Shakespeare and herbal fairy brooms
Not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow’d house:
I am sent with broom, before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.”
-A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck cleaning Theseus’ house)
We are really enjoying the tales of Shakespeare! So far we have read The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and are so wrapped up in their enchanted worlds. In the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon tells Puck and the other fairies to clean the royal castle. Fauna’s idea of fairy cleaning is little brooms and mops made from sticks and herbs. We have been talking about the herbs and flowers in Shakespeare’s writings and used some of them for the little cleaning tools. The Little Ladies picked rose petals, lamb’s ear, thyme, lemon balm, Sweet Annie, and peppermint; “these herbs will leave a lovely scent with each swoosh!”
They are so simple to make; just tie a little plant bunch around a stick with craft floss. Araina thought a fairy rose would make the perfect mop!
Make one for each room in your castle, make sure to leave a little pail of water for the mops! I will continue to share our love of Shakespeare with you as we go along!
These would make cute little halloween witch brooms as well! A little garland of them would be so cute!
Ok, you caught me, the realist in me is having issues with the whimsy in me…..I can’t stop experimenting with the photo editing! I used the “vibrance” effect to toy with the color today, played with the water marks and can’t resist those rounded corners! Araina wasn’t happy with the pinkness it added to her face though (geez, that child is VAIN)! Have a lovely weekend!
Click here for info on Shakespeare and his fairies.
i loved a midsummer night’s dream the several different times it crossed my path in school!
nicola
http://whichname.blogspot.com
1) I am so impressed you are reading Shakespeare to your kids. I love the bard, but never considered that the kids would enjoy it. Have you found a kid friendly/high illustrated version or are you going full on?
2) Those brooms are adorable. How creative you are!
3) Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I love your projects. So simple, sweet and meaningful. I haven’t thought about reading Shakespeare to my kids. That sounds like fun too.
nice grumpy monster Tina
what a great way to sweep out bad luck and angry red moods!
very lovely…will have to remember this when I get to Shakespeare. Though you make it look so fun we might take a sneak peak.
What clever little cleaning tools!
oh i just love love love you more every day!
Lisa, are you reading excerpts from the plays with them, or have you found “shakespeare for kids”-type of resources? E just went to see Comedy of Errors and just loved it – I think she’d enjoy more, but don’t want to overwhelm OR dumb-down, if you know what I mean…
oh, yeah, and these brooms are AWESOME. i can almost smell them from here…
I think the pics look great! Photo editing is muchos fun.
I just ADORE those wee brooms – and I bet they do smell devine!
You should host a fairy, wildflower craft class. Or something like it.
It looks like a magical moment.
Be sweet.
Oh wow…this is fabulous! It can be tricky to teach Shakespeare to children. What a nice way to help them remember the story. Very creative, Lisa!
Oh, just tell her that extra pink makes her look like she’s glowing with health and happiness.
Your fairy brooms are very pretty. I bet they smell nice too.
i think the brooms are completely enchanting, as well as the vibrance feature!
and her face is lovely pink!
if you dont mind my asking, i’d love to know what photo editing program you are using.
i have a mac, and have grown tired of the simple i photo version i have been using.
i’d really like to start toying with my photos, and need to figure out the watermark thing since i am wanting to start a little home based photography business.
thanks so much for all that you share, your creativity is absolutely inspiring and beautiful to see! <3