Magic and Fairies on It's Playtime!

Finally, a moment to write!  My 8 month old has decided to take naps.  Yup, 8 months later she is sleeping.  Maybe I'll get more done now....ha!  Who am I kidding?  But here I am now, ready to write with plenty of It's Playtime activities to share.  

Kids love to pick flowers.  Why not put those petals to use and create some Fairy Soup?  The Happy Hooligans share this magical and simple idea.

JDaniel4's Mom created some magic in their yard by Building a Gnome Home.  Think those gnomes might like some fairy soup?

We've created Fairy Gardens before but how about a Toyrarium?  Inspiration Laboratories shared this gardening idea which promotes play and imagination alongside nature.

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

 

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)

* Rachel & Holly : Quirky Momma

* Jillian: A Mom With a Lesson Plan

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

By linking up you give us permission to grab a picture and feature you here, on a site we write for, on FB or Pinterest.   If we share your link, we will always credit you, send people to your original post and use only ONE photo.

It's Playtime: Fairy Fun

Fairies are a fantastic way to introduce your child to gardening.  In San Diego, several local gardens hold annual Fairy Festivals to celebrate flowers and planting season.  We attend one (that's FREE!) every year that encourages young children to enter small fairy gardens into a contest which attendees can vote upon.  But fairy gardens at home are easy too.  A little imagination and some outdoor time, and your little one can create their own fairy home.  Check out some of these ideas for fairy fun shared last week on It's Playtime. 

Paint Cut Paste shared their Fairy Herb Garden and also how to create Fairy Houses with Natural Materials.  

Visiting a fairy festival this year?  Why not pack some Fairy Wand Fruit Kebabs (created by Here Come the Girls) to take on your picnic?  Also a great snack after an exciting day of creating fairy gardens . 

 My Magical Menagerie used and old basket to create their New Fairy Garden.  

Fairies love flowers so why not attract them with Flower Petal Sun Catchers like those created by For the Children.  

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button." 

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

It's Playtime: The Art and Play of Spring

With spring comes new life, new flowers, and loads of new ideas on It's Playtime!  Here's my features this week celebrating spring.

I generally don't think to use toilet paper when creating with the kiddos but these Toilet Paper Flowers from Let Kids Create are colorful and easy to make.  

At Home with Ali shared this lovely Fairy Princess Flower Crown.  Little fairies will love roaming the garden, dancing amongst the spring flowers wearing this creation.  

Creating spring trees is as easy as fingerpainting!  Babylandia shared how they used paint to celebrate Springtime Arriving.  

Enjoying the Journey used science to create these beautiful Flower Crystals.  

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board.  Happy Pinning! 

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

A Day With the Fairies

It's that time of year again in the U.S.  The grass is green, the flowers are in bloom, and fairies flutter in the garden.  Every year we attend a fairy festival at one of our local gardens.  It's a day of magic and beauty and enjoyment of the outdoors.  This year we enjoyed it with friends old and new.  Here is our outdoor adventure:

My daughter Ariel wanted to be a panda fairy.  She said she was the kind of fairy that watched over animals, specifically panda bears.  

  

My son Michael called himself a "Buzz Lightyear fairy".  He and his friend Eliza share a moment on the bridge.  

Audrey, Michael, and Eliza pose for a picture on a bench.  

One of the kids' favorite spots at Summers Past Farms is this little play house.  

 The fairy house becomes a little too crowded...

Eliza and Michael flutter off into the garden.

Ariel and her friend Moriah.  

This is one of the many gardens entered into the fairy garden contest.  The gardens I really wanted to photograph had tons of people surrounding them the entire time!  The contest is open to little kids through adults and judging is based upon 3 age groupings.  This garden was part of the adult group.  

Here is my self portrait.  Yes, I was a fairy too!  I even received the highest compliment, from my husband, who said I looked very pretty.  

This kid was too fast for my camera, but he was a little faun.  I think the boys have some of the most creative outfits.  I saw gnomes, elves, and cute little boy fairies.  And believe it or not, my son was not the only Buzz Lightyear!  

 Moriah informed me she was a water fairy...

Ariel and Moriah test the limits...

Beautiful fairies

We end our adventure with a snack picnic.  Such a beautiful day!

Fairy Festivals are not just something we have here in San Diego.  They are world wide!  I recommend googling "fairy festival" and looking for one in your area.  Some are free (like the one we attend) and some are not.  Either way, it's a wonderful time outdoors!  Even if you don't have a fairy festival in your area, you may have a local garden.  Take time to explore and support these gardens; they are a fantastic link to nature!  

June 24th is Fairy Day.  What will you do to celebrate?  

Backyard Fairies

My daughter loves fairies.  I love fairies.  And every year we attend a Fairy Festival at a local garden.  It's free, it's beautiful, and it's outdoors!

Ariel also has a small fairy garden she tends; adding and taking away gifts and toys for her fairies and trimming the succulents which make-up her garden.  Recently though, my backyard had become a jungle.  My kids were outside playing with a garden sensory tub I'd put together filled with green and yellow split peas, dry kidney beans, small flowerpots, faux flowers, bugs, and snakes.  It became quiet, so of course that was my cue to check-up on them.  I discovered some delightful imaginary fairy play....

The first thing I noticed were all the missing sensory items...

 The kids, still in their jammies, had found a tuff of grass to create their fairy world.  Michael was sprinkling peas around the grassy forest while Ariel was lost in creative thought.

 First she arranged some of the fake flowers to her liking.

 Uggghhhh!  Snakes and lizards in the grass!  

 Then the bugs and flowerpots were arranged.  Doesn't that spider look real?

 Close-up of our lizard friend.

 If you look closely, you can see that my daughter even created a path from some of the peas and beans.

 And of course, our fairy...

 This fairy reminds me of Miss Muffet   

 Ariel adjusting her work.  

I left the play area alone for a few days, but eventually I had to mow the lawn.  I was disappointed as I loved looking at it whenever I went outside.  My son moved a few things around, as he does with Ariel's regular fairy garden, so it was changed slightly every time I took a look.  Even though we had to remove it, I know it gives the kids a chance to create something new next time.    

A fairy garden is a magical creation and can contain whatever elements you and your child chooses.  It can be a play garden that constantly changes or a flower garden with added imagination and flair.  Get creative and try using items you already have: old barbie toys, a flower pot for the fairies house, sticks, etc.  For some great ideas check out these sites:

• toadstools for a fairy garden: irresistible ideas for play based learning    
• Create a Fairy Garden: Go Explore Nature (this includes an idea even boys will enjoy!)
• How to Make a Fairy Garden: The Magic Onions
• creating a fairy garden in a pot: Let The Children Play

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