How Do You Make a Magical Fairy Garden for Kids?
You may be wondering, do fairies really need gardens? I am not sure if fairies need gardens, but I am absolutely sure that kids do. Creating your own DIY fairy garden for kids is a delightful way to create a fantasy world while learning gardening skills and developing imagination and creativity.
Kids love to play with dolls’ houses and to build mini-towns and toy farms. These worlds in miniature, give them a way to explore relationships and create happy scenarios, over which they have full control.
A DIY fairy garden can also be a great way to recycle waste into little homes, paths, and benches, for fairies to enjoy (when no one is watching, of course).
You may also be interested in our other themed garden ideas including;
– Creating a sensory garden for kids
– How to create a butterfly garden for kids
Getting Started: Where Should a DIY Fairy Garden be Built?
This really depends on your home circumstances. Children fortunate enough to have big gardens and old trees can find a leafy, shady outdoor spot, among the roots of a tree or in a sheltered nook.
Build your own fairy garden away from pets to avoid boisterous puppies knocking over precious objects or, which would be even worse, cats using the garden as a litter box.
The garden may well be visited by frogs, spiders, butterflies, ladybirds, and bees. As parents, you can use these visiting creatures as part of an eco-friendly exercise to teach children about organic pest control, symbiotic relationships, and pollination.
Children with small gardens or patios and apartments can use a large planter box or stacked terracotta pots to build their gardens. They could even use a large tray or sturdy box lined with plastic.
How to Build Your Own Fairy Garden
Plant the garden directly into the soil or into little pots if the soil is not deep enough.
If you buy soil, then commercial black potting soil would be the best option. River or sea sand would work for an indoor succulent garden, which does not have enough light for conventional growing.
You can use grass or moss to make green areas. Penny royal is an aromatic minty ground cover, which is great for covering a shady area and sand smells delicious.
You can use plastic lawn for indoor gardens to avoid a mess. You could even use coarse cat litter for a desert-themed fairy garden. Not all fairies live in flowers!
Use a large paver as a firm base for a fairy house.
There are some amazingly cute figurines to add that special touch which will make your DIY fairy garden look even more inviting!
What Plants do I use in a Fairy Garden?
The types of plants you use will depend on the amount of sun in the fairy garden.
Fairy-like ground covers such as small creeping thymes or low growing mints are suitable for sun and partial shade.
Bright flowers, like orange nasturtiums or pansies with happy faces, are great for sunny areas while begonias, in soft pinks and white, like shade.
Ferns and pelargoniums look like little trees and give height to your garden. They are tall enough from which to hang sun catchers or solar lights. This creates a sense of magic in your garden.
Soft moss can grow over sand mounds to form a hill or even a little hobbit house.
Flower-shaped succulents are pretty in a shady or indoor garden and spread quickly. There are many exciting varieties of succulent available. They are happy to grow in old teapots, cups, or decorated tins and don’t mind very little soil or water.
How do I Attract Fairies to my Garden?
Fairies love all sorts of gardens! You can choose to add a personal touch to your garden by making little houses, manmade ponds and little paths. The design depends on your budget and your personal choices. You can use recycled bottles and cans to make little homes for the fairies.
An old basin buried in moss or sand makes a little pond. Look out for a tiny garden gnome or statue to put next to your pond. A mirror is a good pretend pond for the non-mess variety of fairy gardens.
Use wooden ice cream sticks or skewers to make a garden bench or a roof for your fairy home. You can cut up egg boxes to make stools or beds for the fairies.
Make a path out of pebbles, bark, or brightly colored bottle tops.
Adult supervision is necessary for craft projects, but they are so much fun that the children will be bored before you are.
Here is a list of some additional supplies you might need when creating your DIY fairy garden:
- Wood glue.
- Glue Gun – Parents can use a glue gun for sticking beads and mirrors, which will make them last longer outdoors.
- Paint, including blackboard paint for signage.
- Glitter to brighten up your recycling projects.
Your fairy garden will always be a work in progress, as changing seasons offer new materials and you will probably require new plants at some point.
You can use pinecones and autumn leaves, herbs and edible flowers, little veggie seedlings, and, even, seasonal decorations, like a baby Christmas tree.
It’s a good idea to keep any commercially made furniture, soft furnishings, dolls, toy animals or cars in a special suitcase or box and take them out to the garden at playtime.
It's time to create your own DIY Fairy Garden for Kids!
A fairy garden is a wonderful way to spend time with your children and to teach them all about nature in a non-classroom environment.
Whether a fairy garden is simple or expensive, shop-bought or home-made, it will offer so much fun. Now it’s time for you to build your own fairy garden!
