winter nature table ideas?

[cera]

I'm not Waldorf per say but I am very Waldorf inspired and spend a lot of time perusing the Waldorf forum. I have wanted to incorporate a nature table into our home for some time but have just not gotten around to it as I am not quite sure where to begin, lol. I know it is simple enough. I have decided to just buckle down and do it though. But I am stumped for ideas, I have a white playsilk and some wooden polar bears (from mamakopp) and I suppose I could go outside tomorrow and forage through our backyard for a bare branch maybe, beyond that I am lost. I have checked flickr for ideas but I have no winter gnomes (though I guess I could just make one wearing white using a little peg guy, do I even have white felt?) no pine cones ugh I feel so frustrated. (They actually had some beautiful large pine cones at my local thrift shop the other day for 10 cents each and I was going to buy a few but they had little spikes on them!! ouch) Please spam me with your ideas.

[mum21andtwins]

Send out your boys with a basket and tell them to find treasures for your seasonstable. then dive into your stash and see what you have available. a white silk for snow is a great start, do you have an icy blue one? what about quarzt crystals start small and build on from there. I love the boek de seizoenentafel by van leeuwen & moeskops I'm not too sure what the english title is but searching amazon on the author names will get you to the book.
Hth!

[boatbaby]

Sounds like you have a good start. nature tables should not be a labor. They evolve throughout the season and throughout your little one's childhood.

Our first winter one was a little bare. But then again, winter where we live is pretty bare too. I usually lay out a silk and let DS fill it out as he wants to. He finds great joy in plucking this and that from the ground and trees and declaring "This is for my nature table!"

We don't buy things for out nature table and you shouldn't feel you have to either. It can get expensive and it's not about the "stuff". For our style buying too many trinkets defeats the idea. Everything is brought in from outside or made by DS and I. Sometimes a candle will find its way in there. A small vase with some flowers (or in winter some sicks). Looking over now we have the white play silk, and orange pomander, pine cones, branches of greens, rocks, sticks, oyster shells, some random chunks of wood (cut bottoms of Christmas trees that DS grabbed off the ground at a tree selling place), home made gnomes/ Tomtens, and a paper chain we made of holiday junk catalogs.

I wish I could take a photo, but my camera broke a month ago.

Just walk around your yard, local park, nature preserve with a bag and have at it. Let it evolve. Make it something that comes from your child, slowly over the season. Usually by the time the table feels "done", we're ready for the next season.

Good luck!

[Hannahsmummy]

I agree that it doesn't need to be an elaborate display at all. It sounds like you have a lovely start. Ours never has bought items on it at all. This year for winter we have white silks, a couple of crystals and other ice blue stones, pinecones, our "tree"(a branch that looks like a tree) that we add different wool too depending on the season. Right now the tree is bare except a little while wool as snow. We also have some birch bark, a pine branch and a couple of bare sticks. The centerpiece is king winter which I made from felt, wool and foil!

There is a thread here with photos, including ours:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1010670

[MamaBirdEmma]

Here are some photos of our first one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/charmin...7611698454953/

[cera]

So I have updated my sad little table a bit today. It is not so much a tale actually but a large square wooden tray I own and love placed for now on top of an ottoman by the window that rarely gets and use. I have placed a small white playsilk, which I am thankful I never got around to dying, our polar bears (mamakopp), a cardinal in a nest (mamakopp){I thought all birds flew south for winter, thanks for this idea), a nice clear/white stone I found in our seashell collection and last night I stayed up and made a little winter gnome with a peg person and some white felt. I would still like to give him a long wintery beard but I do not own and white yarn or wool I also would like to take the kids out to forage inthe yard but there is just sooo much snow right now I'm afraid we won't be able to find anything as it's wasit high on me!! So it's looking a bit better thankfully but I would really like a bare branch or two. I appreciate everyone's input and am still open to more suggestions.