How to Make a Fairy Garden
Childhood magic is a precious gift. I believe that in today’s fast paced, success driven world, it is more important than ever to protect AND nurture the magic in our children’s lives. The excitement my Kitty feels when she discovers that fairies have left her a silvery message on a leaf… the delight in a pearly dewdrop left behind by Mother Moon. These whimsical thoughts dwell in childhood’s imagination and yet the magic they spark will live in her heart long after she knows that it is only the snail who left the silvery trail and condensation that left the dewdrop.
My mother made sure that there was magic in my own childhood and I endeavor to do the same for my children. One of the ways we nurture childhood magic in our home is through Kitty’s fairy garden. She pays outside in her fairy garden often, almost daily. She’s in the warm sun, breathing in the fresh air. It is her special place where her imagination can roam freely, no one is listening to her (except the fairies, of course) ad no one is interfering with her. Her Fairy Garden is where her felted fairies and gnomes get married, her tiny horses gallop freely and her little wooden birds build their nests.
Next, let your child plan out her fairy garden. Kitty drew a detailed map, indicating where she wanted a hill and a valley, were the pond would go and even where she wanted the path to be placed. Making the map gave her ownership, made the garden hers.
Earthworms are optional. They are great soil aerators and help maintain good soil drainage (plus, they give the little one something to do so that he doesn’t keep destroying the soil hill his sister has, so carefully, built…)
Your Fairy Garden is complete but your little one will add to it every so often… a special feather, a log and, of course, their imagination to make it magic!
We’ve seen many amazing things in our Fairy Garden… a minute mushroom circle appeared one day, a tiny downy feather from a baby bird was left on the moss another. These things, I had nothing to do with and even I, am starting to believe.
I hope I’ve inspired you to make a Fairy Garden with your own little ones and enter it into our Fairy Garden Contest. Not only is it incredibly fun to make a miniature garden like this, but there are such AWESOME prizes to be won.
The Fairy Garden Contest 2016 is open for entries from April until August, 2016. Enter here.
Also, have a look at my Fairy Gardens shop for the BEST fairy garden accessories.
Blessings and magic,
Donni
31 Responses
this is SO beautiful. one of the most creative projects i have seen in a long while..i am so excited to do this with my children when they are old enough!
Oh my, this is just the sweetest thing! I love it. I’m going to have to help my little girls make one. Thanks so much for sharing this.
completely gorgeous and magical, love it xx
I love this, and am now thinking about where we could place a little fairy garden at our new house. Let the planning begin!
Amazing ! I love this !
Thanks for providing such detailed instructions. I just might be able to try this one with my big explorer (5-1/2 yrs). He recently built his own fairy house and has come to believe in the magic of fairies. This would be a wonderful addition.
Magical! It reminded me of the fairy garden I created with my Dad as a child in amongst the rockery, in the back garden. Beautiful memory, thank you for giving me the opportunity to remember. I am wondering where we can make one in our home now….
So beautifull! Magical! And I love the way you’re speaking of your children and caring about their creativity and imagination! And thanks for your lovely words on our blog.
These are so fabulous! We tried it in the past, but our moss died. We ha gathered it from the woods. Is there a secret to keeping the moss alive? i would love to try this again!
What magical and inspirational blog you have. I have an award for you. See http://raisingian.blogspot.com/2010/08/thank-you-thank-you.html.
Adorable idea! My daughter’s and I love fairies too, I did a post a few weeks ago and they did a paper garden fairy designs, as well as hunting down flowers and other nature materials to design it, and just created until their hearts were content. I love doing all kinds of activities with them. :-)
Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Jill
I just love your blog!!! I have it open in one of my Mozilla tabs all the time. :)
Would you allow me to repost this post on my blog and post a link in the post and in the right column? I have a blog, where I publish waldorf related subjects (I just moved to a new url) and daily Fairy messages.
You can find it on en.nalina.si the old blog is on waldorfheart.blogspot.com
There certainly is such magic to be found in childhood and in nature, it is a rich blessing to share these moments with our little ones! Your fairy home is stunning, we too appreciate creating these magical spaces for our fairy friends!
This is SO gorgeous. I want one for myself!!!
We made a fairy garden after reading your blog and I must say, it was one of my children’s favourite summer projects. Your tutorial is wonderful. Thanks for the inspiration.
Sweet idea! We did a fairy birthday party for our little fairy girl a few weeks ago, we’ll have to try a garden soon! Thanks for the inspiration!
So magical! I love your fairy garden!
We have a fairy garden in our garden too, made out of an old sandpit.
We made a little wattle and daub house as part of our history project last term and it makes a lovely fairy home now.
This is one of the most fabulous ideas I have seen and as soon as we are all feeling better, my girls and I will attempt to make one for our yard!! THANKS!
Such a sweet little fairy garden! I agree Donni, the magic of childhood is such a blessing!
I absolutely love fairy gardens and yours are fantastic… so charming.
ciao,
Mary
Thank you for this … it lifted me up on a day when I discovered that ‘our fairies’ had been stolen from the woodland near our home. Where a footpath wanders through a copse of trees by a stream there is a perfect circle of trees, the sort of trees with holes in them and lots of low down branches. It was so obviously the perfect place for fairies that I put some there and my boys, and visiting children, delighted in them. Every time I had chance to walk the dog alone the fairies moved around their circle, somehow, but now they have been taken away … either by a curious child or by someone who has lost touch with, and respect for, magic.
Your ‘fairy garden’ idea might just be what I need to recapture the magic!
These are the fairies that we have made previously … we just add gauzy wings made from wired ‘gift wrap’ ribbon.
http://rhythmofthehome.com/archives/winter-2010/handmade-tomten/
Beautiful what I want for my terrace !! It was the little girl who did all that ???
Hi Victoria, thanks for getting in touch. Yes, it was mostly my daughter who made the fairy garden. Such fun. I’d love to see a photo of yours when you are done. Your blog is BEAUTIFUL!!!!
XO Donni