This fairy garden table is a never-ending project for the kids this Summer! I love that this space provides: 1. plenty of inspiration for imaginative playtime fun, 2. learning opportunities about various plants, and 3. fresh herbs for our Summer recipes! Oh, and it is absolutely adorable!!
We started with a simple elevated garden bed kit found at a local hardware store (around $45). I have not been able to find a link online to the exact one we bought, but this raised planter
Some of our fairy accessories were free or very low-cost: a toadstool table and chairs made from a champagne cork, a bunting made with string and colored electrical tape, the girls painted wooden birdhouses (around $1) to look like fairy houses using outdoor patio acrylic paint. The herbs were re-purposed from this container herb garden project, and we transplanted some flowers and moss from other parts of the yard. The pathways were made using leftover aquarium pebbles. You may remember this post outlining some of the ways we built fairy houses or furniture using painted bark, twigs, sea shells, stones, or small wooden birdhouses.
The other adorable accessories are part of this Fairy Garden Starter Accessory Kit
There seems to be a bit of a debate as to whether or not to include actual fairy figurines in your fairy garden or not. My kids opted to include them, since they already had the Safari Ltd LTD Fairy Fantasies TOOB®
I love that my herbs have a place to grow, and the kids can spend hours and hours playing here! It doesn’t take them long before they are completely immersed in their own world of pretend play, and imaginative story telling.
Both of the kids have been actively creating this fairy village together, with very little help from me. And they have been hard at work. Even earlier this afternoon when the weather was dreary and rainy outside, they were busy painting up tiny birdhouses or toadstool figurines, and wondering if the fairies would find these homes suitable.
And when the weather does cooperate, it isn’t unusual to find this little one has pulled up a chair, made herself comfortable, and has made plans to play until the sun goes down…..
…. which made me think of a few glow-in-the-dark surprises, but that’s a whole other post, isn’t it?
Have fun!!
Oh, this just looks like so much fun! I seriously want one for myself! I love that this is an ongoing play project. Not only are they playing with their fairy garden, but they are actively creating for it. Seriously fantastic!
Wow, this is so enchanting. I may have to make one for myself…uh, I mean the kids.
Dear Valerie,
Hopefully those little fairies can pull the tiny weeds we will get in there!
Love,
Mark
So fun! My girls love ours and so do all of their friends. They have a second table at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. My sister in law just gave us some new accessories for ours – hoping to add them once school finishes here – 3 more days.
Gotta love those TOOBs and Schleich critters, they’re the perfect residents for fantasy land.
I’m a grandma who has made indoor fairy village for grands. Village going on display at local library in August. Could we reference your website? Your table for girls is wonderful and has given me even more ideas for the display. Thanks.
I love this idea!! I wonder if you can come up with any ideas for something similar but for boys. Hmm. But something more creative then, say, a farm or zoo or something similar. I love the uniqueness of the fairies, mushrooms, etc. Let me know if you have boy ideas please! Thanks!
Holly,
There are several fairy houses on the market that look like they could be for pirates, and they have little pirates at Michaels. With the fairy gardens you can also get bombs and trolls and boy fairies. It’s a great horticulture lesson. And if you have a local nursery in site they would be happy to discuss proper vegetation for your climate!
Mark, to prevent weeds lay down moss that you can get at craft stores as well as hardware stores!
Meant to say gnomes, not bombs.
I also saw a local florist do a cival war scene.
What are the dimensions of your elevated garden? Very curious to see how tall and how wide it is. Looks like the perfect size!
Hi Tricia — I will measure it and will let you know. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Tricia, it is 2 feet wide, 3 feet long, and 32 inches high. Hope this helps! 🙂
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We have finally completed our Fairy Garden over the past weekend. I’m working on my blog posts. Your blog posts were my final inspirations to make it happen. Loved reading about yours!!
http://take10withtricia.com/2014/06/painting-fairy-houses-and-clay-pots.html
I saw your fairy garden and I love it!!! You are so creative. I can’t wait to try my own!!
Thank you for sharing and the helpful hints.
Trish
You will have so much fun, Trish! Enjoy!! 🙂
Love this! Now that spring is around the corner, I want to do something similar for my boys (construction site, pirates,zoo,etc) I’m having such a hard time finding a garden bed like this for under $100! Also, do you line the bottom with anything or just fill it?
Keep an eye out for sales, Erin! As soon as I saw this one, I ended up going back for a second garden table because we’ve been so happy with this. The bottom has a black breathe-able fabric covering slats of cedar. It’s not very deep, so we filled with potting soil. Hope this helps!
OH, I absolutely love this and know that my girls would go crazy! Definitely going to have to make one of our own! So creative!
This is going in my “I need for preschool and future grandchildren” file! So fun!!
Love this! I am planning on fairy gardens for my daughters to put together in their Easter baskets 🙂
Where or how did you make the mushrooms (the red and white ones)?
Thanks!