My favorite Fairy painting - Midsummer Eve by E.R Hughes
Grandma, grandma! They came! They came, yelled three small girls early on a Saturday morning.
The day before all the excitement I had discovered an absolutely perfect fairy ring in our front yard, in a hidden spot by a bush. I called my three granddaughters to come and see, ages 5, 7, and 9. They asked me what a fairy ring is and I told them that a fairy ring shows where fairies have danced in the night. I read them a kids fairy poem “There are Fairies in the Bottom of our Garden”, a poem that my mother had read to me and my sisters when we were children.
A mushroom fairy ring
They were entranced with the story and poem. We all knew that fairies aren’t real but we all wanted to pretend that they were. It was fun to make believe.
My nineteen year old daughter suggested that we set out a tea party for the fairies and see if they would come and dance again. Aubrey, Lizzy and Ashley wanted to know how we would be able to tell if they came. “Oh, you will see the fairy dust”, Kate answered.
For the next hour the girls ages 5 to 19 were busy getting a small table from the play house and looking through the china hutch for just the right tea set. (I collect miniature tea sets.) What they found and decided to use were some small tea cups which I had made from acorn tops. They seemed just perfect.
Later that afternoon Kate made a trip to the store for some “fairy dust”. She found a glitter so fine that a child wouldn’t recognize it as glitter, not the kind you use in kids crafts anyway.
It was fun to watch Kate sneaking out in the dark late that night to sprinkle fairy dust on the table and around the fairy ring. She was getting real joy out of the whole game.
This is a memory that the girls still talk about. It is a fond memory for them all, a shared and special experience.
A forest fairy house
This last week I went to Yellowstone Park with another set of grandchildren and the Traveling Closet went
A beach fairy house
with us. I felt that the park was a perfect setting to talk about and learn about fairies. We read three wonderful books about fairies. Jack who is three wasn’t all that impressed but Maggie loved the stories and in fact we had to read them twice.
I had seen some terrific pictures of fairy houses that had been created in the woods and that was going to be our project, to make a fairy house with the kids. The pictures were tied to a sweet and endearing movie called “Kristen’s Fairy House” which I had watched with the children the week before. Again 3 year old Jack was not all that interested but watched it with us. Maggie who is five loved it and 18 month old Mary lasted only a few minutes.
Building a fairy house in Yellowstone Park turned out to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. The park has thousands of visitors a year and in a campground it is hard to find building materials, even twigs are rare. However, Maggie and I found what we could and we did make a fairy house. Again Jack was not interested. : )
Maggie's Yellowstone Park fairy house
Maggie and I missed Ashley, Aubrey and Lizzy. They would have loved the whole thing, video, fairy house building and all. If they had been with us we would have read the story of Thumbelina also.
The search was on for fairy house supplies
Here are some additional ideas for inspiring your children to learn a bit more about fairies.
Fairy picture books
- Good Night Fairies by Kathleen Hague
- The Story of the Tooth Fairy by Tom Paxton
- Midsummer Knight by Gregory Rogers
- Alice the Fairy by David Shannon
- The Dreamtime Fairies by Jane Simmons
- Come to the Fairies’ Ball by Jane Yolen
- A Book of Fairies by Patricia Saxton
Early Chapter books
- The Charm Bracelet by Emily Rodda
- The Flower Fairies by Emily Rodda
- Buttercup and Fairy Gold by Cicely Mary Barker
- Poppy’s Perfect Home by Pippa Le Quesne
Books for older children and youth:
- Lord of the Ring series by J.R. Tolkien
- A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare
- Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Books for an adult to share with children and youth:
- The Book of Fairies by Michael Hague
- Fairy Houses…Everywhere by Barry & Tracy Kane
Fairy Artwork for Children:
- Cicely Mary Barker has a series of beautiful fairy pictures with flowers.
Fairy crafts ideas for kids
- Make a Fairy House for Your Child’s Room http://childparenting.about.com/od/artscraftsprojects/a/fairyhouse_2.htm
- How to Make Fairy Wings http://childparenting.about.com/od/artscraftsprojects/a/fairyhouse_3.htm
If you want some fabulous free coloring pages from “A Midsummer Nights Dream” and others, leave your mail Id and name in the comments box. I have saved them from the FREE Dover sampler and would love to share them with you.
There Are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden by Rose Fyleman
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
It’s not so very, very far away;
You pass the gardener’s shed and you just keep straight ahead,
I do so hope they’ve come to stay.
There’s a little wood with moss in it and beetles,
And a little stream that quietly runs through;
You wouldn’t think they’d dare to come merrymaking there, Well, they do!
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
They often have a dance on summer nights;
The butterflies and bees Make a lovely little breeze,
And the rabbits stand about and hold the lights.
Did you know that they could sit upon the moonbeams
And pick a little star to make a fan,
And dance away up there In the middle of the air Well, they can!
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
You cannot think how beautiful they are;
They all stand up and sing When the fairy queen and king Come gently floating down upon their car.
The king is very proud and handsome;
The queen, now can you guess who that would be?
She’s a little girl all day But at night she steals away. Well, it’s me!
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