I try really hard not to be that person who is constantly complaining about the weather {because who are we kidding – we have it so good here in Vancouver}, but let me tell you… I am SO ready for spring. Not that cold, grey, rainy everyday version of spring either. I’m ready for full-on sunshiny spring with blossoming trees, the buzzing of bees, warm temperatures, and rainy days only here and there. I’ve been willing it to come our way for weeks if I’m being honest. And with all of that wishful thinking, I was reminded of the amazing play dough fairy gardens Miss G and I did last year.
The idea was sparked by seeing a single image. The one in this pin. As soon as I saw it, I thought – play dough fairy gardens?! How brilliant!! Because honestly, I’d wanted to create a fairy garden with Miss G for ages, but what had stopped me was that a) I’m TERRIBLE with plants {I’m sure I have a black thumb if that’s even possible}, and b) I knew that it would be fun while we were putting it together, but that Miss G would want to rearrange things the next day and when you’re terrible with plants like I am, that’s just a recipe for having everything die sooner. Well, after a closer look and a few clicks, I realized that it wasn’t play dough at all… That was real dirt and real plants and it was all part of a magical fairy garden birthday party for a very special little seven year old – so fun. Of course that didn’t mean that we could do our own play dough version… The idea had been sparked and I went running with it!
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What I loved about the fairy gardens in the photo is that they’d used just a plastic planter tray instead of a whole pot, so that’s what we went on a mission to find first. I thought that our local dollar store would carry them for sure, but no luck… We ended up finding a nice big one in the garden section at Home Depot instead. Then we went through our craft drawers and pulled out all kinds of other things we thought would be great in a fairy garden – some faux greenery {previously used as seaweed in an ocean-themed play dough kit), faux blossom branches {from our butterfly world play dough kit, and faux flowers {I’d already stashed away with this activity in mind}. We also got out some river rocks and glass gems we always have on hand for sensory play, some little wooden fences Miss G had previously painted white, several batches of our favourite ever no-cook play dough in various colours for soil, greenery, and water, and a little wooden fairy house Miss G had painted previously as a bird house.
Miss G was excited and ready to start creating her play dough fairy world, but then I pulled out this Safari Ltd. fairy figure and she let out an audible gasp {and then a squeal}. Don’t tell her, but I’d like to add this Toob full of smaller fairies to her collection some day too!
And with that, it was time to start creating!
She decided to start with a fairy land surrounded by water first…
And quickly added her little house, a fence, and some loose parts.
Some beautiful cherry blossom trees were planted out front…
And then she brought her fairy over to check out her new home.
Isn’t it gorgeous?!
With loads of black play dough left, Miss G decided that a separate garden was exactly what fairy Jasmine needed.
And that garden eventually turned into a fenced horse sanctuary with the addition of a lovely toy horse she has in her growing collection of animal figures.
Then it was time to take everything apart, sort the bits back into our divided tray, and start all over again.
This process was repeated several times, and every time Miss G created something that was completely different and even more beautiful.
When she was done, everything got sorted back into our tray and the play dough got sealed up in an air-tight bag so it would be ready for next time.
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