Nature-Based Learning at Sage Programs in Boulder, CO

At Sage Programs in Boulder, Colorado - we love to craft with the children, especially using natural materials from nature like plants and flowers. Many of the materials come directly from our beautiful acreage in North Boulder where we host Sage Programs.

Video of dying silk capes with the children at Sage Programs in Boulder, Colorado. We use plants and flowers to make these beautifully naturally dyed silk capes for our Michaelmas celebration.

Letting Nature Inspire Us

We made these capes for our upcoming Michaelmas festival with the children. We used a number of different plants to dye them. For these beautiful silk capes, we used calendula flowers, elderberries, hibiscus flowers, and coreopsis. This project uses a steam dying technique and it is particularly fun to do with children. They get to sprinkle and place all of the different flowers on the silk and then you roll it up very tightly and tie it. Next, you steam it for about an hour. Afterwards, you shake it out and the flowers have impacted their color onto the silk, so they come out looking beautiful and so unique. This is such an easy and awe-inspiring project, which is my favorite type of craft to do with children…. something that has so much beauty in it and is also very approachable and fun for children to do.

Learn more about Sage Programs and our offerings here. We also offer consultations to help you on your journey with waldorf-inspired education.