Interactive Autumn Nature Table

This year I wanted to do something different with our autumn nature table and take it a step beyond the imaginative play by making it a little more interactive. While my 7-year-old still loves to play with wooden animal figures, my 10-year-old needs something a little different. Being a fan of Land Art, I decided to put a "blank slate" of sorts in the middle of the table that could be used as a palette for  creations with nature materials.

Below you can see the "slate", a wooden plate used for table decorations. Around it in small bowls are chestnuts, berries, bark, acorn caps and seed pods to be used as art materials. I used felt leaves, since we don't have any real ones that have changed colors yet.

Here are a couple of mandala-like pictures made with the materials.

I am a big believer in not buying lots of expensive stuff for nature tables, and almost everything you see is something we already had. The only exception are the four wooden animals that we bought for sixty cents each at a craft show. They were unpainted and unfinished, so I let my kids have at them.

And here is the result. Aren't they adorable? The kids used watercolor and vinegar to make a stain for the background colors. Then, they used permanent markers to draw in the details.

And my little girl, who still loves her wooden figures, made a nest for the squirrel with a mint leaf and gave him an acorn.

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