Making a fairy garden is a wonderful way to entertain the children this summer

It is not long till the school holidays and many parents are keen to find activities to entertain and occupy their children during this time.

A great thing to do with any fairy-loving little ones is to create your own fairy garden. This can be outside in a patch of garden or in a pot or container, which can be constructed indoors if the weather is not so good.

If you search online stores, you will find an array of miniature fairy garden products, from houses, to benches to pools and fairy doors. But creating a fairy garden does not have to be expensive and can help your child to get creative. Collect used lolly sticks, which can be used to help make benches, arbours and other bits of furniture using a little PVA glue. These can be painted or decorated by your child using felt tip pens, pencils, crayons, stickers or glitter. Pebbles can be painted to create toadstool tops, or sprinkled with a little glitter and varnished to create a fairy pathway. The bottom cut from a plastic water bottle makes a wonderful fairy pool, just add water and glitter.

Cutting off a bottle half way down is one way to create your own fairy houses too. Use permanent markers or acrylic paints to create your fairy house design. Or you can use the bottle as the mould for a papier-mâché house, using torn up old newspaper and PVA glue, which can be painted when dry.

While you can add moss and succulents or other hardy plants you may find in any rock garden, you can also plant the garden with seeds to give your children a real sense of achievement when they grow. Cress seeds are ideal as they are fast growing and can be cut and eaten. Edible flowers such as Nasturtium and Marigolds are also easy to grow.

Herbs such as thyme and rosemary are also great for adding foliage and scent to your fairy garden. Clover is low-lying and has pretty flowers that will also be good for the bees.

If you are creating a fairy garden in an area of your own garden, think carefully about its location. If you create it near a tree or a fence, you can always add a fairy door. These can be bought or made using shaped lolly sticks or off-cuts of wood. The doors can be placed against the tree or fence to add a little fairy mystery.

If you do design and make your own fairy garden, why not send us a picture to info@carolinepotterphoto.com or post it on our Fairy Photographer Facebook page?

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