Fairies, those mythical, magical creatures that have captured our imaginations for centuries. This Sunday is International Fairy Day, where it’s believed that the veil between our world and fairy land is lifted.
To celebrate, we collaborated with our friends at The Heart Cart to build a Forever Fairy Garden and we’re sharing their ‘How To Guide’ with you, our fellow fairy loving friends.
The Heart Cart is a beautiful Byron-based interactive art cart designed to inspire creativity and imagination. They create parties, workshops and pop ups, centered around creating useful and beautiful craft out of nature and recyclable objects, fostering a love of our planet and each other.
Limited only by your imagination, feel free to take the opportunity to forage at the beach and in the garden, or anywhere within nature to collect special treasures that reflect the seasons and your local environment.
Children become completely engaged in making these Forever Fairy Gardens and because they don’t require planting or keeping plants alive, they are not only gorgeous to look at, but will stay that way. We hope you enjoy making something special with your little one!
What you'll need:
A terracotta planter or plate 19cm dish
Your favourite play dough recipe. This can be kept plain white, or colour with natural dye and feel free to add a few drops of your favourite essential oil for an extra special scent.
A toilet role and paper baking cup for the fairy house. And some felt or other recycled fabric scraps to adorn the mushroom top.
A cork, eco bead and feather wings for the fairy. Again the sky is the limit. Felt fleece makes wonderful wispy hair.
Pebbles, shells, rocks and sticks of various sizes. Take the opportunity to go out in nature and source mossy twigs, grasses, flowers and driftwood.
Embellishments. Yay the opportunity to op shop! Look for vintage fabrics and lace to adorn fairy. Beads and other trinkets to press into the dough as ground cover.
Jute twine and recycled beads to make the garland.
DIY Steps:
1. Place all of the terracotta dishes on the table. Set all materials set out in little bowls across the tables or craft area.
2. Once children are ready, hand out their portion of dough (so as not to let it dry out). Two adult handfuls makes a great cover and it doesn’t need to come up to the top of the dish. Spread the ‘dirt’ dough.
3. Decorate all the different parts of your garden. Press shells, beads, twigs and flowers (dried or everlasting work best) into your own garden design. Also assemble your Fairy (we used a hot glue gun to glue bead to cork body, but you could source already made wooden bodies or pegs). Give your fairy a gorgeous outfit using the recycled fabrics. Glue or hot glue (help children) headband and dress.
4. For the fairy house sit or glue your paper baking cup on top of the toilet roll and feel free to decorate. We cut little doors into ours.
5. The beaded garlands were made by threading eco beads onto jute twine and curling the edge of the twine around two lovely twigs of your choice. The twigs were then pressed into the dough on either side of the house. If they had trouble standing just squish a little more dough around the base of the sticks.
6. Continue by adding all of the details. Dried flowers in bead or cut paper straw vases, recycled beads, eco glitter and even bits and pieces you have lying around the house.
