Pentecost Nature Tables

It's still Pentecost here in Germany! We get Pentecost Sunday and Pentecost Monday as well. I slept in, went for a long jog, and now we have the rest of the day to hang out together and read books. A perfect day - gotta love public holidays in Germany!

I found an old draft of our interactive Pentecost nature table from 2015 that for some reason I never posted. So I thought I'd share it with you now. It focuses on the Great Commission part of the Ascension and Pentecost stories.

Some of you will recognize the apostles' shields and end scene from the Godly Play Pentecost story where the apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit and go out everywhere to spread the good news of God's love. To make the table interactive, I place the shields and pictures of the 7 continents in in a basket, and encouraged my family to place the shields and continents where they wanted and say a prayer for the people on that continent. (Okay, I know there are no people on Antarctica, but my kids are concerned about penguins and their well-being!)

This year, I just did something simple. Again, I used Godly Play materials, this time from the Good Shepherd and World Communion story, to remind us how God's Spirit fills us with strength and love to do his work throughout the earth. I also placed a blood-red peony (called a Pfingstrose - "Pentecost Rose" in German) and a jar of cool shells and rocks on either side of the communion figures. 

Happy Easter!

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Der Herr ist auferstanden!

Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!

Hopefully some Easter grass will begin growing here during Eastertide!

Happy Easter!

Frohe Ostern!

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.

Linked to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

Ascension & Pentecost Nature Table

Dieses Jahr haben wir Himmelfahrt und Pfingsten auf dem Jahreszeittisch zusammen getan. This year we combined the themes of  Ascension and Pentecost to set up our nature table. 

 Unten kann man Jesus mit den Jüngern sehen, 

bevor er zurück zum Vater in den Himmel fährt.

Die Flamme aus Holz stellt das Geschenk des Heiligen Geistes dar.

Here you can see Jesus speaking last comforting words to the disciples

before he returns to the Father. 

The stacking flame represents the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Schmetterlinge sind in der Waldorpädagogik traditionell zum Pfingsten. Diesmal haben wir sie mit dem Filznadel trocken gefilzt. Sie hängen vom Fensterrahmen und sehen so aus, als ob sie "fliegen", wenn der Wind weht.

Butterflies are also traditional at Pentecost, also called Whitsun. 

This year we decided to needle felt them. They are hanging from the top of the window sill and appear to be "flying" when a draft comes through the window.

Meine 7-jährige Tochter wollte auch beim Filzen mitmachen. Bis jetzt habe ich wegen dem schrecklich großen Nadel gezögert sie's probieren zu lassen. 

Aber sie überzeugte mir, dass sie vorsichtig wäre, und benutzte eine Ausstechform um die Fingern zu schützen.

My 7-year-old daughter also wanted to try her hand a needle-felting. I had been a little hesitant after having accidentally stabbed my self a few times with the needle, but I relented when I saw that she would be careful. We used a cookie cutter to make the butterflies and protect little fingers.: )

Dann filzte sie diesen wunderschönen Schmetterling und eine Tulpe.

She went on to make this lovely butterfly hovering over a tulip.

Ein wunderschönes Pfingstwochenende an euch allen!

Have a wonderful Pentecost weekend!

Linked to Eco Kids' Tuesday at Like Mama-Like Daughter and Organic Aspirations

A Closer Look: Easter Nature Table 2013

I wanted to give you a closer look at our Easter Nature Table that I mentioned in the last post. 

Overnight, our table transformed from Lent . . . 

to joyous Easter . . . 

Here are some of the Pysanky that we made this year.

Our sad, purple cross becomes a symbol of triumph.

And we find the stone rolled away and an empty tomb.

A few close-ups of our Easter tree ornaments:

And last but not least, we've included various bunnies and chickens that the kids made in school.

 . . . 

Unser Jahreszeittisch verwandelte sich über Nacht von einem Fastenzeitstisch zum einem fröhlichen Ostertisch! 

Da haben wir einiges ausgestellt: ein weißes Kreuz, das leere Grab von Jesu, unsere Pisanki-Eier, selbst gebastelten Hasen u. Küken und natürlich den geschmückten Osterbaum. 

Frohe Ostern an euch alle!



Linked to Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

Beginning Lent

Lent has become a special time for our family to slow down a bit and take more time for God and each other. Although we fast by abstaining from meat during the week, we try to focus on what God wants to give us in this season rather than on what we are giving up. 

At our Sunday Brunch and children's service, I finally found a way to hang up my Circle of the Church Year. The kids knew exactly where the hand of the "clock" should be - on the last Sunday of the green, growing season (also known as "Ordinary Time") before Lent. 

Since I neither grew up Catholic nor in the state of Louisiana, "Fasching" (what we call Carnival or Mardi Gras here) was not part of my tradition. But it is celebrated here in northern Germany as a children's holiday on Shrove Tuesday, and the kids have parties at school. It is a fun way to say good-bye to Ordinary Time before greeting Lent.

This year, we had a doctor in the house . . . 

and a visit from Legolas . . . 

(If you'd like to know how my husband made those elf ears, click here.)

Then we enjoyed a "Pfannkuchen" (pancake) for afternoon tea.

It's actually more of what Americans would call a doughnut and filled with jelly. We call it a Pfannkuchen, but Germans outside of Berlin call it a "Berliner". And this is incidentally what caused the roaring laughter in the crowd when John F. Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" Because he used the indefinite article, he inadvertantly referred to himself as a jelly-filled doughnut.: )

Today, we began to build our Lenten Nature Table. 

It's tulip time in Europe right now, and they are my absolute favorite. I couldn't resist adding them to our nature table.

On Sunday the children made Lenten prayer pots. My daughter made a new one, since she made the last one when she was four.

and my son still loves his old prayer pot, 

so he created something new for the nature table . . .

We ended our day by attending an Ash Wednesday service at a church near our home. The children had the experience of getting ashes on their forehead for the first time, and found it to be a meaningful symbol. 

Many blessings on your Lenten journey!

Candlemas Nature Table

Our nature table sat empty from the time Christmas was over until today. Mainly from lack of time, kids being sick and lack of inspiration. But this morning we had some extra time, and spontaneously made one for Candlemas.

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. It is when the church remembers Mary and Joseph presenting baby Jesus in the temple, where he is recognized as the Messiah by Simeon and Anna. The name "Candlemas" comes from "candle mass" and is called so, because of Simeon's recognition that the child will be a light for all the nations. 

Even at age 9 1/2, the nature table tradition is still important to my son. I gave him and my 7-year-old daughter a few ideas and then let them decorate. She built the temple and he arranged the nature objects. (They had a few additional quarrels about what would go where, of course!)

My son's class at school rolls beeswax candles each year during Advent. Because we already have so many candles at Christmas, I usually save them for Candlemas.

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus are from our Godly Play nativity set. Simeon and Anna are wooden figures from Young Children and Worship. Baby Jesus is lying on a bean-like pod from a particular tree that grows in the park near our home.

After breakfast we read the story of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple from the Children's NIV Bible, found in Luke 2:22-40. Amidst the squirming (lest you think that my children or anyone else's sit through these things quietly!), both of my children became very interested in the figure of Joseph. Was he really important in the life of Jesus? Why doesn't the Bible say very much about him? And how could Jesus have been conceived without an earthly father? 

After talking about these things, I brought up that Simeon and Anna recognized Jesus as the Messiah because they had been very close to God and "heard" him speaking to them.

How do we "hear" God's voice and how does he "speak" to us today? After some verbal wondering together, we then lit our Candlemas candles and thanked God for giving Jesus to be the light for the whole world. 

This the second year that we've done a Candlemas nature table. Click here to see the one from last year.

Linked to Eco Kids Tuesdays at Like Mother-Like Daughter and Organic Aspirations

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy

Advent Nature Table

Today, we began to make our home ready for the King who has already come, but comes again each year. It is a mystery and Advent allows us the time to explore this mystery. (For a lovely meditation on this idea, click here.)

My 9-year-old son and I began to work on our Advent nature table together. As I looked around at the things we had to work with, the idea of making an Advent calendar with stones came to mind. Since my son is an avid rock collector, he thought this was a great idea. 

We selected 24 stones, and my son decided that the last three would be special stones to represent the gifts of the Three Wise Men. The wooden nativity figures are from our Godly Play set, but we used the Baby Jesus from our nature nativity that we made last year. 

Each day we remove a stone and the shepherds and Wise Men move closer to Bethlehem and Baby Jesus.

My son added a this tower of blocks here to represent Herod's palace that the Wise Men will visit along the way. He first learned about the terrible slaughter of the innocents last year. It reminds us of the real danger that Baby Jesus was in soon after his birth, and how God used his wise parents, Mary and Joseph to protect him. 

Have a wonderful First Advent tomorrow!



Linked to Sharing Saturday at Crafty Moms Share

and Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy

and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted's Art Blog

and Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

and Eco-Kids Tuesday Link-Up at Like Mama - Like Daughter