Use these resources to make a seasonal nature table or nature discovery center that engages children in thinking, exploring and learning about spring.
Save time with our ready-made Spring lesson plans
Save time and teach better with our ready-made Seasons School teaching units.
With this easy-to-teach, year-round nature curriculum you’ll have ready-made teaching units full of engaging, nature-themed lessons and activities, with ideas for every season that you can use year after year.
Teaching themes include Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Seeds & Shoots, Daffodils, Sunflowers, Apples & Pumpkins, Leaves & Twigs, and Ice & Snow. The balanced program of ready-made lesson plans cover math, literacy, science, art and craft, and sensory and imaginative play. Your children will love all the making, doing, playing and learning.
You can pick and choose which units you teach: dip in and out or teach them all – it’s up to you!
All units come with useful printables, material lists, full colour photographs, and variations / adaptations, making them so easy to teach.
Especially suited to children aged 4 – 10, in schools, preschools, school gardening clubs, forest schools, families and homeschoolers, day care and childminders, community groups and afterschool clubs.
Come and take a look at the ready-made lesson plans and get your Seasons School teaching kit here.
A spring nature table
Do you have a nature table? They’re a wonderful way to bring nature into your home or classroom and encourage children to connect by investigating and responding to the treasures of the season.
Let’s get our nature tables ready for spring today.
Why we have a nature table
A nature table can have different purposes. Some people set one up as a kind of altar or shrine, to honour nature and our connection with the earth. Some families use their nature table as a focus for decoration, gathering together springtime crafts and art. Other people have them as a hands-on area where children are encouraged to explore and investigate the materials.
What kind of nature table would best suit your family?
Where to place your a nature table
Your table might be indoors, on the porch or in the garden. Sometimes it is an actual table, but a shelf, mantlepiece, or window ledge can all work well too. The most important thing, I think, is to place it where it will be noticed, appreciated, and used. There’s no point setting it up in an out-of-the-way corner, where it will be forgotten and gather dust.
For us, it works to have two nature spaces. One, often on the old school desk in our entrance hall or on the mantlepiece over the fire, acts as our decorative nature table. And then we have another, in the playroom or kitchen, which is more of a investigative nature table, which we use for art, science, and writing.
What to put on your nature table
You can work with your children on this because I bet they are skilled at finding nature treasures when you are out on your nature walks. Here are some ideas for things you can include:
:: nature finds for the seasons: feathers, shells, twigs, pebbles, leaves:: a pot of seasonal flowers: daffodils are perfect for spring, or some willow twigs
:: books – information and plant and animal ID books, poetry, and story books, all matching the season and the area where you live
:: art – your children’s drawings, posters of animals and plants, famous art work featuring the natural world. I think it’s such a treat to open up our ‘spring’ box and bring out all the previous years treasures that we made.
:: a calendar – to remind you where you are within the cycle of the year. We use the circular, nature-spotting calendar we made in the Winter Workshop
:: a microscope or magnifying glass – for closer inspections of your nature finds
:: your nature journals, paper, pens, and pencils. You could print a stack of our nature journal pages.
:: art materials for sketching, watercolour paints, oil pastels, pencils
:: scissors, glue, and sticky tape for scrapbooking in your nature journals
:: toy / model animals
:: labels and vocabulary lists for key words
:: bunting!
Save time with our ready-made Spring lesson plans
For the quickest and best solution to teaching this spring, come and use our ready-made Seasons School lesson plans.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Seasons School curriculum:
- Ready-made teaching units full of engaging, nature-themed lessons
- Ideas for every season that you can use year after year
- Teaching themes include Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Seeds & Shoots, Daffodils, Sunflowers, Apples & Pumpkins, Leaves & Twigs, and Ice & Snow.
- A balanced program of ready-made lesson plans that include math, literacy, science, art and craft, and sensory and imaginative play.
- All units come with useful printables, material lists, full colour photographs, and variations / adaptations, making them so easy to teach.
- For children aged 4 – 10, in schools, preschools, school gardening clubs, forest schools, families and homeschoolers, day care and childminders, community groups and afterschool clubs.
Save time and get the best ready-made lesson plans with the Seasons School teaching kit here.
In one of the pictures of your nature table you have the most adorable fabric bunnies. Did you make them yourselves and if so can you pass on how? I love the nature table ideas you have here and my boys love to add finds to our table. Have a joyous spring.
Hi Marianne, they’re lovely aren’t they! My two daughters and I made one each, and I love having a little family of them, made by my family. This is the tutorial we followed to make them: https://www.mysocalledcraftylife.com/2013/03/14/sweet-bunny/