One idea that I've really liked as I've explored Waldorf education is the nature table. Basically, it's just a space in the home where the family can display all the fun little things they've collected or made that remind them of the current season. Each season you change the backdrop (in our case, playsilks that I dyed myself using food coloring) to reflect the colors of that season, and then you just go to town adding bits and pieces over the weeks. My kids are loving this! They get so excited to find things on our walks and trips up the canyon, and even in the yard. I did have to distract Sariah from her idea of putting the huge tumbleweed she'd just found on the nature table.
Most everything on here is real--rocks from our trip to Kimberly, mini pumpkins from the grocery store (I'd hoped they'd be from our garden, but that apparently wasn't meant to be), seed pods from my daylilies in the front yard...
We've also included samplings from some of the autum crafts the kids have made.
Many families also put little wooden animals and wooden or felt people, fairies, etc. Hopefully we can collect some of those things over the years, though I think we'll tend to stick with "real" people and not fairies or gnomes.
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