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Any fellow Wildcraft fans out there? We got this game as a Christmas gift from my sister and, from the moment I opened it, I was in love. It’s got everything that makes my inner nature-nerd swoon! We’ve played it several times since then, and my daughters have already learned so much. We love incorporating games into our homeschool routine, so it was a perfect fit for our nature-based homeschool.
If you love this game as much as we do, you can imagine my excitement when I found out that the company that makes it, Learning Herbs, also has an entire year-long curriculum based on foraging for, and using, different medicinal herbs. Every month focuses on a new herb, such as calendula, stellaria, dandelion, and burdock. The curriculum includes 13 months of materials, and is meant to cover each herb in the optimal season for finding it.
The way this program is designed is perfect for our book-loving, nature-centered homeschool. Every month, the featured herb is presented in a book about an herb fairy. These stories reminded us a bit of the Magic Treehouse series–they’re full of adventure, important lessons about friendship, and of course, information about identifying and using different herbs. Once you’ve read the book, there are recipes, coloring pages, and journaling worksheets that you can do with your children to bring what you’ve learned to life.
We are so excited to add this program to our nature studies for the next year! We started in March with the first book, Stellaria’s Big Find. (Stellaria is the chickweed fairy.) The girls loved the story and wanted to look for chickweed to use in the recipes, but it was still a bit early for foraging much of anything here in Colorado. The next book is about violets, and we’ve already found plenty to use as we read through it and complete the activities. We’ve also decided to include as many of the featured herbs in our garden as we can this year, so we ordered seeds from Baker Creek for chamomile, marshmallow, lemon balm, calendula, violets, and plantain. Starting and caring for these plants will add yet another dimension of learning opportunities for the girls.
(You can grab a free digital copy of Book One: Stellaria’s Big Find by clicking here!)
We have set aside the second and fourth Fridays of the month for Herb Fairies foraging / gathering, recipes, and journaling pages. The books will be included in our morning basket selections. I created binders for the girls to keep their coloring pages and journal entries, and a master binder for me with all of the other goodies (recipes, songs, and additional folklore / stories about each herb.)
And, of course, we will continue enjoying Wildcraft, along with the program. I’m so excited for the year ahead! We already have SO much nature study and nature-based learning in store but this was such a great discovery, and will be a wonderful addition to our learning. I love how the program incorporates the stories with hands-on recipes and the opportunity to look for the herbs ourselves. And the journaling pages are beautiful!
Want to take a peek at the Herb Fairies? You can grab a free digital copy of Book One: Stellaria’s Big Find by clicking here!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary membership to the Herb Fairies Book Club. I am not receiving any payments for reviews, and was not required to review the program or share it on social media, in blog posts, or anywhere else. I did, however, accept an affiliate offer for their program. All opinions presented are my own, and reflect our genuine excitement about this wonderful resource! If you have any questions about the program, feel free to reach out. And keep your eyes open in the coming week for opportunities to learn about the program through a free webinar.
Entry to the Herb Fairies Book Club only happens once a year, for a very small window, so be sure to grab your free book and learn about it while you can!
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