Who Speaks for Wolf?

Here's the layout for a new story that could be categorized as a 6th Source Story (earth-centered traditions) or a 7th Principle Story (respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part). I don't know that it would be right to classify it as a 3rd Source Story (world religions) because I am having trouble finding out if it is authentic to any one Native American tribe or region. This brought up a new issue for me, and that was looking at the Spirit Play story selection and presentation through an anti-racist, anti-oppression, and multicultural lens. That's new for me, so I don't have any fully formed ideas to share yet, just a notion that that habit would be helpful.

That said, here's the layout. The text of this story appears on the training CD

I have been messing around with the scroll saw a bit, and made this wolf figure to use instead of the suggested, though that one is quite nice and inexpensive. I like how my figure turned out a lot, but the scale is wrong with the people across the river (which come from the Powhotan people TOOB). That bothers me some. It seems as if it could be a distraction, and would inhibit acting out the story in a way that illustrates a more authentic interaction between humans and animals. (The resin toy suggested in the story is too big, too, so I think the whole layout would have to be reimagined to solve this problem.)

Also, one change I made from the suggested layout was to make the wolf's land look more lush and large than the people's. I think that helps drive home the point that the people coveted the wolf's territory, and that animals truly do need bigger and wider spaces than people do to live out their lives in a natural way.

I'll be interested to see how the children play with this set. It will be a good opportunity for me to focus on a practice that I was recently reminded of, and that is to carefully observe and record the children in their learning work and to make any needed changes to draw out the meaning and level of engagement.

Edited to add: The special work choice that we used for this story is here.

Play Silks!

I have wanted play silks for NINE years, since my oldest child was born. I was newly teaching at a little progressive school, and in searching out inspiration for classroom materials I stumbled into the Waldorf methods. You know where this is going. The soft, pastel wool. The nature tables. The solid wood. And of course, the flowing, brightly colored play silks. It's all so intoxicating, isn't it? Whether or not the method speaks to you, I have yet to meet someone who didn't fairly swoon at the set-up.

And truly, what they say about play silks is true. Kids do engage with them imaginatively, cleverly, and on many levels. They're great for kids with sensory needs. They're different from what most kids have at home, and so draw them in. And they're surprisingly durable. And for the Spirit Play classroom, they can be used

• in the church corner, as an altar play-thing;
• as dress-up clothes;
• as an underlay for certain stories; and
• as costume elements for skits.

But dang, are they expensive. It was one of those things where I always went to buy them, then said to myself, I can do that on my own for cheaper, then realized how much was involved in doing it for myself, then walked away to think about it another day. Nine years. Oy.

So, now motivated by making a set of silks for not only my own kids but the whole religious education program worth of kids, I did it!

Here's the process I used. I followed the instructions faithfully. If you don't feel like going to that link just yet, I'll tell you that the materials I needed were the plain white scarves, three primary color dyes, six mason jars, white vinegar, plastic measuring spoons, six wooden chopsticks, a big pot, and three small plastic cups.

Here are my jars a'boilin'.

And here are the silks. Aren't they yummy? The tie-dye effect was unintentional, and to tell truth, it works better on some of the silks than others. (Purple and peach it looks nice, green and yellow not so much, blue and pink I haven't decided.) But what happened was that I dyed large silks--30" ones--and they got bunched up a bit in the mason jars. I think next time, I'd either use bigger non-reactive containers for the large square scarves (such as half-gallon mason jars) or use the quart mason jars but make the dye a bit more concentrated and fill the jars higher with the solution. But this was my first time dying anything, so know that I'm offering my own trial-and-error methodology but no expertise.

So here is the breakdown of resources purchased. All materials were bought at Dharma Trading Co.

(6) 30" square silks for $4.85 each, totaling $29
acid dyes in primary colors of Caribbean blue, Deep magenta, and Sunflower yellow, totaling around $16
shipping was something like $8

That's $52 in materials. I had the big pot and the mason jars, but a 12-pack of mason jars cost about $12 if you had no glass or other non-reactive containers to work with. So we'll add that in and say we're up to $64.

It took me about 2 1/2 hours start to finish to make them.

So, for $64 and 2 1/2 hours, I got a nice set of silks to use for, naturally, open play in the Spirit Play classroom, but also for children's chapel altar decoration, as costume elements for the holiday pageant, and props and aids for games and other structured activities (the way bandanas are used in summer camps and youth cons and such).

 

Buying these online, I would have spent $96 or so, with six silks plus shipping. So right off the bat, that's a saving of $32. But it's still a rather expensive material, right? So here's what we can do. Make the materials stretch. You only use one tiny 1/2 tsp. of 2 oz. of dye. In other words, you have a ton left.

Ideas for the remainder of the dye:

Tie-dye church t-shirts that you all can wear to social justice and social witness events to represent your church.

Buy an extra set of scarves and dye them as teacher gifts (for about $5 per gift)

Gather some DRE friends and go in together on the dye materials and mason jars. With just one DRE friend, you can cut the total expenses by $18, so $46 for each of you rather than $64.

Set up all the materials yourself up at the church and invite congregants who want play silks at home to come and pay a small fee--maybe the price of the silk plus a few dollars. You could then show them how to use the silks for play and worship at home.

You could purchase extra silks or baby onesies or t-shirts to dye with the youth group and sell the finished products as a fundraiser. You could even get slightly fancy and stamp a chalice onto the garment using fabric ink or paint for a UU specific crowd.

Once we get these in the classroom and start using them, I'll post back again with pictures of specific uses.