The faeries are there but they won't stay unless you make it inviting. Young children between the ages of 3 and 8 can have fun making and caring for a faerie garden. Help make their wishes come true and spend quality time engaging with your children (or the neighbour's or community's) by building a faerie garden together, filled with the stuff of their dreams. In the process, they learn about gardening and the beauty of nature, as well as forming concepts about turning imagination into something artistic and creative.
Steps
- Draw a plan on paper with your child's input. Ask him or her what shape he or she would like (or simply provide a pre-decided shape if your garden space is limited). Using this shape, map out the sorts of things your faerie garden will contain. See ideas under "Tips".
- In the garden, plan out the plot that will make the faerie garden. It should be somewhere child-friendly and less accessible to dogs, puppies and cats who might mess with it. Fence it off with small garden fences if necessary (little blunt wooden picket fences are cute - available from hardware or dollar stores).
- Together with your child, dig over the garden so that the soil is ready for planting and is easy to manipulate when you place the faerie pieces in it. Fertilize if necessary.
- Place a square or circle paver upon which the main feature piece will sit. A terracotta coloured cement paver is ideal. Place a statue on this square/circle, such as a mushroom, faerie, animal or other feature item that the child has chosen.
- Mark out a larger outer faerie circle which surrounds this feature piece. Plant a circle of flowers chosen by the child around the inner circle. Edge this outer circle with upright border blocks (the wavy ones are nicest).
- Next to the large circle, make little faerie circles using river stones, pebbles etc. Place plants inside these circles, or little trinkets chosen by the child. You could also make other shapes such as cat faces, dogs, triangles, diamonds etc from the pebbles; imagination is the only limit.
- Add extra faerie pieces. A faerie table and chairs can be made from various sizes of pavers. Purchase a small child's tea-set from a dollar store and place on the table for the faeries to have tea.
- Follow your child's imagination to include other items in the garden - listen to their ideas and try to adapt to them with items on hand.
- Remind your child to keep the flowers watered regularly. While watering, they can check for faeries. Encourage them to leave little gifts for the faeries (small pieces of fruit, seeds, whatever they like). This will ease the transition from stubborn disinterest in gardening to enjoying it!
- Have a special tea party to open the faerie garden. Invite other family members, friends and neighbors over to marvel at the little garden and to provide the child with encouragement for it.
Tips
- Fun things for a faerie garden can be found in garden stores. Ideas include: shiny glass pebbles, river pebbles, pavers, miniature statues, solar lights, terracotta worms, wooden insects, wooden flowers, candle light holders, faerie lights (with adult supervision only), and so on.
- Dollar stores can be a source of extra features such as: beads, foil, glittery pieces, tiny animal toys, little miniature faeries, wooden pieces etc. Have fun with your imagination.
- Flowers should be colorful and easy to grow. Buy some as seeds and some as seedlings, so that children can see the seeds grow but can also see real flowers from the start.
- If you are able to string things up over the garden, the children can make art pieces using foil, CDs and other shiny objects. If near a vegetable garden or fruit trees, the glinting objects will help to discourage birds from landing to ravage the produce.
- Little statues with in-built solar powered lights are fantastic. These are a delight to children after dark when they can walk out and see a little glow that attracts moths - and faeries!
- Use faerie books borrowed from the library to give you more inspiration - children will enjoy looking at the different ideas.
- For boys who think faeries are not their idea of fun, change to elves, pixies, gnomes etc.; or explain that there are boy faeries too and they used to look after the dinosaurs...
Advisories
- Be careful the items used are age-suitable - no small pieces where children under 3 or puppies can gain access.
- If you use potting soil, keep children away from the bag to avoid possible breathing in of legionella germs found in some potting mixes. Also take care of your own respiratory health.
- Make sure items left out are weather-resistant.
- Place items in garage for over-wintering or they may crack, rust etc.
- If you use any electricity, make sure it is outdoor use compatible and that all exposed wires etc cannot be reached or pulled by small children and pets.
- Always wash hands well after gardening.
Things You'll Need
- Terracotta pavers
- Terracotta borders
- Faerie stuff
