With a daughter who can’t get enough of Christmas, snow and animals, we make a “Winter Wonderland” table every year as a way to talk and think about the season and, if only for a minute, a little less about presents! So, when you’re not out on the town, you can cozy up and try your hand at your own version of this fun, winter craft project. We usually do it at the same time we put up the tree. Mind you, our house is tiny, so I try to keep things orderly and don’t go overboard with too much stuff that will end up making its way to other areas of the house.
Up to this point, our table has largely been devoted to forest animals, gnomes and other magical creatures, though sometimes elephants and giraffes make their way to the table, too. We’ve done different things, and we usually find something new for our “wonderland” every year.
Gnomes and creatures have come from craft fairs over the years
What You Need:
This is really up to you, but here’s what I use:
White batting by the sheet for snow
White satin or silk to add to the snow blanket effect
Sparkly tulle to go over the fabric and batting because winter is sparkly
A string of 25 white lights
Garland from your Christmas tree or found on the ground at your nearby park
Sticks, moss, flat rocks, cuts of wood from the butt of your Christmas tree to create stumps
Animals, gnomes and/ or people of your choice, a Kokeshi Doll (why not?)
Golden walnuts
Felted campfire to gather the animals around
A mirror for a pond
We love the baby wooden animals by Holztiger
What You Do:
This is the fun part!
Depending on the size of your table, you will need to customize how you do this:
Lay the strand of lights on the table however they may fall
Layer the batting, silk and tulle over the lights to create the snowy ground
Follow with the greens on top of the fabric around the edges or again, however they fall
Start creating your scene (the kid loves to do this), placing gnomes and animals on stumps, around the fire, in the garland.
Really, just have fun with it!
