In the Fairy's Night Garden...Small World Play.

We have a whole lot of "boy tailored" activities at my house, but not a lot of "girlie" ones. Now that the baby girls are growing up into little ladies, I thought it might be time to make a small world play bin JUST for them! And what's more girlie than a fairy garden? 

Well, I built this little garden with the girls in mind, but as it turns out...the boys play with it just as much as the girls!! This little fairy world has become our "most played with" bin in the entire dayhome. Ha! Just when you think you've got them all figured out!

"C" likes to play with it first thing in the morning...she gets here first when the sun is not all the way up, so she gets the benefit of the soft twinkly tea lights!

There is a little bed in the corner (we borrowed from our dollhouse) for the fairies to sleep...

A treasure box of "jewels" which the kids like to hide in the flowers so they are kept safe from the "baddies."

We added little terra cotta pots for the silk flowers, and a little fruit basket from the My Little Pony sets.

A little birthday cake (also from the My Little Ponies), and little plastic bugs from the dollar store, as party guests.

Everything is "moveable"...nothing is stuck anywhere. The kids can arrange and rearrange the basket as they please. The bottom of the basket has a folded towel on one end to give the garden another level. The floor is covered with squares of green felt.

The felt "flower vine" is from the scrapbook section of the dollar store. It can be picked up and moved around also. The flower fairies and battery operated tea lights are also from the dollar store.

*Note: the basket makes a perfect setting for the garden, as the stems of the silk flowers can be woven in and out of the basket weave. This makes a border of flowers all around the garden. You could use a plastic bin, but I think you'll find there are so many more possibilities if you use a basket.

Here is a visual list of all the items we used.

All of the supplies came from the dollar store and from toys we already had around the house.

I have no doubt the little ones in your life will appreciate this small world of fairies and twinkle lights...the hours of make-believe play will feed their souls, AND yours. Even our cat likes to visit the fairy garden once in awhile...we find him sleeping right in there with the flowers and night crawlers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Small World Play...Building our own Aquarium!

Well, we've made it to day four of our Water Week, and we are all a bit wet around here. Today's activity was probably our favourite one of all. We built our own small world aquarium. 

We talked about habitats and how all living creatures have a habitat that they thrive in best of all. The ocean animals that we chose to have living in our aquarium were given a habitat that the children thought resembled most "authentic." 

This is how the morning went...

DAY #4

SMALL WORLD PLAY-BUILDING OUR OWN AQUARIUM...

Supplies needed:

1. Empty salad or veggie containers, even the cake toppers from grocery store cakes, and jars work too!

2. Aquarium rocks, seashells, plastic plants, rocks, and any other materials you think might work in building habitats.

3.  Plastic ocean creatures.

4. Dollhouse "visitors"

5. Water and food colouring.

6. Paper, marker, and tape to make the habitat signs.

Now it's time to build your habitats. I let the children decide which animals to put in each container and they chose all the accessories...

They chose the large cake topper container for the whales, as they need more space!

They thought the sharks should have green water!

Our rays got the pretty seashells and clear water so they would be clearly visible.

They put the octopus in the jar so he could spread out his tentacles!

The whale shark has my favourite habitat...the colours the children chose just look so pretty!

And the alligator got a climbing rock so he could come out of the water sometimes.

And then the playing began in earnest! So many visitors to our aquarium!

The visitors even got to swim with our creatures and experience the habitats first hand!

And then the fun REALLY began! 

Enjoy this fun "habitat creating" activity with the small people in your life. It's guaranteed fun! Oh, the things they can learn as they play. And please don't fret about the mess...it all comes dry with towel or two! 

Thanks for stopping by!