May Nature Table Crafts

It is so exciting to see nature blooming outside with all the beautiful colors.  It seems like each day there is something new to look at, something beautiful to admire.  Right now we are enjoying the pink blossoms on the apple tree.   When we moved to our house, 5 years ago, I was so happy to have a tree in the backyard.  Not only does it provide shade for the sandbox on a hot summer day, it houses bird nests, and holds our swing (and occasionally a daring climber). We appreciate and anticipate the tree's appearance throughout the changing seasons, always a beautiful reminder of cycles and change.

Inside, we've made some new decorations for the nature table.  I cut out some felt leaves and flowers that were easily strung with thread and a needle to make a spring garland.

At the top of the nature table is some cut "paper grass".  We colored strips of white paper, green.  Then we folded the paper accordion style and cut a fringe to make the grass.  Flowers were also drawn in the grass.  I think the only thing we need now are some little eggs!  With all that chirping outside, we may just be lucky enough to come across some robin eggshells outside.

Crafting for the nature table

We are welcoming the month of May with a little spring banner above the play cubbies.

Around here, May means some much needed warmer temperatures and more spring colors outside- a real cause for celebration!

We've even started making some changes to the nature table.  Just the past week or two the bees have come out and are very active.  So active, in fact, that both of my daughters were stung with their very first bee stings ever.  On a visit to the playground my oldest daughter found this piece of an old and abandoned nest.  She brought it home and placed it at the nature table.  A few days later we crafted our own bees out of modeling beeswax and added them to the nest.  The girls decided they needed "really pointy stingers," which they have but of course these bees won't sting!

Spring Candles: Decorating Candles With Beeswax

Spring candles for the dinner table and the nature table were easy to make using some modeling beeswax.

On a sunny day we set the beeswax in a sunny windowsill to warm and become more pliable, but on this day we used the warmth of our hands to ready it. My daughters chose colors, made shapes and pushed them onto a small candle until they stuck.

They look very spring like. They attempted leaves and flowers for the sides of the candles.

And now we have some to light at dinner and some to decorate the April nature table.

Wool Roving Spring Crocus Craft

In a very sheltered and sunny spot next to our house, we have our very first spring crocuses. We planted them last fall in hopes of seeing them as a first sign of spring. Now we look at them everyday and know true spring is just around the corner.

These crocus flowers were made out of purple and gold wool roving and a pipe cleaner. They were super easy and fun and only took a few minutes.

We started by taking a small amount of roving and wet felting it with warm water and a little soap. The roving was placed into a bowl with just a puddle of water and a few drops of soap. We were careful to keep it flat and folded in thin edges. We agitated it for 4-5 minutes by poking it with fingertips, rubbing it back and forth, and rubbing it between our fingertips. Once we achieved a felted look we laid it out on a towel and patted it dry.

Next it was folded in half.

And, folded again.

And lastly, I held it while my daughter wrapped half a pipe cleaner around the base.

Now they sit atop the nature table as another reminder of the changing season.

{A spring poem}

"The golden crocus reaches up. To catch a sunbeam in her cup."

-Walter Crane

Craft: March Lambs

With today's beautiful weather melting a lot of the snow around here, it reminded me of the saying "March; in like a lion, out like a lamb." To celebrate this lamb of a day, we made some of our own lambs for the nature table using just a few supplies.

I freehand cut some lamb shapes out of cardstock. My daughters drew faces, colored the legs, and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped white yarn around the middle of the body.

Wrapping gently and not very tightly, the lambs fleece became thick. All this wrapping led to spontaneous singing of all the verses of Mary Had a Little Lamb which they learned from this well liked book.

After the wrapping was complete, I tucked in the ends of the yarn and they glued on the eyes. Now our little lambs sit on the nature table, a flock of 5 total after all was said and done!

March Nature Table

We welcomed in March by changing the nature table.

Earlier in the year I needle felted this little leprechaun sitting with his pot of gold. During my explanation about leprechauns and St. Patrick's day, it was decided we should make some gold to leave for the leprechauns. There are hopes that on St. Patrick's day the leprechaun will visit, take our gold and leave a small gift in it's place, as a thank you.

We used some small rocks, glitter and glue to make gold for the leprechaun. We will just have to wait and see if he takes the gold and leaves a thank you! Of course, we are hoping he doesn't think we're playing a trick on him, and tricks us in return.

The rest of the nature table has nature found pinecones, dried grasses from a nature walk, wooden shapes like the squirrel, ladybugs (found occasionally at the dining room windows), soon to be seen worms, and the sun to represent daylight savings. Of course, we still have hints of snow on the nature table too, because around here, we'll be looking at that until April.

Wool Roving Butterflies

We have a seasonal mobile in our playroom. It changes with the seasons and we add to it using crafts that we make. In addition to some birds we've had hanging, we just added wool roving butterflies we made on craft day.

The roving butterflies are colorful, happy, and very spring-like. They were also fun and easy to make using just a few supplies.

The butterflies are made from colored wool roving, colored beads, and pipe cleaners.

We started by cutting the pipe cleaner in half. Then each of my daughters chose 6 beads.

Next, they picked what color roving they wanted and folded it. Each end was folded into the middle, with the ends overlapping.

The pipe cleaner was bent in half and the roving placed in between. Lastly, we twisted the pipe cleaner a few times and trimmed the ends of the pipe cleaner if it was too long.

The butterflies look good both hanging and attached to the branch mobile.

I used a needle and thread, threading under the pipe cleaner, so the butterflies could hang.

My daughter also asked to attach one to a dowel to use for play and puppet play.

Paper Mache Bird Nest

In a recent issue of Country Living magazine they had a page on making paper mache bird nests from shredded newspaper and paper bags. I knew it would be a great craft for us as we are seeing so many busy birds out in the yard now that spring is here.

We followed the directions found in the magazine with the exception of shredding the paper because we don't have a paper shredder. Instead, I just cut strips from one shopping sized paper bag. The glue mixture was just glue and water. I decided to have us make one larger sized nest and have my daughters work on it together. It worked out great and they had fun with the paper mache process.

The nest is now at the playstand and has really sparked some fowl play around here!

We've put our wet felted eggs and chicks into the nest and the stuffed Audubon birds fly around and keep the chicks warm, protected and well fed.

It is also pretty interesting to see what else makes it way into the nest too.

Craft: Felted Eggs with Chicks

I am not the greatest when it comes to wet felting. For some reason I find it more difficult than it looks. Despite this, I really wanted us to try felting some eggs and making wool roving chicks to go inside. The eggs were made by layering wool roving over a plastic Easter egg and using the wet felting process. I layered the roving on the egg and my daughters worked on rubbing the eggs with soap and water once the layering was done.

Once the eggs were dried, I used manicure scissors to cut a zig-zag across half the egg. The plastic egg was then removed. One of the children's eggs had a hole on the top so I cut the entire top off in a zig-zag pattern.

I cut a diamond shape out of felt and used a needle and thread to make a stitch, creating a beak. Then I trimmed off the extra thread.

I gave my daughters some uncolored wool roving (although yellow would look nice too). They rolled it around in their hands to make a ball/bird shape.

The roving chick was put into the egg and we added a drop of glue to the middle of the beak and attached it to the roving.

The chicks are a sure sign that eventually spring and Easter will be here. They will be a nice addition to our April nature table too.

What we've been up to

Monday painting was using a white crayon and then watercoloring over it. Like magic! My oldest daughter loved it.




A recent craft day was paper mache eggs.




I have found games to be a big hit with my oldest (4 1/2 year old) daughter. Since turning 4 she has a shown a lack of interest in Montessori activities, but she is always up for games. Popsicles sticks with dots and numerals (1-5). Players take turns drawing a popsicle stick and that number of rocks is removed. When all the rocks and sticks have been taken, players count their rocks, the player with the most wins.




Even though my two year old can't count to five yet, she can still play by placing a rock on each dot.




Another version, drawing a stick and filling the corresponding amount of suction cups with the dropper. The first player to fill all the cups wins.