I fell in love with the work of Etsy seller, MargaretJeff, and thought a table from them would make an ideal "nature table" for our hallway. Not to big, not too small, perfect height and the table alone is a beautiful work of nature. After a few conversations with Margaret, I finally picked the Ambrosia Maple table and it arrived this week!
So what is a nature table? Well for us, it simply means a designated place to bring the outside, inside. A reflection of the changing seasons. This is something that is important to me to convey to my child since we live in the city and his nature time is confined to walks or going to parks. (Unlike my own childhood in the rural midwest where I rarely was found indoors during the daylight hours)
So today we set up the table in our hallway and then set out on a long walk. He carried the bag that I shared in this post and picked up leaves and acorns and magnolia tree cones and some other seed pods from the neighborhood.
Then he proudly came home and arranged his goodies on our "Natuew Table" as he calls it.
He arranged this display and I'm restraining myself from messing with it. I want him to have ownership of it and not be afraid to play with it. Luckily (for the artist in me) my son is very organized and likes to arrange and sort things, so I trust that he'll keep it looking pretty.
We had a table like this when I was in 2nd grade (in a public elementary school) and I still remember discovering all the treasures that would appear there as the seasons changed. Our teacher would bring new things in and we'd talk about what they were and where they came from. Things like turtle shells, seed pods, cocoons, rocks and shells. I love this type of learning/teaching and am so glad I'm able to incorporate it at home.
