 Fun
ACTIVITIES for You and Your Kids!
The best time you can have is spending time with your kids! You get to
see the world through their eyes - fresh and new, colorful and brilliant.
You get to impart your years of experience and teach them all the important
things about being part of this world. And best of all, you get to be
young and have fun!
At the end of a hard day or a long week, good ideas to keep the firecracking,
whip cracking smart brains of your children entertained can be a bit hard
to come by. Luckily FairyGardens is here to help with these fool proof
fun activities!
~SKELETON LEAVES~
Perhaps you've seen them in your garden come fall - a leaf stripped bare
of its pulpy inner, only the delicate veins remaining. Like miniature
trees, these ghostly treasures can now be created at home!
HOW TO MAKE SKELETON LEAVES:
- Choose leaves which have strongly-defined veins, such as a magnolia
or rubber tree.
- Dry and press the leaves in an old telephone book.
- Make a strong solution of Washing Soda and soak the dried leaves in
it until the flesh becomes pulpy.
- Rinse in clean water and gently brush away the pulp with an old toothbrush.
You can also try this method:
- Place selected green leaves in a pot with 1 tsp Bicarb and 1 tsp Baking
Powder and cover with water.
- Boil and reduce to a low heat. Stir gently from time to time.
- Once leaves have softened, rub off flesh gently.
- When complete, bleach the leaves and leave to dry on paper towels.
- Select strong ones for crafts i.e.. mobiles, cards, ect!
~A VERY SIMPLE MAGIC FAIRY HOME~
As you may already know fairies love to make their homes in nature.
That's what fairies do! Sometimes it's not always so easy to find a suitable
home, but you can help.
Get a larger nut shell such as a walnut shell, a seashell or snail shell,
some fairy dust, feathers, small twigs, flower petals, leaves and moss
or straw and glue. Use whatever you have or can find outside. Perhaps
go on a fairy housemaking supply hike!
The shell will be the home. You can use the rest of the items to decorate
the inside and/or outside of the home. Remember to put something soft
on the floor so the new fairy resident has a snuggly place to curl up
and sleep. Be sure to place your new fairy home in a shady and sheltered
spot, if possible. Listen to your heart and you will know where to put
it. Remember to come back and visit and see who has moved in.
Fairies love fairy dust. Most fairies appreciate liberal sprinklings
of fairy dust on and around their homes so that might be a great way to
make friends with the fairy who has moved in!
submitted by Debbie Rose
FAIRY HUNT GAME - WINNING ENTRY!
Preparation: This is a fun game for children, excellent for parties.
First, you get some bags and fill them with prizes (one for each of the children who are going come on the hunt).
After the bags are filled, hide them behind a tree or bush.
Next, make clues directing to the surprise. Decorate the clues with
rubber stamps, or
draw a fairy on them. Hide the clues around by flowers, and other places
a fairy might be. Be sure that the clues tell where the next clue will
be found, so they will lead the children to the treasure.
To Play: After all the preparations are made, explain to the children
that the fairies have hidden a surprise for them. To find it, they must
find the fairies. Then read them the first clue. The children can then
run around finding all the fairies and clues, until they get to the surprise.
Be sure to have lots of Magical fun!
submitted by Jacob
FAIRY PICTURE FRAME
First, out of corrugated cardboard, cut a rectangle the about one inch
larger than the size of the picture you want to frame. Then cut a smaller
rectangle (a little smaller than the size of the picture) out of the center.
Now decorate by gluing: flowers, leaves or twigs. Or cover the frame
with white paper and decorate with rubber
stamps or stickers. Little fairies can be drawn and scattered
around the frame, or a little bit of glitter can be sprinkled around to
add a magical touch.
This project is great for framing children's artwork.
Submitted by Jacob
FAIRY MASK
Children love to play all sorts of games. You can help them make some
fairy masks.
First draw a face on a piece of card stock or thick paper. (Make sure
that the face is a little bigger than the child's face.)
Now cut out the face and hold it up to the child's face, measure where
the eyes are and make a mark. Then cut out the eyes and maybe add some
eyelashes. Draw a nose and mouth and some hair. (You might want to use
a stamp and an inkpad to make a butterfly in the hair or some glitter
to make it sparkle.)
Use some pipe cleaners and make two antennas that curl at the top. Then
hot glue the antennas on. You also can make a leaf necklace or earrings
by taping leaves together into a necklace or taping some leafs to their
ears.
Now punch two holes on either side with a hole punch. Take some string
or yarn and measure around the child's head tie it to one hole and then
the other. Now the child is a fairy!
An idea to use the masks for is to help your child write a play and get
some of their friends to help. You can invite the children's parents to
come see the play and have a party. Add some special effects to your play
to make it more exciting. Like having a rope securely tied to a child
to make them fly!
submitted by Naomi
FAIRY JOURNAL
First purchase a notebook that you want to make into a fairy journal.
Next cover it with white paper. Decorate the paper using rubber
stamps, glitter, stickers, leaves, flowers and anything fairylike
you can imagine.
Write JOURNAL in fancy letters on the cover.
This project can be used to inspire children to write.
Submitted by Jacob
FAIRY BOOKMARK
This project is a great gift to give at a children's party, or a way
to inspire children to read.
First, with card stock or thick paper, cut out a rectangle the size you
want the bookmark to be. Write a little fairy poem if you like. Decorate
with a rubber stamp.
Then punch a hole in the top. Tie a piece of yarn through the hole, and
it is finished.
Submitted by Jacob
FAIRY FRIENDSHIP BOOK
Fairies love to do special things for friends. A Fairy Friendship Book
is a way that you can do something special for your friend.
 Take
a piece of paper and fold it in half. Fold it again and again, until you
have a small rectangle. Cut on the lines and you will have a stack of
small papers. Use different colors of paper if you want. Take a stack
of paper and punch two holes at the top end. Put a piece of ribbon through
the holes and tie a bow in front and then tie the bow into a knot. You
may want to string some beads on the ends of the ribbons.
Write your friend's name and "Fairy Friendship Book" on the
cover. You can add nature accents, pressed flowers, small leaves, stickers
and glitter to the cover also (for leaves and flowers, you may need to
cover the page with clear tape or contact paper). You can also use decorative
scissors to make the edges look unique.
Inside your book, decorate the back of each page with a rubber
stamp, coloring supplies or stickers. On the front of each page,
write something special about your friend. You could also add things like
movie tickets, a piece of ribbon, etc, from experiences you shared with
your friend.
Some writing ideas are:
• Things you and your friend like to do together
• Funny experiences you had together
• Things that make your friend special and different
• What a difference your friend has made in your life
Don't forget to sign your name on the book and put the date on it. When
you are finished, you will have a unique book to give to your friend.
You could also use this idea at a party. Instead of making a book for
a particular friend, decorate and write on a page for each person at the
party. Then give the pages to the people you wrote about and let each
person make their own book. There may be a lot of laughs as funny times
are remembered and stories are told.
Submitted by Stephanie Merkley
FAIRY WINDCHIME
Fairies are hard to hear, but if you listen carefully, sometimes you'll
hear the music of the fairies as a tinkle in the wind. Here's how you
can make some fairy music of your own.
YOU WILL NEED:
2 Popsicle (craft) sticks
Assorted beads round and flower-shaped
2 miniature bells (found in sewing and craft stores)
Fairy stamp and ink
Colored pencils or crayons
String and a needle
Hot glue or other kind of glue
Other decorations such as leaves or small nature accents
TO BUILD YOU FAIRY WINDCHIME:
 Glue
the Popsicle sticks together to form an X. String the beads on 5 strings
and attach each string to the Popsicle sticks (on each end and from the
center of the cross) with glue, so that the strings of beads hang down
from the X.
Attach the bells on strings of more beads. Glue the strings with the
bells, to the Popsicle sticks across from each other next to the center
string of beads.
Stamp a fairy on paper and color it. Cut around the fairy. On the back
of the paper, stamp another picture of the fairy and color it. Attach
the fairy to the center string of beads with string. (You can put more
fairies on your wind chime if desired.) For a more permanent fairy, you
can use a fairy ornament
instead of a fairy created out of paper.
Tie a string to the center of the sticks for hanging. Glue the string
to hold it in place. Decorate your wind chime with leaves, small nature
accents and beads. Use glue to hold the decorations in place.
When the wind blows, the strings of beads and the bells, will knock against
each other, making fairy music. Hang your wind chime next to a window
or door where the wind will blow it and listen for the fairies.
submitted by Stephanie
FAIRY HOUSE
YOU WILL NEED: a small plastic container that has a lid (maybe a sour
cream or cottage cheese container), blank paper (preferably card stock),
rubber fairy stamps
and rubber stamping ink.
TO MAKE YOUR FAIRY HOUSE: Start by stamp a few different fairies on the
paper. Decorate the fairies and cut them out. Make your new cutout friends
some little beds out of some leaves and maybe some pillows out of moss.
You can make a little table by gluing a piece of bark onto some twigs.
If you make a table you might want to get some rocks for seats and the
tops of some acorns for bowls
To make your fairies' house a mushroom, take a plastic bowl and cover
it with plastic wrap so the clay won't stick to it. Press the clay on
the outside of the bowl until the whole bowl is covered. You can gather
gather the clay from outside or buy some modeling clay from the store.
Then after the clay has dried, pull it off the bowl and fill it with
paper so you can glue it to the lid of the plastic container. You can
also cut a door and windows in the side of the plastic container. Decorate
the container with permanent markers and stickers.
Submitted by Naomi
FAIRY SIZED FAIRYTALES!
Little children love little things. A fun craft project for children
is to cut out little pieces of paper and staple them into a book. Then
the children can illustrate their own little "fairy-sized" fairytales.
It is especially fun to let them go outside and look for things in nature
to draw in their books. The children can be encouraged to imagine that
they are as small as a fairy would be, and think of how big things would
look to someone that small. All of this can be used in their stories.
Children who are too young to write words and draw pictures themselves,
could still illustrate their stories with rubber
stamps or small stickers.
submitted by Beverley Fenn
FAIRIES IN FALL WRAPPING PAPER
A fun way to let children help with wrapping up a present, is to let
them make the wrapping paper themselves!
"Fairies in Fall" wrapping paper can be made by first collecting
lots of different leaves.
Then the leaves are used to make leaf rubbings, by placing them under
a sheet of paper and rubbing a crayon on top.
Next the children can add to their sheet of leaf rubbings by stamping
with fairy rubber stamps,
drawing fairies with markers and adding accents with glitter and glue.
(Glue must dry completely before the paper is used for wrapping presents.)
Finally, the child can wrap up a gift!
Different colors of paper will make the wrapping paper more unique. Larger
sheets of wrapping paper can be made by taping more than one sheet together
or by using large rolls of paper. A very large sheet of paper could be
used for several children to work on at the same time. Each child could
focus on one area of the paper and then sign their name beside their work.
submitted by Beverley Fenn
"BE YOUR OWN FAIRY" T-SHIRT
YOU WILL NEED:
Plain T-Shirt, fairy rubber stamp, waterproof fabric stamping ink, fabric
paint, buttons, ribbons, and other notions, and fabric glue.
Be sure to check out our collection of rubber
stamps and stamp
inks in our Catalog!
Select a rubber stamp fairy of choice. Ink FAIRY ONLY and place on shirt
in desired location.
Proceed to paint, etc. Roll sleeve up one time and secure with fabric
glue. Decorate with leaf-shaped buttons, or cut your own leaves out of
different types of fabrics.
Make a "bed" of these same fabric leaves for your fairy to
frolic on.
Finish with a satin ribbon, tied in a bow, secured either to the neckline
of your t-shirt or under your fairy design.
Keep in mind the season of your fairy and the flower she represents when
you pick your decorations. For example, for the Apple Blossom Fairy -
decorative apple buttons on the sleeves would be a nice touch. You can
also draw your own apples with fabric paint pens.
For a flower that blooms in the spring, you may wish to choose some little
chicks or another symbol you associate with the coming of that season!
You can really go wild with the Christmas fairy and that would make a
great Christmas party get together with your friends. Get together and
enjoy your friendship - that's the most important gift of all. If you
like THAT idea, you can put all the finished shirts in a grab bag and
each pick one as your gift to each other.
A great idea for a children's Christmas party can be geared around creating
fairy t-shirts. Once the "treasures" are completed, the girls
can gather around the tree (or mennorah) and place their completed shirts
in a grab bag. Each gets to dig in and grab a shirt that a buddy has created.
Learning that the time we spend together; sharing ideas, conversation
and companionship are far more valuable AND FUN than just another expensive,
impersonal gift. Time is our most precious commodity - it is priceless
- and the joys of sharing it together make memories that last a lifetime.
submitted by Carol Illumina Grosz
HOLLYHOCK FAIRY HOUSE
Fairies enjoy playing among the flowers and now you can too! Draw a big
circle in the dirt, in an area that gets plenty of sun. Sit inside of
it to make sure it's big enough for you to sit comfortably. With a small
trowel, or the edge of a hoe, plow the ground on the circle that you drew.
Leave part of the circle free to be used for the door. Then put hollyhock
seeds in the plowed earth and make sure they get enough water to sprout.
Soon the hollyhocks will shoot out and start to fall over each other.
When they get long enough, pull the tops together at the center (forming
a tent) and tie with twine or wire. Then go inside your hollyhock fairy
house and enjoy the shade all summer long.
submitted by Stephanie Merkley
HOLLYHOCK FAIRY CLOTHES
The flowers of hollyhocks make beautiful dresses for fairies. Carefully
snip the flower from the plant and turn upside down. Dress up your hollyhock
fairy with other bits of nature, such as the tops of acorns, leaves, and
other flowers. You can also take the flower apart and dress up a small
doll, or a small piece of wood. Fairies love to be dressed in the latest
flower fashion. Have fun and experiment with other flowers from the garden.
submitted by Stephanie Merkley
FAIRY DWELLINGS
Fairies are pretty resourceful creatures but sometimes need a little
help with the house keeping. They usually live in hollow trunks or logs,
tiny caves, or well protected bushes. But quite frankly - who wants to
live in a drafty old stick when you could live in a cozy split level?
YOU WILL NEED: Natural building materials including rocks, moss, twigs,
leaves, flowers. Fairies will only live in a home of natural materials
- Barbie's plastic mansion just doesn't cut the elven mustard!
You will also need something to keep the house from falling apart. We
recommend twine, carpenters or white glue, or hot glue with parental supervision.
HOW TO PREPARE: Collect and clean all of your materials. Prepare a space
indoors for indoor, rainy-day construction or out doors for fun in the
sun.
Come up with a plan. Every fairy needs a kitchen to bake her tasty treats,
a living room to entertain her tiny guests, a bedroom to grow her dreams,
and a place to hide her pixie dust.
BUILDING YOUR GUGGENHEIM
- Start with a frame. An old nativity crèche, shoe box, or log
will work.
- Use rocks and twigs for furniture, appliances, and even the walls.
- Doll-sized dishes will add a touch of class. Be creative an make your
own out of Playdough or low temperature clay like Fimo.
- Moss makes a nice fluffy floor!
- The more flowers, the more likely your house will become a fairy home!
- After your building has been constructed, your will need to set it
in a fairy friendly neighborhood. Find a nice shaded spot, away from
the elements and protected from the noses of large animals and secure
your home.
- Secure your home, put a for sale sign out front, and keep an eye for
a new family!
FAIRY MAILBOXES
It is hard to spot a fairy, but they still like to let you know they're
out there. Whether its the faint singing your hear at dusk, or the flapping
of little wings you hear out of the corner of you ear, they are always
saying hello in secret ways.
Why not give them a way to correspond directly? Set up a fairy mailbox
and prepare to say HELLO!
HOW TO PREPARE: find a nice mini mailbox. These can often be found in
craft stores or can be made out of a small box or weatherproof container.
Decorate your mailbox and find a nice, fairy friendly spot to put the
mailbox.
READY SET HELLO!
- With your children, compose a friendly letter to the fairies, asking
them questions about the world they live in. Ask the fairies about the
flowers in the garden and the creatures living there.
- Place the letter in the mailbox and wait for the fairy to visit.
- When the fairy writes back, read the letter with your children and
explore the world the fairies write about!
HIDE AND SEEK
This game has several variations, including the one where you loose your
kid brother in spare closet! But in FairyGardens' version, your children
or children in your neighborhood learn about nature and how animals use
camouflage as a natural defense.
This game can be played in an afternoon, or in over several weeks.
HOW TO PREPARE: Purchase a large number of small rubber frogs, insects,
lizards, or mini critters. These can be found at dollar stores, natural
and educational stores, and some craft or novelty retailers.
HIDE (HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO FIND?)
- Distribute the mini critters amongst the players. Depending on the
age group, you may wish to add some learning and discuss the different
kinds of animals and the environments they live in.
- The children now must hide the creatures in the garden while you keep
your eyes sealed.
- After the mini creatures are safely hidden, look for them while tending
the garden or enjoying a particularly sunny day.
- Once you find the animal, it's your turn to hide it!
- The children must check on the creature every day. Once it disappears,
they must begin their search.
- This game could go on an on!
VARIATIONS
- If you would like to play this game in one afternoon, give one child
an animal. He will hide the creature while the others keep their peepers
shut. After the animal is hidden, all children look for it and the lucky
lad or lass who finds it gets to be the next Hider!
- You may also want to play against a fairy! Using the Fairy Mailbox
list above, leave little hints for your children as to where they may
find the mini creature.
~ MY LITTLE FAIRY BOOK ~
This ones so easy its child's play!
- Staple lots of pieces of paper together so it looks like a book.
- Decorate the front cover with things that look great to you, natural
things work best.
- Write a title on the front cover then put your name as the author.
- On the pages write in any fairy experiences, ideas or pictures because
it‚s your fairy book!
This is great because it gets kids in touch with nature as well as probing
writing and art skills.
Submitted by CAZ - UK
~FAIRY HOUSE~
You can make a fairy house out of any natural material but there are
a few rules:
- You can't damage any materials that are still alive such as flowers
ferns and leaves that are still on trees. This is something that fairies
don't like so use things that aren't in use or alive.
- Make sure you put the house somewhere that it will blend in so nobody
can tell it is a house.
- Make it with the kindness of your heart not with the greed of it and
not just to see a fairy.
- You can make your house at anytime of the year- milkweed, leaves and
twigs are useful in the autumn and sand is at the beach in the summer.
In winter use snow and decorate it with seeds. In spring anything that
is not alive.
- Enjoy making it and be patient with it- this will better the chances
that fairies will come and like it.
Submitted by Sophie
~ Fairy Pond ~
Materials:
- An empty flowerpot
- Sand or little pebbles
- One smooth larger stone
- Glitter gel or sparkles
- Lily pad or floating plant (optional)
Find a nice shady place and dig a hole about the size of the bottom
of the pot and put the pot in it. Now put in the sand and if there is
a hole in the pot fill it with a cork. Spread the sand so it covers
the bottom evenly you don't have to make it that thick. Place the stone
firmly in the sand where ever you want and fill the pot with water.
The water might seem foggy at first but if you wait the sand will settle
to the bottom. Now here's the fun part! Spray your gel or sparkly stuff
any where and watch the water turn into fairy bath water! You can add
as much as you want and add any floating plants. At night the fairies
come and bath in it and have pool parties so you might want to add stones
to make stairs to the top and clean it out about every two weeks. This
is fun to do and you can be as creative as you want.
Thank you to all of the fairygardens.com visitors who have submitted
their wonderful ideas to our Activities Page.
Congratulations to Jacob for winning our 2003 Activities Contest!
|
