Saving the Nature Table from extinction.

Our Collaborations Manager Katherina Di Cristina explores the importance of nature tables in the Irish classroom and launches a fun competition.

"We are not defending nature, we are nature defending ourselves."

It’s an important perspective to tap into, and one I feel most of us don’t automatically feel too viscerally. While our orderly lives may not feel too aligned to the ‘other’ we see as ‘nature’, we are as much a part of it as the trees, grasses, pine martens, and beetles. Consider the murmuration of starlings, we’re not too dissimilar when driving on our roads or walking down our footpaths. Consider the joyful chaos of swallows, is it not nearly identical to unleashing a handful of toddlers onto a field? The cluster of composite yarrow flowers reminds me of children in a classroom, the clouds sauntering through the sky, the old man on his Sunday walk. We are nature, a new baby on my hip makes me realise this more than anything. 

Nature does not need our help, we need to help ourselves, as we are nature, that’s the idea anyway. Nowhere presents a better opportunity for this than our schools, those lovely containers of inspiration and guidance we have dotted all along the country. In my former teaching days, I strived to be the ‘guide on the side’ and did my best to provide an environment that fostered learning, that supported intrinsically motivated students.

One of the ways I did this was with a nature table. Now, I taught 5 year olds, so our nature table was a slew of books and posters as well as random fistfuls of treasures from my students’ pockets, some natural and some definitely not. It was something they took note of though, no matter how untidy it was. When there would be an argument in class, we might use a leaf from the nature table to demonstrate slow breathing, breathing in and out by tracing the leaf. We used flowers in art projects, seeds, fruit skins, rocks, pine cones, and shells too. The nature table helped show the students that they could be teachers too, they got opportunities to teach us about their treasures that they brought in, and could answer questions that we had about them. It was all around a fantastic way to help foster the environment I was trying to achieve. Not growing up in Ireland, I did not grow up with nature tables; they weren’t a part of my education. I was introduced to them while teaching, and fell in love.

Nature tables help encourage observation, and bring the outdoors in. Whether we want it to or not, the baseline is shifting and this generation of children don’t know as much about what’s around them as we may have, as our parents did. When I talk about nature tables to peers (I’m in my late 30s) I see a sense of nostalgia, their eyes soften, they have stories to tell. 

Nature Table Competition

After 14 years of visiting classrooms around the country, we’ve noticed a steep decline in the number of nature tables. In an effort to ensure our children have their own nature stories to tell, we want to help encourage nature tables in the classroom. Each season of the school year, we are hosting a nature table competition/ raffle.

Your entry is photos of your nature table submitted on social media (Instagram, Facebook, or X) using #BISnaturetable, and if your school isn’t on social media feel free to email your submission to collab@biodiversityinschools.com. Randomly selected winners will receive a hamper of nature table supplies: books, field guides, swatches, and more.  Open to all homeschool,  preschool, primary, and secondary schools in ROI and NI - you’re all very welcome. 

Why randomly selected? Because, ironically, nature tables shouldn’t be a competition. Having them in your classroom is powerful enough, we’re not going for aesthetics here.

Important dates:

	Start date	End Date	Winner Announced
Autumn	1 September	3 November	7 November
Winter	4 November	2 February	6 February
Spring	3 February	4 May	8 May
Summer	5 May	22 June	23 June

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.

Katherina Di Cristina is Collaborations Manager with 'Biodiversity in Schools'. She can be contacted on collab@biodiversityinschools.com