For us, making a fairy garden happened out of necessity. In order to work in our garden with a busy toddler in tow, I came up with the idea to let him have space in one of our our raised beds to play while we worked.
It has become a simple and fun activity for us to do in the yard, and is a fan favorite whenever we have friends over. Children love tinkering around in the garden, setting up rocks, changing up the configuration, imagining new pretend stories.
I sourced many of the items in our raised bed fairy garden from the dollar store, our local recycling center’s “still good shed” and rocks we’ve painted at home. It can be as simple as sticks and rocks found in your own yard, to purchased fairy garden items from your local garden center. We have a fairly healthy mix, as Jeff was lucky enough to receive some “real” fairy garden figures for Christmas from his grandparents. The dollar store or your local craft store are also great places to find things like marbles, rocks, little animals or gnomes.
While we do have an every expanding fairy garden set up in a raised bed in our garden, it hasn’t stopped Jeff from creating small fairy gardens around the yard. Sourcing things like sticks, leaves and ferns from our yard enables him to create little houses all over our property. To encourage your child’s creativity and to make your own fairy garden, you can use things from around your house, purchase materials or source them straight from the yard. Here, we used a mix of materials:
Keep it simple, let creativity & imagination do the work!
We filmed a quick 3 minute video detailing how we normally build our fairy gardens, in cooperation with Boston Children’s Museum. I feel so thankful and honored to work with them! Once you get your kid(s) started, they'll know how to do it on their own, allowing them to be creative and self entertained in the yard. The best part about it is that it brings you together for simple, enjoyable moments with your kids.
Give it a try!
