Fairy Gardens

So here is much anticipated post about the fairy gardens!

I'm not sure where I got the idea, really.  But having a couple little girls around who like to pretend to be fairies and read books about fairies might have had something to do with it.

The gardens weren't too hard to make.  I started by getting several containers from the Dollar Store, and Dakota picked up some grass seed and dirt from Home Depot.  The other things--little wooden bird houses, colored stones, small rocks, aqua-colored glass stones, lady bug buttons and artificial flowers, can all be found inexpensively at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or other craft stores.

First, the girls painted the little wooden houses.  (We used Crayola washable poster paints.  The paint washes out of clothes, but doesn't wash off of the houses when watering the grass seeds.)  Then we did some other activities while the houses started to dry.

Next, I filled the containers with dirt and let the girls start arranging their gardens.  They put the houses in first, and then added the small aqua glass stones to make a little pond.

They placed small rocks or colored stones around their ponds and made paths around their houses.

Then they "planted" the flowers around their houses or along the sides of the container.  Some put lady bugs in their flowers.  Some lady bugs ended up swimming in ponds. 

When each girl was happy with the way her garden looked, she added grass seed to any dirt that was still showing.

If they use a spray bottle to keep the grass seeds watered (2-3 times a day), they should have real grass growing in about a week!

It was a great birthday project that all the girls enjoyed.  I thought it was fun to see their creativity and listen to their conversations.  There was a lot of talk about which fairies the girls thought would come to whose garden, and what the fairies would like to do there. I love that they haven't yet outgrown their vivid imaginations!