nature table

[mcmrymoon]

i want to set up a nature table starting with spring. i need ideas on setting one up. what do you use as a background? what things do you add? etc. pics would be great - or online references too!

thanks!

[lupineperriwinkle]

We will be setting up our first table this spring as well. I know there are pictures over at Amity. I have seen silks and twigs used for backgrounds as well as mirrors or painted scenes done by children. My Mom made Maya some birds nests and we will put them in a "tree" of twigs with eggs and expand from there.

[mom2kbeth]

Right now on our late winter nature table, we have a brown silk on the bottom for mud, with a white ailkgoing all around the edges to represent the remaining snow (although after yesterday, we have a ton of snow all over everything here!). We have a Grandmother Thaw doll that I made sweeping away the rest of the snow. We have a frozen pond, but 2 ducks have appeared on it this week. We have 3 root children hwo are partially covered with the snowy silk. We have a tree that stays on the nature table all year; right now, it has a white silk wrapped around it's base (dd says the tree is growing on a snowy hill) and it completely bare. We have snowflake fairies hanging from the cornice boards above and seeds sprouting in window "greenhouses" behind it. We also have a Father Winter doll in the background.

Next week, as we start reading more spring stories and celebrating Ostara, we will add some green wool buds to our bare tree. We will keep the snow until we have none left here in CT. We will start to add animals to the table as we see them return to our yard. We will also start to add bugs. Flowers and flower fairies, with crocuses first, will be added, as will a Spring doll and a regular, not frozen pond will replace the frozen one. When we blow and color eggs, we will add these, with natural baskets and the living Ostara basket we are planning.

We are also adding some things for St. Patrick's Day next week. I am working on a needle felted leprechaun with a pot of gold, and will be dyeing 2 rainbow silk streamers tomorrow to hand from the cornice boards above the table. We will also make some Celtic fairies with green/orange/white tissue paper to hand with our snow fairies.

[mcmrymoon]

mom2kbeth,
that sounds absolutely beautiful! have you been working on it over years? i'd never be able to set something that elaborate up this time around :)

[mom2kbeth]

mom2kbeth,
that sounds absolutely beautiful! have you been working on it over years? i'd never be able to set something that elaborate up this time around :)

I made Grandmother Thaw last year. The root children only took me an hour to felt the three of them (and they were really easy - the first thing I ever needle felted!). The snowflake fairies my dd and I did in just a few minutes as well. We cut tissue paper squares in winter colors (white, purple, light and dark blue) and layered 2 sqaures, pinched in the center and twisted them up in the center. put that center twist through the hole in a small wooden bead (for the head) and cover the opening at the top with a small piece of tissue paper for a hat. We plan on making new ones that way for each season/holiday.

I got some of my ideas from another MDC mama, Annettemarie, who has a great yahoogroup called Everyday Waldorf. And osme of the stuff was our idea, or things we have been collectin gfor the past couple of years. :)

[rainbowmoon]

ohhh lots of great ideas here!

we are starting our first nature table as well (for spring).so far here's what I'm planning to make/use

spring colored playsilks
flower petal faeries (sewn from felt)
spring maiden doll
felted flowers, chicks & eggs
bird nest made out of felt (this is actually part of a puppet but thought it would go well with the spring theme & the felted chicks& eggs will fit in there nicely)
spring faery mobile

[mcmrymoon]

i had a lightbulb moment this afternoon :love

i am going to start my nature table outside! i have 1/2 barrels that i am making into different themed gardens. the one on the porch will be a fairy/gnome garden. i'm going to plant grass, small plants, moss, have a little pond, pebble path etc and find a suitable outdoor house! i have it totally pictured in my head - if it turns out it will be beautiful!!! :LOL i will definitely post pics - seasonal ones too! my goal is not to buy a single item for this garden!

very excited to start!!!! :thumb

[Zoo Loo Naturals]

i am going to start my nature table outside! i have 1/2 barrels that i am making into different themed gardens. the one on the porch will be a fairy/gnome garden. i'm going to plant grass, small plants, moss, have a little pond, pebble path etc and find a suitable outdoor house! i have it totally pictured in my head - if it turns out it will be beautiful!!!


Awesome! My girls have one they did themselves. They are 6 and 4. It moves around alot and they are always fixing it up and changing things. It's so cute to go out in the morning and see who is living in it. We always talk about if fairies have visited in the night and gnomes. Of course the cats have come to take a drink from the water bowls/pond. Their father made them a wooden lean-to with bark for the roof and sides. It is also home to Mary and Jesus around Christmas.

I have a baker friend who makes little tiny paths through his garden moss complete with small pebble pathways and tiny gems and shells and all kinds of sweet things. He has no children, but mine so enjoy his works of art. It is very relaxing. :)

Have fun!

[HotMama]

I got some of my ideas from another MDC mama, Annettemarie, who has a great yahoogroup called Everyday Waldorf. And osme of the stuff was our idea, or things we have been collectin gfor the past couple of years. :)

I'd love a link to that group!

As soon as we have space again (we're re-modeling) I am putting a tree in the center of our nature table. I love the honoring the changes of the year through the tree. It is very appropriate for the Pacific Northwest, where much of the turning of the year is marked in the changes in the trees and the depth of mud in the yard.

Off to felt some chicks before next weekend!

[annettemarie]

Hey, that's my group!
Here's a link
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Everyday_Waldorf/
Also, I have some nature table pics on my blog (link is in my signature)

Annette

[lupineperriwinkle]

It's an awesome group! I have gotten 3 of the e-mails so far and love it. Thanks for taking the time and giving us such wonderful ideas :love

[annettemarie]

Well, gosh, thanks. It's definitely a labor of love!

[rainbowmoon]

just wanted to say I am loving your group as well anettemarie! :thumb I have enjoyed reading through the archives, such great ideas!

[Earth Angel]

hi!!...I just joined your group too.....thanks for helping me keep this all together :love

[ArlyShellandKai]

You can make a really nice nature table by purchasing one of those round end tables that you screw the legs on ( about 5.00 from walmart or outlet type stores) cut the legs a bit so its a nice toddler level. Cover with different cloths and VOILA! We also made flower fairies with artificial flowers we pulled apart, pipe cleaners and wooden balls. We hung them over the NT. It came out really cute and believe it or not our DS 17 months only once took everything off the table now he keeps it their and even adds some of his lil cars :D


Michele

[knittingmomma]

Our nature table is actually a nature shelf - just high enough that our little one can't pull at it....
We use play silks for the background - just draped over a nail on each end...
Usually a picture hung up under it...

We have natural objects the children have collected from outside and then for spring my knitted hen and chicks, a spring princess gnome, hand crocheted robin's nest with eggs, my daughter's hand made spring gnome and some forsythia (sp) in some water....

Warm wishes,
Tonya

[mpeel]

I have been taking part in a lot of nature table trades this spring. We got a beautiful rainbow silk that is hanging on the wall above. Mother nature is always there. I also traded for some root children bendies and baby felt turtles. I knit a nest and the girls painted some eggs. We bought a feather cardinal from the craft store to sit on the nest. Beth was quite upset we had to get a boy. We have river rocks and usually a vase of flowers but here many of the cutable spring flowers are alread giving way to the summer flowers. Our summer table with have to be up soon. We have a yellow silk for the bottom layer this year. Between now and next spring, I hope to get a green one dyed. We have a forest green but the girls informed me that is a summer color. I am planning on knitting a bunny and some gnomes. I gave the first gnome I knit to my nephew. I am also planning on making a bendy Mother Nature and more root children by winter so the can sleep on the corn husks. I am now looking for felt bugs.

[HotMama]

What's a nature table trade?

[annettemarie]

What's a nature table trade?

I've been involved in a couple- everyone makes a dozen of one thing, and then sends it and a flat rate priority stamp to one house. Then the coordinator makes boxes, and everyone gets twelve new nature table items. I was part of a Waldorf ornament exchange like this, and an Easter exchange, and I loved it.

[mpeel]

The one I was involved with was a little different. We all posted what we were ISO and what we had or could make and we just swapped with someone that had what we wanted and they needed something we had or made.

[ecomommy]

Hello!

I am so excited to find this post! I was thinking about setting up a nature table recently and I love these ideas!

I also joined Everyday Waldorf and I look forward to talking to others and getting lots of ideas there.

Are you going to a nature table trade? I would be interested.

Ann

[AngelBee]

What exactly is a nature table? :bag:

[HotMama]

I've been involved in a couple- everyone makes a dozen of one thing, and then sends it and a flat rate priority stamp to one house. Then the coordinator makes boxes, and everyone gets twelve new nature table items. I was part of a Waldorf ornament exchange like this, and an Easter exchange, and I loved it.
I would be way into that...is it something you did here? I think I'm a bit full of sewing for the summer (making a few dolls for sale, and spending lots of time outside), but the Fall would be a great time for me to do this. Maybe even a seasonal thing, with appropriate creatures for our nature tables all year. Hmmm...

OK, I propose a nature table swap for next Fall Equinox...I make cute little root children. Anyone else interested in planning that far ahead? Then of course I'd want to do winter! What a great idea :thumb

[mom2kbeth]

I've done a few nature table swaps this spring (all on Amity). I have 3 going on right now as well. I would be interested in doing one for the fall though, when I don't have 20 things to make, lol!

[HotMama]

What's Amity?

[mpeel]

OK, I propose a nature table swap for next Fall Equinox...I make cute little root children. Anyone else interested in planning that far ahead? Then of course I'd want to do winter! What a great idea :thumb

I like that idea. I love root children. I am contemplating making some root children bendies to go with my MotherNature. But, I want to finish Mother Nature first and have not gotten to the craft store yet.

[AngelBee]

What exactly is a nature table? :bag:
:bag:

[ecomommy]

Hey AngelBee,

Let's see..how would I describe a nature table. It's a Waldorf thing (and please anyone, correct me if I'm wrong!). I took DD to a Waldorf mom n' me preschool play group for a while. The nature table is a table set up some where in your house that reflects the changes that are taking place outside in nature. So for example in the winter you would have maybe a bare branch and a snow cloth on the table. Towards Spring you might add root children, which where then repalced by flower fairies. And the bare branch would have flowers and leaves (maybe real, maybe out of felt). It's always changing and it reflects your family as well. I have done an Advent nature table for the past two Decembers and my kiddos really have enjoyed it. I think the idea behind the whole nature table is that children absorb and learn about the changing seasons through colors and images and helps them to understand the cycles of the day, month, year, life.

I'm sure that you would find lots of info if you did a search for "nature table" on the internet.

I hope that answer some of your questions.

Ann

[annettemarie]

I have some nature table pics here:
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=annettemarie&tab=weblogs&uid=224382946
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=annettemarie&tab=weblogs&uid=217099431

[mrs_oli]

I'm glad to have found this thread too! We'll be setting up our first Nature Table soon so I love reading all the ideas. Especially about making it ona shelf...i can just see my 2 little ones constantly "rearranging" everything...lol
I read somewhere that a family used the cubby in their entertainment unit (where the TV would go) to set up their table. I like that idea since we're trying to eliminate tv watching also.