It seems that with spring truly here and summer just around the corner, fairy gardens are becoming a popular topic on children's play blogs and Facebook play groups. If you look online you will find a multitude of inspiring photos of beautifully crafted fairy gardens with all the little fairy garden furniture trimmings. It's really hard not to be inspired! Who wouldn't want a magical, whimsical fairy land in their own backyard? Something to admire and to inspire fairy daydreams. A living, growing wonderland.
For me, fairy gardens are more than just a whimsical addition to the garden, they are a great way to get children into gardening and an even better way to teach children responsibility for another living thing without having the trouble of a pet. No fairy garden thrives without being watered, fed, and given enough sunlight. Thus the child must remember to water and fertilize their little paradise appropriately and make sure it stays in a spot with enough sunlight depending on what type of plants are in it. I guess they also learn to look without toughing as fairy gardens are great to look at but not something you play with.
For the base of our garden we bought a plastic terracotta planter and base which we drilled holes in the bottom of for drainage. Very important! My daughter was given the honour of filling the garden with potting mix and compost and then planting the little flowers and greenery. For those of you who are wondering, the flowers are miniature African Violets, great indoor plants!
After planting the garden, my daughter topped the garden with some rocks from our driveway. This will make it look nice and neat and keep the soil moist.
Now with accessories, you might say we went a little overboard. It all started with some simple little wooden animals I'd painted for Christmas tree decorations. Hot glue and a toothpick on the back and I was able to stick them into the soil so they would stand upright. With some blue rocks, bought from the 1€ shop, we made a river. The fairy house is made from gluing little sticks over a toilet roll and then using some felt and coloured paper to create the roof and door. The windows are foam flowers and the roof is embellished with a little wooden ladybug, plastic leaves and flower. Pretty ribbon is also stuck in place around the base just to make it all the more pretty.
The clothes line is made from two sticksand a bit of sewing thread tied between them and then a little dress which I cut out of felt, hung with little pegs I got from the craft store. The fairy, herself, is made from a wooden peg by attaching some wool with glue for hair, drawing the face on with markers and then gluing some felt pieces to form the dress. The wings are from an old butterfly ornament. A few more wooden ladybugs and viola it's finally finished.
In the evening we also experimented with some lighting. We tried the fairy lights and LED tea candles behind the plants to give it a dramatic look. The results were not too bad but I would like to continue to work on it to get the look just right. I am going to ask my husband if he can wire something up that will let us stick tiny LED lights in strategic places rather than on a cord like the fairy lights. The cord is just too hard to hide.
So there it is, our very own magical indoor fairy garden. My daughter loves looking at it and swoons over it, sighing and whispering "oh it's so cute!" She's tried to play with the bits and pieces but I remind her not to touch it, that it's just for looking and she seems to be OK with that. (I plan on making a playable version soon) My daughter has also started telling me that the fairies come at night when she is sleeping to look after her when she sleeps. It's so wonderful too see that her imagination has been sparked by such a simple addition to her bedroom.
Hope you have been inspired to make your own garden. They really are a lot of fun and quite addictive. I'm already buying bits and pieces for one in my bedroom. If you make one I'd love to hear about it in the comment section. Maybe even share some photos.
Until next time happy playing
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