Nature Tables – A Simple Way to Connect Your Child With the Season

Nature Tables are a fun way to connect your child with the season. They are used in Waldorf schools and can easily be done at home too. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.


Children love to collect things when they play outdoors, so why not have a place where they can proudly display their collections? It is a special way to bring a little bit of the outdoors into your home. It doesn’t take much; we have converted an old laptop desk into our Nature Table. Use a small table, shelf, or night stand. The idea is that your child can change the Nature Table as the seasons change. Fill your nature table with things that your child collects on nature walks as well as handmade decorations and crafts. You can incorporate holidays that you celebrate each season into the table as well. My children look forward to changing our Nature Table every season, and adding to it throughout the year. Find inspiration on Pinterest. There are so many wonderful ideas out on the web, here are just a few ways we have decorated our table over the years:


Autumn – Little pumpkins, gourds and squash that the children picked out at our local pumpkin patch. Jars filled with acorns. Baskets filled fall leaves that we’ve pressed. A needle felted pumpkin. Fall leaves and pinecones made out of beeswax.

Our current Autumn Nature Table

Winter – Glass jars filled with pine cones, needle felted angels, paper snowflakes hanging over the table.

Spring – Butterflies made from coffee filters hanging over the table, flowers in baskets that the children have collected.

Summer – Glass jars filled with sand and shells collected from our trips to the beach. Peg dolls made with a summer theme, lady bugs, bumble bees, etc.

What do you plan to put on your Nature Table?