smelling but then I realized, silly me, they can't read yet!  I got a good chuckle at myself for that one.  Anyways, we passed around the sticks one at a time having fun sniffing.  After everyone had their fill of smelling each stick, we tried to figure out how what we had smelled made us feel.  We took the smell stick and placed it on a wheel I had drawn with the emotions calm, happy and refreshed.

It was so very cute to watch the kids smelling and feeling.  When we passed around the stick with orange on it the kids got giggly and wiggly.  We decided that orange made us happy!  Lavender produced a group of peaceful, relaxed and quiet kids; still where they sat and reflective.  We decided that lavender was a mix between refreshed and calm, but "mostly calm."  We also investigated cedarwood, spearmint, cardamon and rosemary.

Here is a chart of our results:

• Lavender: calmingly refreshed
• Orange: happy
• Spearmint: happy and refreshed
• Cardamon: calm
• Cedarwood: very, very calm
• Rosemary: refreshed

After all of our sniffing and feeling was done, I asked the kids to each choose their very favorite oil to create a piece of art work with.

Can you guess what oil was the most popular?

"Happy!"

"Orange!"

Isn't it wonderful how children just want to be happy?  What a gift it is to be around such joy.  A few kids wanted lavender and one chose cedarwood.  Apparently, none of them needed to be refreshed!

Next I gave them piece of paper with a drop of their chosen oil in the corner.  I asked them to create a piece of art work with the emotion and smell as their inspiration.

The kids were very creative and had a blast!

Thanks to 2flowerslearning for the great post inspiration for this fun class!

Shared on: Kid's Co-op

Roses at Preschool for Valentine's Day ~ A Celebration of Roses in the Making

Roses symbolize love, friendship and beauty.

The amazing aroma of rose is certainly special and has been used by humanity through the ages.  The scent opens the heart while uplifting the nervous system easing depression and grief.  Valentine's Day offers the perfect chance to explore this amazing plant.  We are having a rose party to celebrate at the preschool this year.  To provide the children with a chance to really explore roses we are going to provide them with a variety of activities.

Rose Tea

Tea made from organic rose petals is delightfully delicious and healthful.  Roses  benefit the respiratory and digestive systems enhancing their function, relieving inflammation and heat as well as helping to ease infections.  Because of rose's uplifting action, the tea is calming and eases emotional irritability.  I have found that most children love the taste of rose tea.

To make simply steep organic dried rose petals in just boiled water for 10 to 15 minutes using about a tablespoon per cup of water.  Sometimes I add a tidge of agave syrup or honey to the tea.

Rose Paint

For this activity I am planning to use this recipe from Mommy Nature and then I am going to tweak to fit our needs.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 cups hot water

Mix the flour and salt.  Add cold water.  Beat until smooth and gradually add hot water.  Boil.  Beat until smooth.

Then to make rose paint I will add crushed rose petals and a bit of beet powder to enhance the color.

Rose Playdough

This is easy!  Just add rose petals, dried or fresh, to your favorite playdough recipe.  You can further enhance the rose scent by using rose water or rose tea in place of the regular water when making your playdough.  I also like to add glitter and beet powder to the playdough to make it sparkly red!  Or you can add cocoa powder for coloring and make chocolate rose playdough, yum!!

Check out my playdough post for complete instructions!

Rose Sensory Table

I think it would be fun to set up a bin with fresh roses and leaves (no thorns please!) for the kids to feel and smell fresh roses.  Silky soft and fragrant, um....  We will add some cups and things for sifting through the loveliness.

Stay posted for pictures, as I make these things for our party I will add pictures and of course, I will get some action shots from the big day!

Update on those pictures.... well, I forgot my camera and didn't get a single picture!!  So bummed....

Shared On: The Kid's Co-op, It's Playtime!, Kid's Get Crafty, Share It Saturday