Easy Nature Fairy Houses for Kids!

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Time for some Fairy Activities. Hello and welcome back to Kids Get Crafty! Having made our Nature Bag last week, we have been collecting even more “nature things” to craft with on our visits to the park and playground. Even in our very urban environment nature is all around us and we have been making lots of lovely things! So what could we do with all our lovely nature finds? I think it it is time for some Nature Fairy Houses – a lovely way to create with natural materials.

fairy houses
These nature fairy houses where first shared in August 2011

Learn how to make easy Easy Nature Fairy Houses for Kids! Building fairy houses is a STEAM activity for preschoolers to connect with nature! Kids can explore some basic constructions. See how to make things stand up. And can they even waterproof their fairy garden houses? Lots of opportunity for exploration and open ended play!

Our Nature Fairy House Activity

On a recent walk, we had a look for nature materials that had already fallen to the ground. We found twigs, feathers, pine cones, acorns and more. Once we had collected all our nature finds. We came home. At home we also found some bits of moss in our garden, and large yellow flowers from our courgette plants as well as some pebbles.

Little did I realise that it would result in result in Red Ted saying: I NEED TO MAKE A HOUSE FOR THE FAIRIES AND ELVES.

So a house we made.

I love that we constructed entirle from loose part nature materials. Making our very own fairy house, that is 100% unique to our local environment and season.

I have been wanting to make a Fairy House of sorts ever since seeing the collection of Fairy Houses posted on Puppy Love Preschool a few months ago. I knew that these *must* form part of my kids’ childhood crafting and finally we had a go. I know we will be making many more over the years to come. And as they grow older I will encourage them to make them themselves!

UPDATED: we have since made fairy houses on a number of occassions – wherever takes our fancy.. here is our Summer Holiday Fairy House:

Fairy Houses

And our Autumn Fairy House Teepee:

fairy houses

Nature Fairy House Materials:

The idea is simple: make a little house from things you can find in your garden or collected on your walks. Everyone knows that fairies and elves like “local habitat” so you need to make it very special to where you live! So include:

  • sticks and twigs
  • fallen leaves
  • pinecones
  • moss
  • left over flowers (from your own garden, don’t pick them wild)
  • tree bark
  • snail shells
  • feathers

It is good to get a variety of materials – some for construction, some for rooves, some for decorating. Avoid “unnatural” things such as a hot glue gun, ribbons or craft sticks. Keep it natural, that is what the fairies like best. And remembers, fairies like to move a lot, so your house is not meant to last for ever!

Making your own Nature Fairy Garden House

Find a nice spot in your own backyard for your fairy house – where the kids can get good access and fairies may be passing by. Be sure it has a nice flat base to work on. Of course you can make nature fairy houses for travelling fairies in the woods too. But we made ours once back home!

Find the fairy house location

fairy houses

1. Find a suitable fairy house spot. I needs to be sheltered enough that it won’t be trampled by small people, cats or foxes, but accessible enough that the children can bring small decorations and flowers to the fairy’s home. Our garden is small, but we found just the spot next to our buddha and wooden lady that we inherited when we bought our house. This is a great spot, they are sheltered by the statues and they have  a lovely bushy canopy. They can also see most of the garden from where they are, which gives them a lovely view.

Start construction your nature fairy house

fairy houses
fairy houses

2. Construct your house. We have bamboo in the garden, which I recently cut back. So we made the basic walls from the bamboo sticks and then rested some bark walls around it. Of course normal sticks are fine.. but our garden does have bamboo! Then we cut back some of our “fake fig” tree leaves (I have no idea what this plant is called, but many gardens seem to have it in our area – and it has large fig tree like leaves). This was our roof.

Decorate the fairy house

fairy houses

3. Find additional extras to make a happy home. You can make a little front porch, add little natural furnitur to your DIY fairy house. We brought some stones to sit on and for decorations. Some little fire cones and some Helicopter Seeds to hang from the side of the house. We also had some male flowers from our courgette plants that we thought would look nice. Maybe you can fine some vines and make swings? Maybe add some pebble trails so the fairies know how to find your house?

I think our Woodland Elves will be very happy.

fairy houses

Here are the kids inspecting the house (yes, they are in PJs). Maybe the fairies will come and visit at dusk and stay the night!

I do believe in Fairies, I do, I do!

I do believe in Fairies, I do, I do!

I do hope you have a go at your own Nature Fairy House DIY one day soon!

See all our Fairy Activities here: