Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Nature Nativity



This is another lovely project that I learned from Birgit, the Waldorf educator at our kindergarten: a nativity scene made with nature materials.

To begin you need the following materials: assorted treasures from your nearest park or forest (moss, sticks, chestnuts, rocks, tree bark, acorns, pine cones, fir tree branch, etc.); walnut shell halves, air-drying clay or plasticine, glue, terra cotta  saucer for a flowerpot, a small piece of material, a small piece of cotton, gold paper, and a candle.


Next, place the moss in the flowerpot saucer.


To make baby Jesus, wrap a tiny piece of cotton inside a small square of material. Then, tuck it inside a walnut shell half.  (Mine stayed in place without any glue.) Then, make a small head out of clay for baby Jesus.



To make a small stable, I used clay and glue to attach sticks to a piece of tree bark. Then, add other elements using the nature materials you have on hand, such as a pine cone or fir tree branch as  a tree. You can also cut a golden star out of paper to hang either on the tree or attach it to another stick.  To top it off, add a small candle.


Three and four year-olds generally need a lot of help from an adult to do this project, but older preschoolers and elementary age children can do it most of it by themselves. Such a simple, yet enchanting project!



I can't wait to see what the kids in the Advent Club do with this project!








Linked to Monday Madness at Let Kids Create and Art 4 Little Hands




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Raising Memories

20 comments:

  1. This is just beautiful! I would love to put something like this together with my daughter for our family to enjoy! Thanks for the great idea! :)

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  2. Beautiful! I'm pinning this one; sounds like a perfect project after a Christmas Day nature hike!

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  3. that is SO BEAUTIFUL! the star! thanks for sharing.

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  4. Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

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  5. oh my goodness, this is so beautiful, it is actually the loveliest nativity I have seen this year, thanks so much for the inspiration, I wonder if we can make one too x

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  6. Thanks, Laura! That means a lot coming from someone who makes dolls as beautiful as yours!

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  7. What a great idea! It's beautiful and so natural!

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  8. What a beautiful idea! I would love it if you would share it at my sharing party at http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2011/12/sharing-saturday-10.html. Thank you!

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  9. So lovely, Mother Nature sure is cool, cheers Marie

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  10. This is gorgeous!! I am saving this idea for next year for sure!!

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  11. How pretty, I love crafting with nature, the candle looks beautiful with your nativity!!

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  12. This turned so pretty!!! I love it... so creative. stopping by from sharing saturday.

    ~MiaB
    www.mamamiasheart2heart.com

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  13. Oh I love this! So beautiful and natural. I am sharing this tomorrow on Monday Madness. Thanks for linking up.

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  14. Thank you, ladies! It's wonderful to be able to share with you!

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  15. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

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  16. I wish I had seen this earlier. I'm bookmarking this post and putting a reminder so I'll be sure to do this next year. Great idea!

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  17. I really love this, too. I would like to adapt it to make an Advent Candle centrepiece, but I'm worried about whether it would be too much of a fire hazard. Has anyone found this to be a problem? Thanks!

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    1. Hi KaToMi's Mom, This is the sort of thing that you can't leave unattended for sure unless you find a way to use an electronic light instead. Here in Germany, we always have Advent candles attached to fresh fir branch wreaths, and many people put real candles on their Christmas trees. Everyone just knows to have a bowl of water nearby and watch it carefully. If you do think of a fireproof way to do it, I'd love to hear about it!

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  18. We made one today! It turned out wonderfully! Thank you thank you for the idea!

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