Nature Table- Autumn

We are adding to our nature table almost daily- adding interesting leaves we find, acorns, pine-cones, gum-nuts, rocks and other organic items that inspire us with colour or texture.

I think nature tables are a lovely way to celebrate the changing seasons, appreciate the beauty within found objects and a way of bringing the outdoors inside.

Art in the Park

We spent a beautiful (almost) spring morning in the gorgeous Enchanted Forest Park where seed pods are aplenty. I sat down with Finn and Evie and we started creating some shapes with the seed pods they had collected. A few other children joined in, and we enjoyed watching the little creations that took shape. 

Creative moments can happen anywhere and anytime.

A garden of their own

After being inspired by the wonderful community garden down the road, the kids and I spent a weekend in our own veggie patch. Planting, weeding, looking for worms and making 'compost soup'.

Finn had a great idea to make a scarecrow, so I found some fallen branches, an old work uniform and some winter gloves to make the body for our scarecrow. If I had stockings around the house I would have used that for making the head, but instead I cut and machine stitched a head shape out of skin coloured fabric, stuffed it with polyfil and drew a face on it.  The whole scarecrow making process took about 15 minutes, and Finn is very proud of his new garden friend.

neighbourhood adventures and outdoor drawing

This afternoon we went for a little explore around parts of our suburb that we hadn't been to before.

We discovered beautiful rainforest walking tracks, burbling creeks with wooden bridges, a 'secret' playground, some horses in a paddock and a wonderful community garden.

 

I took my uni notes with me hoping to get a chance to read while the children played (of course it didn't happen), and I brought along a clipboard, some paper and a crayon roll-up (instructions to make one here) full of  Stockmar beeswax stick crayons (they have such beautiful, rich colours and are smooth and easy for children to draw with). Finn did some gorgeous drawings in the fresh air.

  



  

We also made some clover chains which took me back to my own childhood. 

Hide and Seek- Botanical Gardens

Some photos from our lovely morning at the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, following the Hide and Seek Trail.

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-gardens/brisbane-botanic-gardens-mt-coot-tha/attractions/hide-n-seek-childrens-trail/index.htm

Painting with mud

On Sunday we went to Northey Street Village Markets, and Finn participated in some of the Earth Art activities that they were running for children.

A wonderful and environmentally friendly idea to paint with a colour pallet made entirely of mud. The results were beautiful.

Flower Press

It was a beautiful Autumn day today, so the children and I went for a walk around our street collecting flowers with the intention to press some of them.

Finn chose which flowers he wanted to press and arranged them carefully on the blotting paper. If you don't have a flower press you can press flowers and leaves between two sheets of paper and leave them inside the pages of a heavy book for a few weeks (more info about flower pressing here). 

With the left over flowers, sticks and leaves we collected- Finn went into the garden with a metal mixing bowl, a wooden spoon and some plastic measuring cups and made his very own garden soup (using dirt, sand, water and what ever else he could find). He enjoyed getting grubby while mixing, experimenting and role-playing.

i love nature

I recently ordered a great book called 'I love Dirt', which I often refer to when thinking of ideas for outdoor activities with my children.