Pictures from a poetry celebration we had at our place. We enjoyed English Breakfast tea, pastries, and granola with fruit and yogurt. Kids and Mamas recited and read favorite poets ranging from Blake and Wordsworth to Edward Lear and even some original poems! A good time was had by all.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Peace keep you.
~Kortney
Julie, when I read your email about poetry tea time today, I thought about how long it had been since my daughter and I had afternoon tea. It’s been too long. So after a long day of swimming with her friends, Maya, my only baby who is 9, went straight to the bathtub. While she was bathing, I set up the table. When she came out, in her gown no less, she asked, “We’re having tea?” with wide, expectant eyes. I told her to put her dress back on for tea, although she didn’t understand why, she obliged.
We looked through the books and ultimately decided to read “Hailstones and Halibut Bones.” We thought reading the colors on our table scape would be appropriate. So we each took turns reading while the tea was steeping. When she looked at the cookies, she said, “You know those cookies have everything in them that I don’t like.” Oh well…She munched on strawberries and sipped tea while we read beautiful poetry and made sweet memories.
Sincerely,
Misty
Today is the day we finally initiate Poetry Teatimes. I love this idea at BraveWriter of slowing down, doing something different, and, of course, reading poetry… Turns out, the kids love it too. They are so excited, helping me get out plates and candles and such.
Our poetry teatime begins. We have the difficulty of getting Charlotte to leave the dishes where they are set. Ava is so frustrated with Charlotte for messing up her table setting. I try to have a mini-chat with her about lowered expectations, but Wyatt starts chasing Charlotte, so we have to shelve that one. We all get seated, tea is poured, and munching ensues. Kids are content as they look through poetry books to decide what we’ll read. They are genuinely interested and I’m pretty pleased with myself for getting this far.
Ava reads first. She chooses “From the Passionate Shepherd, to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe. She sighs wistfully at the end and says, “I just love poems that have ‘thee’ in them.” She is a peculiar 6 year old, and I just can’t get enough of her.
Wyatt chooses the poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends where the guy is sitting on his own head. I remember he is the only boy in this tea party. Charlotte tears her Jamberry board book in half, at which point I notice a suspicious dark spot on her pillow and realize I haven’t taken her to the bathroom in an hour. Shooot. Everything grinds to a halt while I change her and start pillow clean up. During this interval, Wyatt and Ava get into a heated discussion about who should get the last square of (gluten free) rice crispy treat. I solve the dispute by eating it myself. Everyone agrees this was a sensible solution (ha!).
~Danielle
From her blog, Further Up and Further In.
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We have so enjoyed implementing your idea for “Tuesday Teatime.” We’ve been doing it fairly consistently for the past year or so, and now my 3 year old consistently associates Tuesday with teatime–and she’s not even being ‘schooled!’ We have enjoyed reading picture books mostly, but we also throw in a few chapter books we’re working on, some poetry as well, and occasionally we’ll analyze lyrics to some of our favorite songs. Lately, we picked apart TobyMac’s “Me Without You” and “Steal My Show” with plans to work on “MacDaddy” next.
Thank you again!
Jenn
My daughters and I held our first Tuesday Teatime today. They were so excited even though they really weren’t sure what it would involve. Indiana, age five, and Austin, age three, took turns picking poems for me to read based on the titles and pictures. It lasted for about eight minutes, but was definitely worth it. The build up and cake making were all part of the experience. We are all looking forward to next Tuesday!
Thank you,
Brittany
