How to Build a Fairy House With Your Child

Help your little fairy build a tiny home for her fairy friends.

The tradition of building all-natural, miniature homes for fairies started on the islands off the coast of New England. Start your own tradition of building fairy houses with your children to encourage creative imaginative play outdoors. Build the houses in safe outdoor locations, away from flooding grounds and areas where they might be trampled. If you do not have a safe natural space near your home or in your yard, build your fairy houses at a local park for others to enjoy.

Things You'll Need

• Fallen branches
• Fallen leaves
• Loose mushrooms
• Fallen flower petals
• Feathers
• Pebbles
• Loose pieces of bark
• Fallen berries
• Loose moss
• Dried grasses
• Seaweed
• Acorns
• Seeds
• Fallen pods
• Shells
• Fallen pine cones
• Fallen pussy willow branches with buds
• Flower bulbs

Instructions

1. Collect as many natural building materials as possible from your yard and neighborhood with your children. Select natural materials that have already fallen to the ground; you cannot destroy living things to use as building materials for a fairy house.

2. Discuss the type of fairies you are building the home for so you can customize appropriate features into the house. Ask your children what these fairies like to do and what features may attract these specific fairies to the house you want to construct.

3. Ask your child if she would like to plan out the construction of the house before building. If so, ask questions to prompt the brainstorming process. Decide together how many rooms you want and what furnishings to include.

4. Start building the house against a stable natural surface like a rock pile, tree stump or tree roots. Brace stick walls with pebbles and construct a roof and chimney with bark pieces. Lay a stone pathway to the front door and make a fence with small pine cones.

5. Furnish the house with shell chairs and moss beds with pussy willow pillows. Decorate the house with pussy willow archways and a feather sticking out from the roof like a flag.

6. Leave the fairies a thoughtful housewarming gift, like fresh berries, whole nutmegs, or short lavender stems. If you built the house in your yard, plant a small flower garden around it during appropriate planting seasons for your area.

7. Share your creation with friends and family members who were not involved with the construction process.

8. Redecorate your fairy house for the changing seasons with different natural materials found throughout the year.

Tips & Warnings

• Respect living plants around your building site. Do not disturb living ferns, mosses and flowers.

• Before exploring the outdoors with your kids, teach them how to recognize and avoid poison ivy, oak and sumac. Remind your children frequently that they cannot eat anything found outside. Stay away from beehives and anthills, and always check your children for ticks when you go back inside.

References

• "Parent & Grandparent Planner"; How to Build Fairy Houses With Children; Angela Antonelli; July 2009
• "Mom's Guide to Being a Superhero: More Than 150 Ways to Amaze Kids;" Susan Dazzo; 2005
• Disney Family Fun: Fairy Houses
• Fairy Houses; How to Build a Fairy House; Tracy Kane
• Fairy Houses; About Fairy Houses; Tracy Kane