Hi. I'm Kerry. I think this is my second post here (1st on intro board). I've been lurking on the sewing board forever and I figured I should just jump in!
Um, I hope this is the right forum to ask this question. I'm really interested in creating a nature table for my almost-4yo son. (My 16 month old would eat it all!) I've read about these tables in the Earthways book, but I'm still slightly confused about it.
How big is your nature table (i.e. would a little tray table do?)?. Do you put mostly seasonal crafts on it (e.g. bendies) or is it mostly natural items (i.e. acorns, flowers)? Is the idea mostly like an open doll-house along natural lines, like to promote imaginative role-play? I'm trying to figure out how to set one up. The most we've tried so far was to plant grass inside in a box, but it molded. Also, while I have a wide variety of dolls around, it doesn't seem to catch my son's interest. He's very creative, but his role-play revolves around talking to his cars, not his dolls. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate some new things into his play-life.
Thank you for any suggestions! And it's nice to meet you!
Welcome Kerry! Do a search on this forum for nature tables or just take a peek at some of the old posts. There are lots of creative people here who make things suitable for nature tables.
We don't have room for one so we will be using the top of Maya's book shelf soon. Some people have a separate table, use a mantle or have a special "spot" in their homes from what I have seen. A tray is a great idea though.
I have a 4 1/2 yo dd and a 13 mo ds. Currently our nautre table is a "train table" in the living room. Ds is constantly climbing on top of it and eating the things we have made. Dd and I must reassemble the table 50 times a day. We are in the process of making our old computer room into a "nature room" and will be moving the nature table in there once we are done. It will then be the top of the dresser, so ds will not be able to eat everything. We will bring it back into the living room on the lower able when he outgrows the "putting everything in his mouth" phase.
Right now our table is in transition, as the seasons are. We have a brown silk covering the table, for mud, since our front yard is knee deep in mud right now. Going around the edges of the table is a bunched up white silk, for the remaining snowdrifts we still have. We have a bare white tree in the center of the table. This is there through every season. Yesterday dd and a friend decorated the tree with tiny little egg decorations and some other Easter/Ostara decorations (lambs, bunnies, chicks, etc.). There is a deer sitting next to the tree. For dolls we have Grandmother Thaw, sweeping the last of the snow. Father Winter is still there, but we will be putting him away on Sunday morning in exchange for our brand new Spring Maiden. We have three root children, but they are still buried underneath the snow playsilk. They will be uncovered on Sunday morning as well. We have a frozen pond, which we will exchange for a nice blue pond on Sunday. There are snowflake fairies hanging over the table from the window box; we will be making spring colored flower fairies this weekend to put in their place. There is also a rainbow playsilk hanging from the ceiling from St. Patrick's Day, that we will keep up because it is really pretty.
Dd loves ot play with the stuff on the table, and loves to find natural things outside to add to the table. We also add crafts to the table, the window behind (there are currently 3 bean plants in little "greenhouses" hanging on the window) and the window box above.
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Bonnie
WAHomeschooling Mama to McKenna Elizabeth (8.00) and Holden (2.04)
A nature table can be anysize table you want. You can use things you find on nature walks or you can make things for it. Mainly you want to use the most natural materials possible. Silks and cotton cloth for backdrops. Crystals, rocks, sticks, roots, etc for props. Wool dolls and bendies and animals for scenes. Basically the sky is the limit. You can make a seasonal table changing it every season and adding things to it. Or you can change it with every holiday. Or you can even do storybook themes for your table.
Before I moved, we used our fireplace as our nature table. Our fireplace had never been used (we live in Texas and its just not cold enough here to bother with a fireplace) so we put it there. I actually liked it.
I haven't had a nature table since we moved. We don't have the space, living with FIL, but we just got a house and will be moving in, in about a month and a half. So we will have a nature table then.
Sometimes out nature table ends up being the center piece on the dining room table. The older kidlettes just crawl up on the table and arrange at will with Augusta (16 mos) hollaring from below. LOL.
Thank you. You've given me some great food for thought, wrt the possibilities. Maybe I'll see if I can find one of those wooden trays with handles and start from there. We can always go bigger, esp when my toddler stops gnawing on everything! I think my 3yo would just be pleased to have somewhere to put the little treasures he finds on our walks. Thank you again.
Ours is a "sofa table" type of table. It takes on many roles...all that you mentioned (place for bits of nature found on walks or while playing outside, "dollhouse" of sorts, place for seasonal crafts) and also, from time to time, there's a bit of religious significance as well. We homeschool so there's a bit of science lesson tossed in too.
I have a 4yr old and a 9yr old. My 9yr old daughter likes to add her seasonal crafts. She likes to play with it like a dollhouse. And she adds things she finds outside. My 4yr old son likes it when our display ties in a book or story. He also likes to add things he finds outside. And he enjoys is when a holiday is tied in. For him it's a reason to pay attention to nature and notice the seasonal changes. My daughter enjoys arranging dolls on it...my son enjoys stacking rocks and sticks on it.
I have a little photo gallery of some of our nature table displays. It's from my site so there are lots of close-ups of the dolls. I make dolls so we tend to have quite a few on our table...they aren't necessary though.
Danielle - I love your pictures! Gave me tons of ideas for more stuff to make for our nature table! I'm off to make a bunch of sheep and lambs now, lol!
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Danelle! Those pictures are beautiful! Are just got the book (after having it so long that the library charged me for it and this is the second time I gotten it... lol...) The Nature Corner from half.com. It is a great book filled with SO many patterns and ideas that I can't stop creating things for my nature corner!
Our nature corner is a corner desk. I have a large vase in the back of it, that I fill with seasonal branches... then hanging from the branches are often faeries, and under the dolls I make, with rocks, gnomes, mushrooms, etc... Danielle and I have much the same style. Lots of candles, rocks, little handcrafted people, faeries, sticks, etc...
The kids each have their own for their special things. It has been very speical for them to have their own Sacred Space. And they love to find things to put on there.
Love Val
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Val; Living the dream we have been working towards for over 5 years.
Mama to Alex, Cyan, and Logan. Wife to my very best friend.
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