December 2009 ISSUE 1

Contents3. Feature Story

Families Experience through Reading

4. Wanna learn to Juggle?

5. Share a Play Memory…Share your happy thoughts with us

TSM Book ReviewDreamstarter

6. SolutionsTantrums are not theEnd of the World

7. Treehouse Culture Sir Ken RobinsonCreativity Expert

8. Ordinary Peopledoing theExtraordinaryCatherine Bolt – Indonesian Orphanage Project

9. Wassup @ Treehouse Secrets?Follow our trek from imagination to reality, weneed your help…

10. Gotta go to Family SpotsFairy Park –as much for boysas for girls(grown ups too)

11. Competition Page

Creative Quotes

connect – with self, family, friends and community play – to set your imagination free laugh – to feed your soul share – with each other to connect

Welcome to TSM 1st IssueThank You for Subscribing to TSM Magazine.

We intend to help you use Play-Culture in youreveryday life and hope to stimulate your

imaginations with all things possible.

This magazine has been produced in the spirit ofTreehouse Secrets as a hub of information that

supports everything imaginative.

We look forward to your collaboration andcontributions to help grow a culture that will not

only inspire all that read it but helps you tobe inspirational to others.

Creating ripples of goodness that will overflow intothe mainstream for the betterment of humanity.

If TSM can create awareness and facilitate you inany way, hopefully you will pursue your element

and assist those around you in doing the same.

Looking forward to connecting with you,

Tracey SmytheImagineer

www.treehousesecrets.comtracey@treehousesecrets.com

Phone: Australia 0427664862

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Experience Family ExperiencesCreating memories – one of the best ways to create memoriesis to be a story family. If you’re not, it’s time to start now. Nomatter if your family is older or younger, start now and youwill be embarking on an enriching experience. It’s a greatsaying ‘the best things in life are free.’

Now, I can’t get that time back and I can’t recreate that time;but I can share it with you. Are they worse off for it? Not thatI can tell but I know I’ve missed that window of time to createwonderful memories. So be proactive and seize theopportunity to create half an hour on weeknights and get into it.

Choose your stories wisely, as this time is precious. Don’t bebadgered into reading everything you’re given by family andfriends. Pick books with great characters that you’d like to bearound or have around, as you could spend time threedimensionally in their presence if your child really loves them,does Bart conjure up what I’m trying to get across here? Pickage appropriate books and books you really like too, becauseyou may find yourself reading it again and again and again and,you know what I mean.It’s important for you to enjoy yourself and be enthusiastic, asthese are wonderfully contagious attitudes to share. To keep abook fresh, focus on different features each time you share itlike the illustrations, ask ‘what if’ questions and see whatdifferent outcomes surface, act out the story, do it in different

When my boys got to the age that they no longer required myassistance to read anymore, I was so caught up in theperception that I was busy, that I left them to it. We lapsed intowatching TV and videos for entertainment, before I evennoticed, we’d shut each other out and hardly talked to eachother.

Family story time will provide a platform forsharing, connecting, knowing each other

and interaction.

‘I promise you an enriching experience!’

accents, there are lots of different ways to keep the same storyfresh, get the picture?

Make sure all the grown ups get involved. Delight in hearingyour kids tell dad, ‘that’s not the way mum tells it’ and howNana or Pop end up wondering off the written story and startsharing their own stories. Older siblings will delight in beinggrown up enough to be the lead reader and don’t forget toincorporate your pets were ever possible (sometimes I changethe names to match ours).

The local libraries these days are incredible. They stock books,audio books, magazines, DVD’s and most have storytellingsessions all for FREE! Try to make it a regular outing, shareyour childhood favourites with your kids, find holiday booksand go on imaginary trips together, drool over cookbooks oreven give the recipes a try or check out books on mythologyand peer through your fingers at the spooky pictures – youwon’t regret it.

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Let your children see you buy books for gifts like foranniversaries, birthdays and other special occasions. If yourdaughter, like mine is besotted with Twilight, give her Bella’sfavourite books – the complete works of Jane Austen.

“You could make a family pactto read the book

before seeing the movie.”

This is great for encouraging family discussions, both beforeand after the movie. You can search on sites likewww.chasingthefrog.com/books/movie-books.php for lists ofbooks that are being released as movies and plan the yearahead and not miss out. It’s amazing watching teens realisethat no matter how wonderful a movie is, it never is quite asgood as what the book is. Proving the power of ourimaginations and how they soar. Don’t forget audio books,they can be listened to whilst doing other things like driving inthe car or out in the garden.

I didn’t discover reading until my thirties and that’s a lot ofbooks to catch up on. Reading has a trillion benefits and isprobably one of the reasons I struggled at school (as well as amillion other reasons).Here are some of the listed benefits:-

broadens vocabulary, ability to understand context and decipher meanings, sequencing as stories have a logical course of events, creativity as visualisation enhances creative skills, attentiveness as children are keen to hear what’s

coming next, absorbing great amounts of information, wider variety of verbal and intellectual skills and massive amounts of JOY.

$6 in your pocket3 – 5 year old boys gift pack

10% off until 14/12/09

(enter code: issue 1)www.treehousesecrets.com

How to Make your own Juggling Balls

Things You'll Need:

Balloons Rice (uncooked) ScissorsJuice bottle Funnel Measuring cup

Step 1.For each ball, you'll need 3/4 cup rice. You will need enoughrice for 3 balls.Step 2.Place the funnel over the bottle and pour 3/4 cup rice into thebottle.Step 3.Blow up the balloon to slightly larger than juggling ball size. Adiameter of 4 inches is ideal. Pinch the balloon opening to trapthe air.Step 4.Stretch the balloon opening over the bottle, being careful not torelease too much air.Step 5.Turn the bottle over so all the rice pours into the balloon.Step 6.Take the balloon off the bottle. Let the balloon deflate so that itclasps to the rice, forming a ball. Do this while the bottle isstill upside down, so the rice doesn't get everywhere.Step 7.Cut off the balloon neck. Again, be careful. You don't want ricespilling out of the hole. (maybe over a bowl)Step 8.Cut holes in 2 more balloons. You'll want to cut right below theneck (so the entire neck plus the upper portion of the balloonbody is severed). This will create a big-enough hole to stretchover the rice balloon.Step 9.Line up the hole on the rice balloon with the bigger hole youcut in the second balloon. Stretch the second balloon over thehole in the rice balloon, so it's tight.Step 10.Flip the ball, and stretch the third balloon over the first 2.Make sure your ball is no more than 2 balloons thick at anypoint. Think of the second and third balloons as a single coverfor the initial rice balloon. They shouldn't overlap. That'll justmake the juggling clunky.Step 11.Repeat until you have at least 3 juggling balls.Step 12.Go to the following site and practice with this lesson.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCt1bmSASCI&feature=fvst

PERSISTANCE IS THE KEY. 4

Share a Play Memory…

“I had this fabulous pretend restaurantat my Nana’s. It was her old home bar

and it stood next to the laundry outhouse,very authentic looking French café, if my memory serves me correctly.”

We would decide on the daily menu and then I’d have to chalkit up on the blackboard in coloured chalk. Then I’d pull out myorder pad and assist each table with their orders. Back in the

kitchen (laundry) Nanaand I would make upevery order with thefreshest, finest plasticine.Each plate would bedished up with loving careand look just like the realthing. I remember havingvery happy customers thatregularly attended ourcafé.

My Poppa knew I was acurious soul and he wouldoften return home from thetip with old radios andstereos. He would thenbring them to me - thefixer upperer for repairs.

I got to pull them to itsybitsy pieces. I loved thinking I knew how everything worked. Ididn’t of course because I never actually learnt how thingswent back together, but boy do I know how to pull things tobits.

These are some of my play memories with my grandparents. Itis so important to create memories, whether they wereconscious of that or not. Make it a choice and start creatingplay memories today.

Please share your childhood play memories with us here atTreehouse Secrets Magazine; we’d love to share with us.

Email us at tracey@treehousesecrets.com

TSM Book Review

Nothing is more wonderful than the endless possibilities ofyour own child’s imagination. That’s why you need to knowabout The Dreamstarter Book and its websitewww.dreamstarter.net. This book will jump start yours andyour child’s imagination and excite you both as you’llbecome the storytellers.

Jennifer Karin Sidford presents you with fifty excitingstory beginnings and a suggestion page on how to get theimagination fired up. Then it is up to you guys to dream upendless possibilities and grow the story any which way youwant. Jennifer has constructed wonderful, intricate,descriptive beginnings that have you sitting on the edge ofyour seat to hear what comes next….then the narration stopsand at first it takes just a little prompting and getting used to,then you find your budding story teller enhancing anddeveloping their own masterpiece of storytelling.

I’d recommend the book for five plus as it is the type of bookyou can grow with. It can be enjoyed in car trips, holidays,sleepovers and parties or used by teachers, baby sitters, carersand alike, if I had my way everyone would have a copy. TheDreamstarter Book takes a little practice at first, just to getthe flow happening, but you’ll observe with each read thatyour storyteller becomes a little more inventive and you willnotice just what a practical tool this book is at growing yourchild’s imagination (not to mention your own).

My delight only grew when I checked outwww.dreamstarter.net and found a truly amazing site thatencapsulates the concept as a whole. The site is more forseven plus and well worth the interaction. Dreamstarter willcreate your child’s own Birthday Dreamstarter Story forFREE.

So go aheadand knock!

Get startedwith

Dreamstarter.

5

There are skills to sharethat show you

‘Tantrumsare not the

End of the World’

I blame the supermarket checkouts, they are designed totorment children and test parent’s sanity. It is the ideal spotfor a tantrum to step in and possess your usually adorable rayof sunshine and turn her into a demon of apocalypticproportion. Complete with supersonic, ear shattering, teethjarring screams that pierce the air. The kicking, hitting,breathe holding, head banging, uncontrollable eruption makesyou want to run away and join a nunnery, never to entertainthe ideal of giving birth again.

There is a better way. Seize the moment (or several minutes)and treat the tantrum as an opportunity for self-education, self-discipline, to test your parenting skills and your ability tosurvive and remain rational.

“It is up to you to stay in control of you.Ignore where you are and who’s looking

and stay focused on yourtemporary misplaced bundle of joy.”

Understand this; tantrums are not a personal attack on you (itjust feels that way). If you become anxious, scream or physicalyou will validate all those behaviours and they have no placewhen a tantrum occurs.

Tantrums are a normal manifestation of frustration; every childwill have one (at least). They come in varying degrees ofloudness, physicality, length and repetition. There are twobasic types of tantrums 1. Frustration and 2. Manipulation andboth are treated very differently.

Frustration – Is common and we can all empathise with notbeing able to do or have something we want. It is important touse these emotional outbursts as an opportunity to bond withyour little conqueror. The greatest gift you can share with yourchild is speech, arm her with words to describe her feelings, itwill take a while but she will get to a stage of telling you whatgets her blood pressure pumping. Pick your moments to standyour ground wisely, if she says pink shirt and you say blue (tomatch the rest of that fabulous outfit you were coordinating),does it really matter? Let her have her independence, or whenshe orders ‘I’ll do it’ and starts to get tempered cause it justwont do what she wants, lend a guiding hand and assure her‘all will be right’, but let her finish the task. Offer independentthings for her to do, grown up things you usually hurrythrough, take the time to assist her but let her feel in charge, itis very empowering for her to be instrumental in her dailyroutine.

Manipulative – This tantrum is evolutionary, it’s not taught orlearned it’s innate. And before you know it, it escalates touncontrollable. This is where you get to strengthen yourparenting skills. Stay calm, remember to stay focused on yourchild and ignore your surroundings (unless you’re in themiddle of tram tracks). Calmly and firmly tell him ‘You aresafe and I can see you’re upset, I’ll be here when you’re readyto calm down and talk.’ Then stand clear and let him go for it.You cannot reason with him, you should only attempt to movehim if he is of a danger to himself or obstructing somebodyelse.

“Do not worry what anyone else thinks. Majority of us have been there and if they haven’t,

it will all be over before you know it and you’ll never see them again anyway. “

Be firm in both types of tantrums, if you weigh up the situationand decide that what you rule is golden, and then change yourmind thinking it will stop the tantrum. This confusion is onlyinviting more tantrums in the future. This is a valuable point;if you are going to buckle, do it before you declare your rule.This means that some things are not worth the frustration foreither of you. But if you do have to endure the angst of thetantrum remember they are normal, your child is not demonicand will outgrow them if you adhere to this advice.

If tantrums are too common, you may need to keep a tantrumjournal. List triggers, times of day, empty tummy, place ofevent, lack of sleep and it will become evident in a short timewhat is setting your child off. Then you’ll need to plan yourday around those triggers.

Remember to use words too after the tantrum, as this will helpwith future dialogue. Berating your child will damage theirself-esteem and add to their feeling of guilt, use reassuringbody language and comments like "You did it, you managed totake control. Good for you."

Although I think the supermarket check out is anexceptional permanent trigger sent to test us all.

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Are you living in your Element?I’d like to introduce you to Sir Ken Robinson if you have nothad the pleasure previously. Sir Ken is a Creativity Expertwho consistently works towards reforming our currenteducational systems and the following is an edited interviewwhere he shares with us why. Sir Ken and Treehouse Secretsshare a path in that we aim to facilitate humanity with what itneeds to tap into its creative imaginations, inspiring people tobe the best at what they choose to be. Enjoy….

“Education should beabout developing people’snatural abilities and yet in

many cases it divorcespeople form the very

talents that excite them.”

“Our schooling systems were inventedin the 18th and 19th centuries to meetthe needs of the Industrial Economy.In many ways they are based on theprinciples of industrialism. Theyfunction on linear processes ofplanning, it’s like a production line,it’s about conformity, and it’s about educating people inbatches. School systems have become kind of impoverished, asthey’ve gotten older. So, I really plan to revitalise them.When I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s there was an expectationof what your working life might be like. It shaped oureducation systems as about 80% of people in the industrialeconomy were doing manual labour work.”

“It’s clear that current education systems don’t connect withthe way kids learn, how they think or who they really are. So,a big piece of this for me is giving people back to themselves,giving them access to their own talents. I am convinced themore that people are in their element the more successful theybecome, because it is literally transformative to themselves andtheir own world.”

“The whole world in shifting on its axis, particularly throughthe growth of new technology and the huge growth inpopulation around the world and what we might do about it.There is an Economic revolution happening, the only way wecan contend with this is by having a much richer and muchmore acute sense of human capacity and we should bedeveloping all of our talent.”

“The good news is we can do that, we know how to do that andthe best way to prepare our kids for the future is to have themfiring on all cylinders. To really know what they are good atand be confident that they can do that. To lead by beingcreative, it’s about habits and habitats. The more we do thesame thing day in day out, the more we think the same way.”

“Do things differently, stimulate your imagination by doingthings you wouldn’t normally do. Speak to the people in yourbuilding that you’ve never spoken to before, go to work adifferent way, go to the opera, footy, boating, play ping-pong,jump a skipping rope, hula a hoop. Open your mind to newpossibilities and new experiences. Being creative may mean

finding new ways of expressing yourself and the people whoachieve the most have found their medium, they’re in theirelement and they love the thing that they do. Open yourself tothings you take for granted.”

“How we think and how well we think is influenced by theenvironment we live in, work in, the way we configure thedesk, the building and how we relate to each other.Redesigning your office space, your home layout andredesigning the physical relationships between you and otherpeople can have a huge liberating effect on your whole creative

capacity.”

“The thing is if you are aleader, if you run a country, acompany, a family or a school,you can’t make people develop,you can’t make them creative,you can’t make them find theirtalent. Anymore than a farmercan make a plant grow, theplant grows itself.What you do is you provide theideal condition for growth.You create different socialclimates, institutional climates,where people give it their bestand become their best.”

“It’s what I believe great leaders do,they understand the optimum conditions for

growth.”

“Education ideally would have interdisciplinary sessions wereyou would learn math through theatre and you would applymath as a way of enhancing dance for example. Creating adynamic curriculum that is more broadly based, more tailoredto your particular interests that catered to your different talentsand abilities. You should be allowed to focus on them, as itwould be far more interactive. Also inter-age learning asindividuals progress individually, and I think more adultsshould be involved in education. The good news is it’s not atheory. You find schools like this allover the world, really good schools, which are out performingconventional schools in almost every way.”

If you have enjoyed our brief interlude with Sir Ken Robinson then

check out his genuinely funny and informative presentation at TED

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4964296663335083307 and have a look

at other things on TED also, it’s afantastic look at what people are doing

about the future of our planet. Sir Ken’slatest book is The Element if you trulywant to implement change in your life,

find your element and allow those aroundyou to find theirs.

7

“ M y n a m e i sCatherine Bolt. Myhusband and I have ablended family of 9children – 8 boys and1 girl – aged 2.5 to 18who, to us, are themeaning of life.”

We live organically on a mountain in the beautiful SunshineCoast of QLD, Australia and run a sustainable living andalternate therapies website called The Elements at Eumundiwww.lifestylesanctuary.com.au, 50% of the profits go to fundthe Indonesian orphanage project. After a lifetime of creativityI am finally comfortable in calling myself an artist, please feelfree to check out my photography portfolio. 100% of theprofits go to the Indonesian orphanage project.

Whilst I don’t feel I deserve to call myself a Buddhist just yet, Itry to live by the basic principals of Buddhism as much aspossible.

About the Indonesian Orphanage/WildlifeRefuge Project

Every night 1.8 million children in Indonesia sleephomeless. For most of us that number is unfathomable.

Over 50% of Indonesians survive onless than $2US per day. Of the500,000 children in Indonesianorphanages today, almost 90% stillhave a living parent. They just simplycannot afford to feed them and out ofdesperation, many of these childrenare dumped in hope that someonemore fortunate may be able to givethem a better life.

“EVERYONEhas the power to make some

change in the world.”

Well, I am someone more fortunateand while my family is not wealthy,by any means, we plan to make adifference. In a country like Indonesiawhere so many people are so verypoor, a lot can be achieved with less money than one mightexpect. We are ordinary people, living an ordinary life – weare no different to you. I don’t expect everyone to give upeverything. I don’t expect everyone to build an orphanage. ButEVERYONE can do something. Whether you donate to ourproject, or one of the dozens of other aid agencies, whether youjust extend the hand of friendship to a colleague or stranger orwhether you just take a “man in the mirror” moment and be thechange that you want to see in the world.

Project Overview

Orphanage/Village – The plan is to establish anorphanage on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Whencomplete the village will consist of 18 x 3 bedroom homes,each housing up to 8 children and a housemother. The systemis based on effective plans in Africa, where the children areraised in a loving family environment, rather than in hugedormitories with 40+ children to a room. An investigation intothe conditions in Indonesian orphanages in 2007 showed thatmost “childcare institutions” in Indo did not consider theemotional wellbeing of the children to be the responsibility ofthe institution. The first stage of the orphanage will consist of 4cabins, increasing to 10 and then 18 over 5 years. The villagewill also include a school, community centre including amedical centre, and a staff residence. The orphanage will bebuilt using sustainable methods using the principals of solarpassive design. The entire village will also be solar poweredwith rainwater collection. We hope to be able to employ localpeople for the construction and offer long term employment tosome of those men for building maintenance and villageexpansion over the coming years. It is our hope that we will beable to place the first children at the village in early 2011.

Outreach Program – Given the number of children whoend up in these institutions due to their families desperation forthem to have a better life, we plan to run an outreach programwhich means approaching smaller villages with less prospects,liaising with the community and through consultation withtheir local authorities building them a school, we would thenprovide schooling for the village children, and one meal perday. We believe this would eradicate the need for the familiesin these villages to abandon their children, and lessen the

burden on the already overflowingorphanages. We would also be ableto offer medical assistance to thosein need through the orphanagemedical centre.

Wildlife Refuge & Reforestationprogram – I’m sure you’re awareof the dire situation in Indonesia atthis given time due to thedeforestation of the native habit forthe local wildlife. This has seen therapid decline in species such as theSumatran Tiger and the Orang-utanover recent years. Our programintends to include a conservationprogram, whereby each child whoschools with us will have wildlifeconservation as a key-learningoutcome, and the children will beable to participate in a refugeprogram for displaced animals. We

hope that by getting these children up-close and personal withthis amazing wildlife, and instilling an understanding or theimportance of wildlife conservation they will be more inclinedto carry that with them into their future lives. In the short term,we would envisage providing refuge primarily for orphaned &injured orang-utans, possibly extending to include otheranimals in future. Eventually we would like to be able to buyup some of the land which has been destroyed by palm oilplantations, and commence a reforestation program to expandthe corridors of native habitat that are remaining. 8

We will be negotiating with existing programs to offer asupport role to them using our land and resources, as this is notour area of expertise and we will need direction from thoseestablished.

Funding for the Project

We are counting on the kindness and generosity of the greatercommunity to raise a large percentage of the money requiredfor this ambitious project. I have also started a program whichwill be continued by the house mothers in the village to raise aresidual income to maintain the program – this is recyclingunused/unwanted clothing and fabric items and making theminto saleable fashion and homeware items, such as bags,placemats, quilts, aprons, pillow covers etc. We are alsomaking wedding items from donated wedding dresses(including my own). I should have enough stock made up for a

Wassup @ Treehouse Secrets?

After two years in development, TreehouseSecrets are now in a position to take thiswell planned concept to the investors toseek funding.

Our brand of entertainment is the first of itstype and we plan to be the innovators in thisnew industry. We are bringing theatre backto the people in a way not experienced before.

Treehouse Secrets provides quality,immersive entertainment in an array ofsensory environments that facilitate

decent stall at the Eumundi Markets by summer (hopefullymid-late October) continuing indefinitely.

Long term we plan to start a sponsorship program – as themajor foreign aid agencies do.

Look out for charity events in 2010!

The donation of goods & services will lessen theneed for cash donations and we are gratefully

accepting these also. Please visitwww.catherinebolt.com and click on the

‘How to Help’ button.

*****

your imaginations to be involved asmuch as you choose to be.

Our performers will share an adventure withyou that will live on in your memory as the‘Experience that had to be had, to Believe.’

Let us take you back to a childhood of makebelieve, where anything was possible. Or letus show your children what it can be like to lettheir creative imaginations run free.

Treehouse Secrets Attraction plans to be openin Surfers Paradise QLD, Australia byNovember 2010. This will be the only attractionin Australia, although the success of thisattraction will guarantee that a restructuredcommunity based Treehouse Secrets will beopening in locations around the majormetropolitan areas of Australia and eventuallyaround the global village.

Creating a new commercial platform forPerformers to work in their element. Anindustry that is people driven creatingjobs for creatives.

Finally there will be family entertainmentthat’s appealing to everyone of every ageto enjoy together. Stay tuned and we’llupdate you of our plight as it happens andwe would be grateful if you could go towww.treehousesecrets.com and fill in thesurvey that will help to bring Treehouse Secretsinto reality.

Tracey SmytheImagineer

9

‘Gotta go to Family Spot’

Now, some may shrug at the name and say I’m tooold for Fairytales or a Fairy Park, but this FairyPark at Anakie, Victoria, Australia is soooo muchmore.

I’ve been a regular visitor over the last twenty years and theattraction recently went through a much-loved renovation thatsaw the place brought into a new era.

Drive about 40 minutes west of Werribee, towards the west,and a volcanic rock appears with a castle sitting atop of it, thenyou will realise you have arrived at Fairy Park.

Prepare for a fairytale experience that the whole family willenjoy. From the car park at the base of the rock your journeystarts. Following the yellow brick path that is full of hiddensurprises for you to discover, you come across 22 favouritefairytale themed cottages, castles and cave that come to life.

At the summit of the rock a breathtaking view awaits you, notto mention the stunning gardens and water features set amongstthe natural boulders that bulge abundant on your journey to thesummit and down. The paths are well planned and make thejourney accessible to all ages.

There is no shortage of facilities back at the car park – bbq’s,picnic tables, undercover kiosk, toilets and the brilliantplayground, Camelot.

With all the new wonderful playgrounds available today,Camelot is still my favourite. Beware the Knight in the towerwaiting to spray the unexpected with water. Explore secretpassages and tunnel mazes of this medieval playground.Climb daring towers, creep through darkest dungeons, rescuedamsels in distress, but beware of Merlin and his magic tricks!Mystical creatures, a carousel ride, giant slide and things thatturn ‘n spin will keep both parents and kids busy for hours. Betotally awestruck by this amazing creation and enjoyAustralia's most unique playground.

This is a full day of top quality, immersed entertainment thattransports you to a magical place, a brilliant backdrop forphotos galore. Be sure to take water bottles and hat each forthe walk as summer can get pretty warm there and wear plentyof sunscreen with extra to last you the whole day.

For General Enquiries & BookingsCall: (03) 5284 1262 or email: info@fairypark.com2388 Ballan RoadAnakie 3221Victoria, Australia.

www.fairypark.com - quite magical!Their site answers all your questions 10

Email us a photograph of your child displayingtheir most creative finger painting.

Competition is open to 3 – 5 year olds.Include your child’s name and D.O.B and your

contact details. Closes December 15th, 2009.

**Winner will be a random choice from submissions at thediscretion of Treehouse Secrets and we expect you to let

QUOTE CORNERThe Storyteller’s Creed - I believe thatimagination is stronger than knowledge.

Stories have power. They delight, enchant,touch, teach, inspire, motivate, andchallenge. They help us understand. Theyimprint a picture on our minds.

If you tell me, it’s an essay. If you show me,it’s a story.

Stories can conquer fear, you know. Theycan make the heart bigger.

Stories are the creative conversion of lifeitself into a more powerful, clearer, moremeaningful experience. They are thecurrency of human contact.

Please understand that the winner’s photo will be used in the next issue.

The lucky winner will win aLet’s get Musical Gift Pack from Treehouse Secrets

Winner notified by email and delivery arranged.

your children know this is not the perceived best painting.

Australian Aborigines say that the big stories,the stories worth telling and retelling, the onesin which you may find the meaning of yourlife are forever stalking the right teller,sniffing and tracking like predators huntingtheir prey in the bush.

It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.—Native American saying

If stories come to you, care for them and learn tto give them away where they are needed.Sometimes a person needs a story more thanfood to stay alive.

‘Thou shalt not’ is soon forgotten, but ‘Onceupon a time’ lasts forever.

You have to understand that the shortestdistance between truth and a human being isa story.

11.