While we were playing with our gold play dough Lovey told me she thought it looked “magical, like a magic fairy land.” That gave me this idea for fairy garden play dough. I knew both of the girls would love it, they definitely do!
Materials
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I used the same gold play dough we used in the other activity. To make it I used the no cook play dough recipe from The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book. I substituted gold glitter for 1/2 of the salt called for in the recipe.
The wooden storage box from our Melissa & Doug Shape, Model and Mold Set worked so well for our flower garden play dough invitation that I decided to use it again for this activity.
To create the invitation to play I set the play dough out with:
- Fairies from the Safari Ltd. Fairies Toob
- Large green glass gems
- Small blue glass gems
- Assorted beads
- Assorted buttons
- Driftwood pieces
The kids have also been finding these small new plants that are growing around one of our shrubs. I decided to use them for our fairy “forest.” You could go on a nature walk to find your own version or use some miniature fake plants from your local craft store. If you use real plants just be sure to wash the roots or trim them off so unless you want the dirt mixed in with your play dough. I wanted to save this gold dough a bit longer so we washed them (and then ended up cutting them off at the girls’ request).
Lovey was the first to create a fairy garden. She started by making a river and adding the river banks.
It wasn’t long before the fairies came along to enjoy their small world. Then Lovey’s imagination took over and it began raining candy (buttons). The fairies were delighted and had a candy party.
Later while I was preparing lunch, Tinker wanted to create her own fairy garden, but she also wanted to be near me. Because the wooden box and tray were mobile, we moved the materials to the kitchen and she began making her creation.
She continued making her fairy small world even after we had eaten lunch.
Do your kids enjoy play dough as much as mine do? We seem to be making a new play dough invitation weekly, and there’s no sign of the kids’ interest waning anytime soon.
Valerie
I am loving this! I know my daughter would too! Every time I see your play dough trays, they look so attractive and make me want to try them at home.
Ann Foster
What great ideas. Children love to play with dough and as you say they learn so much.
Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum
Fantastic post. We did this as part of our party last week it went down a treat with the girls.
Thank you for linking up to Tuesday Tots last week and just letting you know that I will be featuring this over on Rainy Day Mum this week.
Pinkoddy
What a really great idea – and am sure me and my boys could replace the fairies with our dinosaurs to make something similar.
Laurie
Oh, what is a woman with 4 daughters to do?!?! THIS!! So much fun! 🙂 Pinning!
Shaunna Evans
You just made me smile, Laurie! I hope you and your four daughters have fun! Thank you for pinning.
Sara
This looks like tons of fun. I love the idea to substitute 1/2 the salt with glitter. The play dough is beautiful with the sparkles. Thank you!
Shaunna Evans
I wasn’t sure how the substitution was going to work, but I love how it turned out. I’m so glad you like it too!
Stephanie
You have the BEST playdough posts. Seriously. LOVE IT.
Kristan Price
This fairy garden is adorable! I love that you used play dough as the base and all those gorgeous loose pieces! We still haven’t come across the fairy toob at Michael’s, but as soon as we do we will be creating a small world similar to this! So inspiring and creative!
Shaunna Evans
Thank you so much, Kristan! I think this set up will be out for quite some time for the girls to play with. If you have a JoAnn’s near you, they might carry the fairy Toob.
Renae
My daughter would love this! So beautiful and simple.
Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest
Such a pretty activity, Shaunna. 🙂
Missy @ Dot-to-Dot Connections
What a great idea! We’ve just recently started getting into small play worlds and I bet my girls would love this one! I’ll have to look at that recipe for the gold play doh too! It looks so sparkly! I’m sure it would be a big hit too! Thank you for sharing!
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom
This is such a fabulous idea! I love the gold dough too! How mystical!
Every year I give my girls their own large patio pot and they plant their own “play gardens” with stones, little plants, and figurines. They love it.
Thanks for sharing. I’m pinning this one for future reference.
xoxo
Shaunna Evans
I love the idea of individual play gardens that the girls grow themselves. We tried a fairy garden last year, but at that point the girls were very interested in reorganizing the garden over and over again…the plants didn’t enjoy that much 😉 We’ll have to try again this year.
Sherryl @ SimplySherryl
Oh my this is just too cool! What a wonderful imagination springboard! Fairy Garden Play Dough makes me want to get on the floor and play too.
Shaunna Evans
Thank you, Sheryl! I loved seeing the stories inspired by this invitation. And I agree…I was happy to join in the play a couple of times too.