Montessori Nature Tray with Magnification Work and Flower Arranging

My 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, and I had a lot of fun with our nature walk and nature cutting tray yesterday. I wanted to extend the activity in an inviting and easily accessible way. So I decided to prepare a Montessori nature tray with both magnification work and flower arranging.

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Montessori Nature Tray with Magnification Work and Flower Arranging

It was very simple to put together a nature tray with the materials I already had from other work. This is a perfect tray for spring or summer, although it would work well in the fall, too. Of course, it would be perfect in the winter in some areas.

Materials Used:

• Multicraft Tray
• Montessori Services Baskets
• Small Glass Decanter from Montessori Services (used in a pouring activity previously)
• Guidecraft Mirror Blocks (although the Guidecraft Magnification Blocks look very cool and would emphasize the magnification focus)
• Terra Kids Magnifier Beaker from Montessori Services
• Magnifying Glass from the Montessori By Mom Shoots and Sprouts Toolbox (which Zoey and I love)
• Flowers and Moss from Our Nature Walk

Soon, I’ll add the Montessori Services bug catcher with magnifier inset.

Zoey’s Work with the Montessori Nature Tray

Zoey loves nature walks and nature trays in general. She used our nature tray with sorting and counting a lot. She discovered this tray right away and began work with it.

We had found some moss on another nature walk, so I already had the Terra Kids Magnifier Beaker from Montessori Services on our shelf. Zoey loves that and uses it often! And she had a great time exploring our new nature treasures.

Zoey has been doing lots of flower arranging since she was 17 months old and I put out her first flower arranging activity. So she got right to work arranging the flowers. I kept some flowers in the baskets so Zoey could explore the effects of water (and lack of it) on flowers. It would be fun to add an experiment including soil at some point, too.

If you’d like to know more about preparing nature trays and nature tables, I have a roundup post with lots of ideas.

I hope your child and/or students have as much fun exploring nature as we do!

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