Welcome to the second installment in our Meet Our Village series, a space where we gather trusted voices to share wisdom on parenting, play, creativity, and family life.
Today we’re sharing a lovely conversation with Waldorf educator, artist, musician, gardener, mother, and more, the beloved Miss Toki, also known as Toki Oshima, about spring in Maine in the Waldorf classroom and the ways she welcomes this energetic season with her students. (Note: Spring in Maine is a little later and different than spring in warmer places!)
From noticing subtle changes on walks in nature to watching the children’s energy rise with the excitement of spring, Toki shares wisdom gathered from more than 20 years of teaching in Waldorf classrooms.
We wish you could hear Toki’s lovely laugh and see the twinkle in her eye as she talks about her classroom and the traditions she shares with her students. We hope a bit of that spirit carries through in the conversation below.
What are some of the things you notice in your students in spring?
Well, they knock your socks off! All of a sudden, you don't really know it's even happening but as soon as the sap starts flowing and we begin to feel the frost heaves, the children start to jump up and down like they are boiling in the sap pot! They really have the spring energy. And I always wonder, what is going on with them and then I remember, ah, it is the spring energy!
Do you have any springtime rituals or specific ways of getting your classroom ready for spring?
We always drill one or two trees to collect the sap and we boil it down and have one special pancake meal. And they eat that pancake as if they are starving! Because it is pancakes with maple syrup and to them it is the most delicious thing in the world!
I steer our springtime rituals to align with the natural world. We spend a lot of time noticing what the world is doing outside on our walks - the bird sounds, the little bits of green poking out, the softening of the ground from the hard, cold icy ground. And then we talk about this during our circle time. That’s when we really dive into the seasons and share our reflections.
As for preparing the classroom, we always plant grass seeds around bulbs in little baskets, and we do things with eggs as well. We naturally dye them with red onion skins and red cabbage. Sometimes we wrap the eggs with rubber bands so they get stripes, but simply dyeing them is magical too.
Of course the main thing is circle time. We talk about how the hard winter snow transitions to the hopeful thoughts of spring that enters into the circle. And here is where we share our collection of verses like these:
"First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus... Crocus!
-Lilja Rogers
"Little Johnny jump up,
Said it must be spring,
I just saw a ladybug,
and heard a robin sing."
We also update our nature table with little creatures that we place around the candle we light at mealtimes. We place our sprouting grass and bulb baskets there as well.
How important is talking about the seasons in your classroom?
We don't necessarily talk specifically about it so much but when we are on a walk we will run over and observe and say, "oh my goodness, there is something poking its head out!" And a lot of the time that observation is led by the children. Seeing the sap dripping from the tree is another moment that is just music to our ears, especially because we start dreaming about our pancake meal! In Maine, spring comes so unbelievably late but there are still changes and we really notice the differences as they happen.
Does the rhythm of your day in your classroom stay the same throughout the year, no matter the season.
Yes, definitely. One example is that we always make soup on Thursdays and everyone cuts the vegetables. It is a very enjoyable and engaging time and it takes a while. Our soup will change depending on what parents send in so that can be affected by the season. In winter it is 100% root vegetables, carrots and potatoes! In spring we start to see more fresh things that are beginning to come up. Some of our families are farmers so we get very connected to what is currently growing and being harvested.
How can families bring these moments of spring into their homes? Were there things that you did with your kids during this season?
I love making things more than anything so that was a big part of my kid's childhood. We would always make things to hang in the windows, little suncatchers out of kite paper. We also cut the kite paper into shapes to make a stained glass window effect. We used egg white as a glue and that would stick the kite paper and it's also so easy to wash off. We also used to decorate eggs to hang them from an Easter tree. We decorated bare branches with our eggs and did that each year.
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us, Miss Toki and for all the work you do to make this world a brighter and more beautiful place. We hope everyone has a chance to step outside, see the sap start to flow, watch for those first hints of green, and welcome the magic of spring.
About Toki: Toki Oshima has been a Waldorf Early Childhood educator in Midcoast Maine for more than twenty years. In addition to her work as a Waldorf teacher, she is a musician, writer, and freelance illustrator, whose work is featured in the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners newspaper. She creates illustrations for cards and a variety of calendars that feature the themes of nature, gardening, music, dance, and fun, as well as fine art prints. Visit her collection of art at tokiart.com.
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