A spring nature table is a space in the home or classroom used for placing natural items that reflect the season and is meant to be explored and used as a nature study aid.
Learn how to make a nature table at home or in the classroom with these spring nature table ideas for kids. Nature tables can often be found in classrooms and homes in Montessori and Waldorf education because they offer a great way to explore the seasons and provide a rich experience for sensory development and imaginative play.
There are many wonderful ways to design a spring nature table. The space you have, your purpose, your interests and culture, the resources you have available, the age of your children, the natural environment surrounding you, and your mood will all influence the type of spring nature table you create. You might also enjoy learning about the spring equinox and these summer nature table ideas.
Related: Spring Bucket List Seasonal Family Guide
What’s the purpose of a spring nature table?
When you have a spring nature table, your children will be excited to get outside to explore nature and learn about everything under the sun. But there is so much more going on for them than simply collecting and admiring these objects.
Ask your children simple questions about what they find to help them begin to discover the natural wonders and magic in the world around them. This is how learning takes place. You might also enjoy this list of outdoor learning and nature activities for kids.
It’s exciting for my daughter to find things to take home and explore more deeply. The sparkle I see in her eyes when she declares that she is going to bring something home for the nature table makes it all worthwhile.
But studying nature and the seasons is not the only use for nature tables. Playing with nature tables provides a rich sensory experience for the developing child. And a nature table can also be used as an invitation to play. For more spring activities, have a look at our spring bucket list.
Related: Books That Teach Kids Important Life Lessons
How to Make a Spring Nature Table
Making a spring nature table is fun and easy. You can be as minimal or extravagant as you like. The basic idea is to place items on it found in nature and items that reflect the season of spring.
Make it something your family (or students) like to look at, and your children love spending time exploring. Some optional spring nature table ideas include:
- Get outside on a nature hunt to collect things to bring home and explore more deeply.
- Create spring arts and crafts to place on it. Ideas include wooden egg crafts, felt flowers, flower art, a rainstick, bunny, and spring chick crafts.
- In Waldorf education, play silks are often draped upon the table and used to create nature scenes similar to those pictured below.
- Dig your spring decor box out of storage and find things to display that you love.
- Place natural sentimental objects such as crystals and your favorite nature finds, like heart rocks, that children can touch.
- Put an Easter or butterfly tree on your spring nature table for another fun idea.
- Put a Himalayan salt lamp on your spring nature table.
Make it something meaningful for you and your family, and you can’t go wrong.
Related: Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
Related: 15 Ways to Celebrate the Spring Equinox
Spring Nature Table Ideas
Here’s a list of the items on the spring nature table in the photograph. Use these spring nature table ideas to gather inspiration for your nature table or shelf.
- We used play silks in emerald, lime & turquoise to reflect the green grasses and ponds typical of the spring season in the photograph above.
- My daughter loves ducks, so we made a little duck pond on our spring nature table with these cute little duck candles, sea glass, and turquoise play silk.
- DIY Wooden Easter Eggs and Spring Chicks. These represent fertility, the life cycle, and new beginnings typical of spring.
- A spring nature sensory bin with blooming herbs to smell, small pine cones, sticks, feathers, and rocks my daughter collected. (Keep spring nature sensory baskets on or near the nature table if possible. If you use a large bin you don’t want to look at, slide it under the table so children can easily access it.)
- Spring book by Gerda Muller. Muller has a book for all seasons, and we always have one of her books on our nature table. Look at this magical Spring Books for Kids list for more spring book ideas.
- A mother bluebird of happiness and a baby bluebird of happiness. Spring is mating season for many birds, so these gorgeous figurines represent new beginnings, happiness in our home, and our mother-daughter bond. (But please don’t include small or breakable objects if your children are not ready to handle them.)
- A branch from the oak tree in our backyard to make a log by the pond. My husband used a saw to cut a piece from a fallen branch and then split it in half.
- Live house plants.
- A small vase with fresh flowers from our organic flower garden.
- An Easter Tree or a Butterfly Tree.
- A birdhouse that my father-in-law painted and gave to my husband and me, with money in it, on our wedding day. Making toilet roll birdhouse ornaments can also be fun if you include a spring tree on your nature table.
Related: DIY Nature Memory Game
Spring Nature Table for Kids
You can see how we used natural, found, and sentimental items that have meaning for our family on our spring nature table. Make your spring nature table a reflection of nature and special items for your family or classroom.
Enjoy creating a spring nature table with your children. Make your spring nature table exactly as you like. You can be as minimal or as outlandish as you desire. There are no limits other than the limits of your own imagination.
So invite kids outside on a nature hunt to look for the signs of spring and natural magical items for your nature table today. Look at our spring bucket list for even more spring activities.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
Nature Table Ideas for Every Season
More Spring Ideas
- Ways to Celebrate the Spring Solstice
- Planting Spring Flowers
- Planting Sunflowers
- Spring Books for Kids
- Easter Traditions
- Spring Activities for Kids
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