Our Nature Table

I love taking our nature table on a journey through the seasons. Just as Nature transitions gracefully from one season to another, subtle changes on our nature table do the same.

Winter Solstice

The root children snuggle deep into Mother Earth where she keeps them safe through the cold of winter. A little mouse also makes his home nearby. Above, beautiful lanterns guard a precious ray of sunlight, to guide us through the dark. All is still for a time...

Late winter

Some early bulbs begin to emerge, bringing the promise of spring to come...

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Late Winter/Early Spring

Although winter is still holding on, Mother Earth gently becons forth the Spring Maiden. The aura of Spring surrounds her... the blue of winter begins to recede as the suns bright blessings creep forth, blending together to create a dance of greens.

As the birds begin to build their nests, visiting each day to weave a few more strands of their collected treasures, this too is represented on our nature table. As in our garden, many a flower is now showing its pretty petalled face to the light...

Soon Spring will truly burst into life!

The Spring Maiden design comes from Amber Greene (mama moontime). Thanks Amber for a fantastic workshop.

Craft Night Gnomes

On our final craft night for the winter season we made these sweet little gnomes

As per usual a hot cuppa and lots of gossip accompanied our crafty endeavours, to make for a late but lovely evening.

Now these handsome little gnomes are off to their new homes.

What a lovely surprise for the children to wake up to in the morning!

Acknowledgement and thanks to Nikki and Mia from the Silkwood craft group for the clothing pattern we used.

Sweet Porridge

For the past few weeks we have been telling the story 'Sweet Porridge', perfect for those chilly winter mornings, and the children have been busy grinding oats during our indoor time.

This morning we finally cooked our own Sweet Porridge. The children measured in their oats and water, and added a little salt and sultanas. We took turns to stir, and sang our porridge song as we kept watch for the bubbles...

Porridge is bubbling, bubbling hot

Stir it round and round the pot

The bubble plip and the bubbles plop

It's ready to eat, all bubbling hot!

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Add a little milk and honey...

Delicious!

Blessingway

Today we held a Blessingway for one of our lovely mamas. We decided to share the ceremony with the children and hold it during our playgroup.

We created a special space with cloths, flowers, crystals, candles and a clay goddess made by another mama just the night before. It looked beautiful.

When the time came to begin, many of the children were naturally drawn to the circle, and it was beautiful to see them snuggled close to their own mamas as we lit our candles and shared our blessings and beads.

We each then made a fleece angel to create a rainbow spiral mobile for the baby.

Some lovely food was shared, and then the fun part...belly painting for all.

Mother and daughter - matching bellies.

What a beautiful way to celebrate this special mama and her new baby!