I’ve mentioned my kids attend a magical preschool, where play and imagination is the main focus. I’ve also learned that when you combine creative parents into the mix ~ magical things happen. A few weeks ago, the children from my twins’ class were taken into the nearby woods for a forest walk. I’m so happy I stayed to help that day because I watched an amazing adventure unfold! We started out along our regular trail and started to notice ‘fairy dust’ sparkling on the forest floor. Leading from the forest trail were little pathways of glitter that the teacher’s pointed out must have been left by fairies. Well upon further investigation the children (and parents) noticed fairy doors with accessories leaned up against the bottoms of trees and the effect was amazing. The doors with ladders, door knobs, windows, & fairy jewels melted into the forest and were beautifully earthy and playful – just like the gnomes and fairies that dance and play (we decided) within the trees.

This wonderful bonus in addition to walking through the forest on a glorious sunny day was so imaginative and I appreciated the effort from one very creative parent in our class. One of the moms had crafted the fairy doors herself and come to the forest the day before the forest walk and built little walkways to the doors with sticks, crafted ladders, propped up paper umbrellas so the fairies could sip their drinks without getting their wings wet from the rain, and more! Her older children had helped her ~ what a great eco-activity for children!  And don’t think this is only for preschoolers. After my older sons had finished school for the day, I took them to the forest that they had walked through for so many years attending the same preschool and they were SO excited by seeing the fairy doors. “I can’t believe they are real!  Look – here is the proof!” … my boys kept saying to each other. We told them to be gentle because if they forced a fairy door to open, it would vanish into air – but knocking was okay.

I have the eternal love for fairies inside me and hope to pass that to my girls (my boys obviously have it already) and I hope to decorate the nearby forest by my house with some fairy doors of my own this summer. Sharing the magic with a simple fairy door adds to the beauty of any forest and imagine the glee a child would experience by finding one unexpectedly?  I also thought this would be amazing for a fairy themed birthday party. You could do an eye-spy version at the party and leave goodie bag items at each tree stump ‘from the fairies’ like wooden wands to decorate, hand made fairy furniture, and more!

If you’ve been thinking of creating a fairy garden – you only need to look at these two sites.  The site called The Magic Onions will have your heart on-fire for any fairy fans. Check out her Fairy Garden and numerous articles on making fairy furniture.  She is amazing!!  I’ve also purchased from and been a long time fan of The Enchanted Cupboard. Her wooden fairy dolls and sets are magical and the perfect addition to any fairy garden or child’s playroom.

From Rosie ~ our wonderful preschool mom, to The Magic Onion and her dedication to sharing the magic of creating fairy themed items from nature, to award winning artist Beccijo – I only need to peek inside your worlds and become inspired – thanks for sharing ladies!

Related Articles:

The Fairy Ring ~ Etsy Wooden Fairy Dolls

Eye Spy Eco Activity or Kid’s Birthday Party Idea

Children Learning Through Play

Everyone knows a cool mom that crafts and makes snacks or meals that dazzle the mind. Well I know a mom of two young boys that puts extra effort into all these areas and the bonus is she loves to share them! I’ve asked her to pop-in and share the successful recipes or crafts that are hits with her boys and her first post is awesome. Without further a-due – here’s Rhonda!

We all know how important it is to eat fresh fruit and vegetables everyday. This is especially true for the cold and flu season throughout the winter months because they are full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. This is when you need to become creative with that same boring apple that your child has everyday. We all like to have some variety in our diet and it is not always easy to get a youngster try new things, so why not make it fun? I am always looking for fun ways to introduce new foods and make the same old ones more exciting for my two boys. I know they are not always receptive, so I try to involve them in the fun. Most children love to help out not only in the shopping experience itself but in the kitchen as well. This is one of my favorite healthy snack ideas that I found on Family Fun Magazine.

Cut a green apple into quarters and remove the core. Cut a thin wedge from one quarter for a mouth. For the eyes shape cream cheese into two half inch balls and set them in place. Insert a chocolate chip point side in, into each cream cheese ball. Use green grapes, cut in half, for the legs and feet. Slice four halves to create toes. Arrange as shown. I used lettuce leaves for lily pads but you could cut out paper lily pads for the full effect. Hope your children enjoy them as much as mine do! *Pesticides are used on most produce (especially apples), so whenever possible buy organic! It tastes better too!

Eat Healthy and be Crafty, Rhonda Berggren

Pictures were taken by Rhonda so you can see just how easy and fun this snack can be!

Wow did I ever stumble onto some magic yesterday.  Our preschool decided to give the school a rain barrel as the year end gift for the school.  Well – it’s turned out to be the best project ever and this idea could easily double as a gift for grandparents, father’s day, gift for a school or teacher because it has nothing but positive elements.  I love giving practical, Eco-friendly, educational, affordable, and naturally beautiful presents and this project was all of these as the finished product is amazing. 

Did you know that many city municipalities in North America subsidize composters or rain barrels?  I contacted the Parks and Environment Division at the local city office and purchased a huge rain barrel with the down spout converter and tap kit for $40.  The city pays $50 for them and then subsidizes a percentage of the cost to make them so affordable.  Best of all, the material our rain barrel was made from is recycled food containers. 

So being the outgoing, graduating class from our preschool the gift was this rain barrel but the magic started happening when the painting and personalization of the barrel started.  I could hear Jackie, our very patient coordinator for this project, telling the children that the barrel would collect rain water for everyone to water the garden at preschool ~ all while helping each child paint their hands and fingerprints to personalize the barrel with the garden/flower/bug theme. This turned into a perfect eco-activity to educate children on the importance of water conservation, reusing, and helping the environment.

I’m so glad we took before and after pictures of the barrel.  To personalize, the children painted their hands and fingers to leave prints that Jackie turned into magical butterflies, flowers, bugs and the end product is gorgeous!  It started out as a very plain blue barrel and now it’s something decorative and functional for a school to water their garden.  Even if you just purchased the barrel and just put hand prints of all your children it would make a wonderful Father’s Day gift ~ all for under $50.  Use paints that will stand up against wet weather and you are good to go!

Here are the before and after pictures of our barrel.  I hope they inspire you.

Before:

During:

Note: Jackie gasping in awe of perfect handprints!

After:

Looking for a great open-ended project that will keeps kids busy and happy for days/weeks/months this summer?  My clan has been working on a playhouse from Color Me House and there is no end in sight to the enjoyment they are having.  You’ll always hear from experienced parents or grandparents that a child’s favorite toy is the box the toy arrived in.  I completely agree because if you give your kid a discarded cardboard appliance box, a set of pencil crayons or paint, and help them cut windows and doors with a knife ~ you’ll have very happy kids. 

The concept of playing with a left-over box is great for your own children, but you’d look silly giving this as a gift.  Also, large, sturdy boxes are not easy to find.  Well the folks at Color Me House have the perfect solution because they’ve produced 2 products (made in the USA) that are my pick as best summer toys.  Why are they so awesome?  The great designs are perfect for boys or girls with blasting out of your backyard in the rocket or spending hours in a spacious play house.  Both designs have wonderful details that kids notice and are designed for open-ended play because children can draw, color, and paint both the inside and outside.  They are also very easy to assemble, easy to store when kids are not using, and can be recycled at your curb when their shelf life is over.  Honestly, any parents thinking of purchasing huge plastic play houses for your backyard this summer should consider testing their kid with this product first.  Unless you purchase an outdoor playhouse 2nd hand, you’ll spend hundreds of dollars and you’ve just added to a huge problem with large plastic toys ~ most are not recyclable.  With how tentative I am to purchase plastic toys for the kids, with worrying about what they are made from, painted with, and how they’ll be disposed once my kids are finished with them, the Color Me House projecthas been wonderful.  It’s been the best toy for the different ages of my kids…everyone has something to color or play with. My 7 year old has been drawing planets and aliens on the roof, next to the pre-cut stars and moon the house came with (love the attention to detail).  My 5 year old and twin 3 year olds have equally had a blast with coloring and actually playing in the house.  There is lots of room inside the play house and the price point on this product is very reasonable ~ $39.95 US.  I’ve seen similar products for almost double the cost so it’s nice they’ve kept these affordable to parents.  Color Me House is located in the US, but they ship everywhere ordering via their website (incl. Canada) and sell both products in these retail stores.

I’ll post more pictures once my kids have finished their masterpiece. I’m hoping it takes all summer long.  <wink>

Related articles:

What You Don’t Know About Plastic Toys Made From PVC

A Truly Eco-Friendly Playhouse

Kid’s Project – Turn Cardboard Boxes Into Functional Furniture

Looking for a last minute Easter activity that is a little ‘greener’ than traditional egg hunts?  If the idea of stuffing plastic eggs with tiny plastic trinkets or giving out massive boxes of chocolate wrapped in plastic has you cringing, you’ll enjoy this idea. 

Gather the left over plastic eggs from last year and create an easy egg hunt that will leave a large imprint in your child’s memory this Easter.  Within each plastic egg, leave a trail of clues leading to one sustainable special gift at the end.  We’ve done this for years and my boys LOVE it.  When they wake up in the morning, they find a plastic egg in their room.  Inside the first egg is a picture of the sofa, or fridge, or dishwasher, etc. that I’ve taken with our digital camera, downloaded, then printed a small picture of.  I put these pictures inside the eggs and once they proceed to the item in the picture they find another egg with again, a picture of something else in our house.  I take pictures of toys, furniture, any nook or cranny in house.  The older my kids get the more difficult you can angle the picture for them to guess where to go next.  At the very end of the hunt (I do maybe 12-15 eggs with clues) there is one special gift and it’s not chocolate.  Last year they got a DVD and this year it wil be headlamps so they can go exploring around the house in the dark to practice for camping or cave exploring this summer.  They’ll love this idea and they are a great price point for under $20.

When I was little I remember having egg hunts similar to what I described above, but the pictures were hand drawn.  If you are short on time (Easter is tomorrow) just sketch out some objects in your house and send your children on a scavenger hunt.  With or without a present at the end ~ they’ll love it.  Another idea I’ve read about is filling up plastic eggs with individual puzzle pieces so at the end of the egg hunt the child has a new puzzle to complete.  There are so many great ideas and this one I’ll be doing my children’s entire lives because they talk about it all year in anticipation.  This is a great way to ‘recycle’ your plastic eggs each year and show your kids even the Easter Bunny got a little greener this year.

Happy Easter everyone.