01 May How to Create a Fairy Garden With Your Children

I’m not sure what the opposite of a green thumb is, but whatever it is – I have it.  As much as I love flowers and plants, I have never been able to keep one alive.  It’s pretty devastating!  I have read and researched and struggled and resolved all to no avail.  You know that bean that you grow in a napkin in Kindergarten?  Yeah.  Mine never grew.  Seriously.  At one time, I even bought the hardiest cactus in the store, thinking:  “I’ll practice on this fella, since according to the sales person, you can’t kill it!”  Well, folks, you can kill it.  It took me almost one year, but it died too.

Needless to say, I am feeling very intimidated and inadequate when it comes to introducing my children to flowers, plants and how they grow.  However, that has never stopped me before!  Clark has been asking about a fairy garden – not sure where he got the idea, but I love it.  I did a little poking around on Pinterest (you can see my Pinterest Fairy Garden Board here) for inspiration, and to learn how to create a fairy garden with your children.

The first thing we did was to check out our local craft store and garden store for a few necessities. At the craft store, I got the cute little “fairy house” in the bird house section for 60% off.  SCORE.  I also found these tiny little wooden pots – a dozen or so for a dollar.  I painted them and stuffed them with moss to look like little clay planters.

These 2 1/2″ shaker pegs were less than a dollar and are the perfect size for toad stools.  I painted them and sprayed with an acrylic sealant.  They’re a little long, but that turned out well, because I was able to simply stick them into the dirt.

Many of the craft stores actually have fairy garden sections – how exciting is that?!  We found a fairy, a little chair for her, an arbor and a snail to be the fairy’s pet (per Clark).  Our poor fairy was dropped almost as soon as we got home and she very tragically lost her head (literally).  Amidst many tears, I glued it back on, leaving her with a lovely “necklace.”

At the garden store we bought a bag of small stones and a few plants of different heights, shapes and textures.

Now this is where the kids get involved.  I had them gather some large rocks to put in the bottom of the planter for drainage.  Then they filled the planter with potting soil.  Clark dug a hole and we planted some tall grass.  (For consistency’s sake, I originally bought a lovely fern to plant next to the grass, but I honestly found it dead the next morning.)

With some guidance, the children nestled the fairy house in close to the grass, then we added the rest of our plants.  I stuck in the arbor and they carefully laid down the stones to create a walkway.

I cut out some ground cover in the form of dried moss and we added our fairy and her pet snail, the toad stools and our little planters.

Didn’t our toad stools and planters come out cute?  These little accessories really add a lot of character.  The great thing is, if you’re not feeling crafty, craft stores now carry all kinds of fairy garden items….  adorable little signs, gnomes, swings, tables and chairs, fences, flowers, animals etc.

We love how our fairy garden turned out!  Clark and Luci sit by it everyday, enjoying it and wondering if they are ever going to be able to see our fairy move.  I did warn them that fairies only move when humans are not looking!