We keep a nature table in our house. It's covered with a colored fabric and contains items that my daughter finds outside. It's a wonderful way to bring the season inside. Right now, we have colored leaves, acorns, pinecones, and chestnuts in their open capsule.

If you have a nature table, what is on it now?

What a great idea! We don't have room for a nature table in our small space, but we could start a nature shoebox or "treasure chest." The kids will love it. Thanks for the great idea, Kate!

Another way to showcase nature finds in a limited space is to use those hanging shoe organizers with clear plastic pockets. Get them real cheap at a dollar or discount store. Or, like I do in my classroom, I put objects in ziploc bags and tack them to a cork board.

The organizer is a great idea! I will have to pick a few up the next time I am at the dollar store. My son uses a tackle box to keep his rock collection in.

Thanks for the great tip!

I have four small children(two of my own and a room mate's), and not enough room for a whole table taking up floor space, I wonder if a nature Shelf that was low enough for them to see but high enough not to get trashed would work.

I love the idea of a nature tackle box. My daughter loves to explore and collect nature "things". Check with your local zoo or nature center and see if they have a Nature Exchange. The Tulsa and Dallas Zoos have them. They are places where kids can bring in their nature items and get points for them and swap their points for new nature items. In Dallas they can also get research points for learning facts about the objects. It is a great way for kids to explore and learn about things around them and be exposed to nature items from places that they may never get to travel to.

We do this too! I have an old book shelf in the garage that the kids have dubbed their "nature museum." The shelf works well for a few reasons-- it holds a lot, it doesn't take up much space, and it is an exercise in sorting. (rocks go here, animal stuff here, etc.)

We have a "nature table" as well. Right now it is one of the end tables in our living room. I have a little basket on there to hold stuff and we swap things out as needed. The boys love finding things outside and are always on the lookout for stuff to put in the nature basket!

Our girls love to collect things they find. We have the over the door shoe organizer, a small clear three-drawer rubbermaid type unit, and we also have things in clear vases. They have an extensive collection of feathers, freshwater and sea shells, rocks and minerals, nuts and seeds, all different types of pine cones, prairie grass, bamboo, salt reeds....

We home educate. Their collections are great for sorting, identifying, and learning more about objects. When they find something they do not know we look it up and learn about it.

I LOVE this idea!! I think I will incorp. it into our afterschool program....maybe a nature box that the children can contribute to .....and also we will encourage them to study the items and write about why they find a particulare item interesting, pretty, etc. This will encourage writing time as well as science time!!

These are all such great ideas! I can't believe I didn't think about this already, what with all the stick and rocks laying around my house. I got so excited about this that my kids and I made a nature box right away. At natureforkids.net I did a post about our nature box activity. Here's some pictures of how it turned out!

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a nature box is a great way to learn about nature, how about making paper from natural grasses, leaves, and dried flowers found around your home!. Then make a journal or box from the handmade paper. My son and I attended a class that illustrated how to take an old blender, water, recycled paper and nature found objects, a peice of screen door, screen (you can buy at the hardware store) and an old plastic tub. We made a journal with the paper we made and then went on a nature hike to find the sources we made the journal from. The class we attended was conducted by Painting With Pat.