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Writer's pictureFranzi Shelton

The Power of Fairytales

Updated: Jun 22, 2021

Last weekend, I created a little window theater for Emma. All you need is a mini playsilk (I used a rainbow play silk from Sarah's Silks) as well as a regular size play silk (I used the midnight collection by Sarah's Silks ) to create the “stage”. Then, using a pencil, trace an outline of any fairytale character onto white printer paper, color it in with a black marker, and cut it out. Attach wooden skewers and potentially brass fasteners to move your shadow characters.


A fairy tale book was the first gift I was given after birth. My father had picked out a beautifully illustrated book for my mama and I, wrote a note inside, and brought the book to the hospital where I was born. It was published by Diogenes Verlag and was simply called ‘the big fairy tale book’. Maybe it was this early gift or the many hours I spent curled up on my mama’s lap listening to her sweet voice, but I have always felt such a strong connection to the land of fairy tales. My mama never edited the fairy tales and taught me that while humans do undergo trials and suffering, there usually is a reward of the end of every obstacle paved path. In Waldorf education, fairy tales make up a central component of a child’s education. They introduce archetypes and provide children with an opportunity to come to terms with the struggles of their own inner lives.


“In the art and fantasy of fairy tales lies a very deep wisdom which has power to awaken children from the sleep of ordinary life. Forces of healing are also hidden in each fairy tale. The most important effect of the fairy tale is that they stimulate the feeling that man is a being of development, of struggle, of metamorphosis, and that behind all the adverse forces of giants and dwarfs, witches and demons there lies the good world of the true genius of man.” ~ Frederick Hiebel


Emma was also gifted a fairy tale book upon birth. We chose “Grimm’s Fairytales” illustrated by the incredible talented Daniela Drescher.




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