In most nursery and early-years classrooms in the Netherlands you will find a corner set up to celebrate the seasons. In autumn it will be decorated with leaves, nuts and mushrooms, and children are welcome to play with it and decorate it with things they have found in nature. Also I grew up with the concept of ‘the seasonal table’. Not only in the classroom, but at home as well, we had a corner set up with ‘pretty little things’ we had found on forest walks, or made during crafting sessions.
In our house we love to set up a little display as well. As soon as we return from our summer travels and school starts, I go and find the box with autumn decorations and start to set up our little corner. Starting with apples, then after a few weeks leaves, nuts and mushrooms. Going forward to Martinmas, Sinterklaas, advent and Christmas, our seasonal table changes a lot — inspiring us to decorate it with simple craft projects.
The seasonal table doesn’t cost much to set up. Apples we have picked from our tree, pine cones, nuts and conkers we have found in the forest, leaves we pressed in between the pages of a book… There are cardboard mushrooms the children have made in school and we store away carefully year after year. The children look through their Schleich and Ostheimer animals and select relevant woodland creatures and place them in between the leaves. Over the years I have collected a few sweet decorations and felt fairies and invested in the silhouette lamp. (You can buy ready-made inserts, but I have made the ones you see in the photos myself.)
With every change of our seasonal table, I also like to select appropriate books and put them out on our coffee table. Of course, it is also a perfect time of year to go puddle jumping, so having those books ready to cosy up with afterwards (with a hot chocolate or warm tea, of course), is not a bad idea.
xxx Esther
Comments (32)
Just beautiful. You are a lovely Mum! It is so nice filling family life with traditions. We have a silhouette lamp too. You have inspired me to make some inserts myself! That is amazing. That deserves a post in itself!
I absolutely love your seasonal tables, Esther! Always so beautiful and inspiring xxx
Absolutely love this.. I am defiantly doing this, my girls would love it. Thank-you.
You never fail to inspire me Esther and make motherhood all the more exciting and fulfilling!
Wow beautiful looks like a Waldorf school! Just gorgeous you have inspired me!!
An incredibly inspiring mama and woman! Thanks for this! x
This is amazing. How sweet and simple yet makes such a big difference in the home. What a cool tradition.
XO
Nicole | http://www.bynicolegeorge.com
Love this idea so much. What a wonderful way to celebrate each season. I have never seen silhouette lamps like yours before, where can you buy them? I like to get one & create some scenes for it. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Hello again, Esther I found a Dutch company who make these sillhoutte lights, wonderful! Now I m intrigued what materials you use to make your sceneries. Can you tell me a bit more about it?
They are so beautiful!
Sorry about all these questions, it’s your fault really, because I m now so excited about it!!;)
Many thanks again, Alice
I would love to know too!
Beautiful! Would love more info on where to get a lamp like this and the scenes too!
Absolutely lovely – this is a tradition the children will surely cherish for their whole lives! ❤️
Beautiful! I would love a post with pictures of all seasons and also more info about the silhouette lamp. I would love to start one of these for my family. 🙂
Beautiful, yes! So much inspiration as always, thank you, Esther!
Love your beautiful table! xx
So lovely! Such an inspiration,I hope you show us your other seasons too!
Thank you!
Thank you, Esther, this is so adorable and inspiring! Also, thank you for featuring our Brown Mushroom Fairy in it!
Love the idea! I would love to see your summer and winter and other tables too 🙂
I do the exact same thing! very pretty 🙂
It is beautiful Esther, I do something similar in our home but would love to introduce a silhouette lamp. Any suggestions where to get one & how to go about making the inserts? I would love to attend a workshop on this 😉
Thank you all!!
I got my little lamp in a local shop here in Amsterdam called ‘De Zaailing‘, but you can find them online here. Inserts can be bought ready-made, but I made mine at workshops organised by a lady here in the neighbourhood. If you live in Amsterdam and would like to know more, send me an email and I’ll introduce you!
xxx
Thank you Esther!
Would love to do a workshop like that!
You don’t happen to know if there are workshops like that in England? (Germany?)
is it special lamp making paper that you used for the inserts?
I ordered a lamp and will try to make an insert for Christmas, this is going to be my Christmas present for my 1 1/2 year old son.
Thank you once a gain for the inspiration!!! Best wishes, Alice
Sorry Alice, I haven’t heard of such workshops in England or Germany. We just use thin gold cardboard from which we cut out the scene, and use coloured transparent kite paper for the layers behind. I hope you can figure it out! x
Such a visual feast! So much colour
http://www.lemonandpeppermint.com
Absolutely stunning! So inspiring and beautiful Esther.
I won’t be able to attend workshops in Amsterdam, but I would love to know what supplies are needed to make your own inserts. Yours are gorgeous!
Thank you! We use thin golden cardboard to cut out the scenes, and then transparent kite paper fit the layers behind.
Esther! I used to buy these little flower fairies in a little shop in Paris that no longer exists. I have spent hours pouring over etsy etc etc with no luck. YOUPEE! The search is over…
Wonderful!!! 🙂
I love this! Thank you for sharing Esther! Would you mind sharing, if you recall where your vase and wooden mushroom are from? ❤️🍄
I found the vase in a thrift shop. And I got the wooden mushroom from De Zaailing here in Amsterdam. x
Thanks that has been really helpful!