Nature Table

What you need

• a bag or a basket for collecting
• a tray or a low shelf for the table
• a magnifying glass if you have one, or a clear plastic cup
• paper and crayons

How to do it

1. Walk round the garden or the park and collect things that have fallen: leaves, seed heads, sticks, pine cones, blossom, interesting stones.
2. Back indoors, tip the bag out and sort the finds into groups together: by colour, by size, or soft and hard.
3. Lay the best ones out on the tray as a nature table, and look at each one up close.
4. Let them draw one find on a piece of paper and tell you what to write beside it, then stand the card on the table.

Why it matters

Their own finds, laid out where they can see them, give them something to sort, compare and talk about each time they pass.

What they're learning

Collecting with care

Fallen things only.

Sorting and grouping

Colour, size, soft or hard.

Looking up close

Veins on a leaf, seeds in a head.

What to look for

Notice them moving a find from one group to another and telling you why.

A tip

Collect fallen things only, leave feathers, mushrooms and berries where they are, and wash hands afterwards.

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