GRAMMY ON THE GO
By Karen Shadrach
It is the season to think about what flowers we want to plant to enjoy throughout the summer months. The grandkids would like to assist you with your planning process and would especially love to help you design a special fairy garden.
A fairy garden is a miniature garden consistig of containers, soil, plants and fairy accessories. This mini garden offers us and the grandkids a magical, “small world” play space to develop their imagination and creativity. The best part of creating a fairy garden is that it opens up a world of stories. After finishing the garden, sit down with your grandchild and invent stories about the fairies who live there. What do they do when the sun goes down? What adventures might they have? Is there a special fairy that visits during the full moon? This storytelling time is the perfect opportunity to connect, use your imaginations, and even write down the stories for future generations. Your grandchildren will love the chance to share their ideas, and you will both treasure these moments.
To create your own fairy garden, first choose a sunny or shady location. Pick a quiet nook in the garden or on the porch where the fairies can feel at home. Again, involve your grandchild in the decision, and produce a little story about the fairies and where they like to live. Next, choose your container and fill it with potting soil. Using unique containers can create a special fairy environment. Examples include a wheelbarrow, an old stump, wicker basket, dresser drawer or teacups! If you want, you can choose a theme, such as “fairies at the beach,”,“camping fairies” or ”fairies having a garden party,” but you don’t necessarily need a theme-if you prefer, just scatter fairy toys and furniture around in different spaces!
Once the base is ready, you can help your grandchild place the plants inside. Consider choosing plants that will not grow too tall, so they fit into the miniature scale of the fairy garden. Succulents, moss, or creeping thyme work beautifully as they provide a lush, green backdrop that is easy to maintain.
Now the fun part begins! Help your grandchild create little pathways for the fairies to travel on. You can use pebbles, tiny stones or even broken pieces of pottery to create winding roads. Talk about how the fairies might enjoy strolling around or running through the garden.
Add special features, like a tiny bench made from twigs, a mini fairy door tucked into the corner. Nature itself is one of the best things to include in your fairy garden. Look for small pinecones, acorns, or fallen leaves that can become tiny fairy hats or furniture. If you are near a park or forest, you might find tiny mushrooms or moss to add to the magical environment.
Be sure to incorporate these elements and explain how the fairies use nature to decorate their world. It’s a fantastic way to teach your grandchild about the beauty of nature and how small creatures interact with it.
If you are feeling extra creative, you can even make your own fairy furniture and other items with natural materials from around your yard or nearby woods. Stones can be painted, either small ones for fairy steppingstones or larger ones for houses. You can make a fairy house with the grandkids by gluing together sticks, then painting or covering with tiny twigs, moss, or dry leaves. (Garden fairies especially love natural houses). A stone house can be formed by stacking small flat stones and using pebbles for pathways. Pinecones and acorns can also be utilized for building houses. If you want to make the garden even more magical, you can add some glitter or iridescent paint on rocks and sticks to mimic fairy dust. Your grandchildren will love sprinkling these tiny touches and imagining that they are helping the fairies create their enchanted home. Another idea is to add solar fairy lights around your plants when completed and have them glow or twinkle at night.
Now, it’s time to introduce the fairies! There are plenty of adorable mini fairies and gnomes available at craft stores or online. Talk to your grandchild about each fairy’s personality, where they like to hide, and what their favorite activities are.
I have many little fairies that I have collected throughout the years, along with furniture and bridges and fun little items, such as cakes, guitars, and fountains. These can be purchased at garden or craft stores, and it makes for a fun little trip to take the grandkids shopping for a few of these items that they particularly like.
So, grab your gardening gloves, gather your supplies, and let the fairy magic unfold in your own special garden space.
Photos by Karen Shadrach
