Fairy Garden For Kids

Do you have a water table in your back yard? Does it tend to become the disgusting mess of a toy after every rain? Don’t get me wrong… we have some fond water table memories, but ours just ended up looking dirty and disgusting more often than not. So this year we decided to give it a facelift!

This fairy garden is the perfect springtime activity for kids of all ages!

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Check out our water table makeover!

How we created our fairy garden for kids

We started by drilling extra drainage holes all along the bottom of the water table. Next, we filled it with potting soil. I let V pick out a few smaller plants and a couple of packs of seeds to put in her garden. We watered and watched those little seeds for days. The height of the table is perfect for her to work at. The excitement when she saw them pop up was priceless. We continued to add to our garden one thing at a time. We covered some of the edges and plastics with little stones.Later, we found our perfect fairy house with adorable stepping stones.

This table has brought so much joy to my daughter. It just keeps getting better and better! Some of our plants haven’t lasted the test of time, but we have added more. Between watering, checking the growth, pulling weeds, and picking flowers it is the perfect addition to our backyard.

Watch this container fairy garden grow!

This is sure to be a highlight for us to create together year after year. Not to mention I don’t have to clean it out anymore! If you don’t have a water table for this fairy garden for kids project keep your eye out at garage sales, you can sometimes find one for a steal!

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Now they might seem painted in the picture, but they aren’t… we use a technique was adapted from a classic. Melted crayon rocks. If you aren’t familiar with this craft, check it out here on Red Ted Art. I made one of these rocks for my dad when I was little. He still proudly displays it!!

Supplies for Decorated Terracotta Pots:

• Terracotta Pots…. whatever size or shape you want!
• Crayons. You will need to peel them.
• Cooling rack or hot pad.
• Foil.
• Paper bag or cardstock.
• Extra hot pot holder or kitchen towel.
• A clear coat spray paint.
• Clothes Pins. These are optional, but I really think they work great!

Making your Mother’s Day flower pots

Start by putting a layer of foil on your oven rack, add your terracotta pots, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While your oven and pots are heating up you can pick your crayon colors and remove the wrappers. Set up your workspace with a cooling rack or hot pad. Place a paper bag or a sheet of cardstock on top. Use the clothespins to hold the crayons.
The clothespins keep your kid’s fingers a little further from the pot. Like I said not necessary, but we found this very helpful. Once the oven gets up to the temperature set a timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off your oven. Using a hot pad remove only the pot you will be working on. Draw on the pot with your crayons!***Warning:  These pots are hot.  I held the pot for all of my kids just to help supervise and make sure they didn’t actually reach out and touch it!***

The crayon will melt instantly while drawing on the pot. They can swirl the colors around and mix the colors. All sorts of different creations can be made. Kids will love watching the crayons melt. These will stay Hot for a few minutes. Once they have cooled completely, spray the decorated terracotta pots with a clear coat to keep them from smearing.
Fill your pots and they are ready to be gifted!

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These fingerprint labels are a great craft during an April garden preschool theme.

What you need for your Fingerprint Garden Labels:

• Paint stir sticks… these are usually free at any major hardware store.
• White paint – this is optional you could do your designs right on the wood.
• Colored Paints – Green, Red, Yellow, and White were the only colors I needed. Just think about the veggies you are planting.
• A Paint Pen – I only needed a green one.
• A Clear Acrylic spray. (an outdoor satin or matte finish is best)

How to make your Fingerprint Garden Labels:

Start by giving your stir sticks a good coat of white paint. Let the little one help out with this. It doesn’t have to be even or perfect. Let dry and do the backside as well.
Then comes the fun part. Using your little ones’ fingers and fingertips create some fun shapes on your sticks. Trust me they might look a little rough at first but they will come together!
Have a piece of paper on stand by and let them do a little finger painting in between each color.
Once they have dried you can go in with your paint pen and add in some stems and edges and they will really take shape. A couple of outlines on the peas and the mini vines and there is no question what they are… On the beans, I actually made her 2 finger prints into about 4 beans. Just use a little imagination. These are sure to be something you can both be proud of.

Spray them with a few coats of a clear coat spray on each side. Something that won’t yellow in the sun and is water proof.

Then place them out in the garden!

She made sure they were all in just the right spot…These easy fingerprint garden labels can be a little project you work on over the weekend or off and on throughout a day!

So far peas are all we have planted, if I remember we will add an updated picture here when we have a few more things going!

If you are new to gardening make sure to check out all of the lessons we learned last year!

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If you have started anything from seed indoors, the most important step to take before moving them to your garden is hardening them off. This is the process of ‘tuffening up’ your plants. Bring them outside in a slightly protected place.

This way they get exposed to some wind. Let them sit out over night (unless it is supposed to freeze). You just want them to get used to the environment before moving them to your garden.

Once they are ready for the real thing, it’s time to get them planted!  If you grew them at home, your plants might still have their first leaves. This is a good way to measure how deep to put your plant in the ground. Remove those starter leaves and put your plant in so the soil covers where those leaves were growing.

You always want to dig your hole in the ground wider and deeper than the plant. This way the soil that ends up around your plant is loose.

Add in some compost, fill in soil around your plant, and then water in well.

There are lots of fun things you can add around your garden to help your plants out.
If you want to add some flowers, Borage and Marigolds are great veggie companions.
Crushed eggshells can be used on the tomatoes for extra calcium.
Coffee grounds can be used around plants to detour bugs.

This year I am adding a couple praying mantis egg sacks!

They are supposed to eat all sorts of bugs that are bad for your plants!! They each hold around 200 little guys. I will update you with how that all goes. This is way out of my element so we will see…

Growing your own food is so exciting. Get the family involved, even if it is one strawberry plant in your back yard.

They will be so excited to get out there and pick one right off the vine.

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Tip #1

Tip #2

Tip #3

Tip #4

 

Don’t get discouraged if you lose a few plants to damping off (when the plant dies where the stem meets the soil), it happens to even seasoned gardeners.

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What you need for your upcycled garden labels:

• Jar Lids
• Spray Paint
• Paint Pens
• Krylon Acrylic Coating
• Hangers
• Glue

Making your upcycled garden labels:

My Man prepped the hangers for me. A quick cut with wire cutters and a few bends and they were good to go.

  

 

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