Our Christmas tree finally left the house today. In a furry of falling needles we got the tree out of the house and into the back area of our backyard to add to our rodent and bird sanctuary (as I am calling the untamed part of our yard where we put some of our yard waste). Sam was very amused by all the needles all over the floor. And she got to practice her sweeping and vaccumming skills to help us clean it all up.
What did you do with your Christmas tree?
Today was the fairy house birthday party and it was a HUGE success. The Aldo Leopold Nature Center has many families that come there every year for their children's parties and this family was one of those regulars. I had ten little girls (and the birthday girl's older brother!) that I had going for a hike to look for tracks and possible fairy homes and then back at the nature center to build their own houses.
I was nervous about the glue gun action but it went amazingly well. The parents jumped right in to help out and a few of the girls took over the glueing themselves and did great. These kids were SO creative! They used milkweed pods as beds and couches, tree cookies as tables and chairs, they made chandeliers out of maple seeds and berries and much more! It was amazing. Unlike my house they all made theirs fairly open so that they could move their fairies around inside the house and actually play with the little houses. Genius.
The mom put together the cutest little goodie bags for the kids with instructions and all the pieces that they needed to make their own garden fairy to go with the house. She had an extra one so Sam and I got to make two for us today when I got home.
I would love to do this party again! The mom and I both did a ton of collecting in order to have a lot of cool things for the kids to use for their houses but we both had such great stories about going for hikes and exploring with our kids while we were doing the collecting. Absolutely a great way to be forced to spend more time on the trails with my girls. Maybe my niece will want a fairy party for her sixth birthday this summer?!
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The Nitty Gritty!
SPOILER ALERT (to all the young girls that might be reading this stop reading now!)
I was a bit conflicted about "teaching" about fairies. Since they aren't real and I am a naturalist and educator by profession it was difficult for me to teach these young girls about something that wasn't real. While we were out on the trail I was pointing out possible fairy houses, possible fairy tracks and things that fairies might use to build their houses with. But everytime I would suggest something related to the fairies I would also ask questions about and allude to the truth of who the home or tracks really belonged to. This made me feel a bit better about the whole mis-information thing. But if we had more time today I think I would have gone even further into what the tracks and homes were and looked for even more signs that we could have talked about.
If you are interested in making fairy houses or fairies out of natural materials Nature's Art Box is a great reference to check out. There are lots of woodland creatures to make and many different types of houses to make as well. Best part if they use pretty generic materials that can be found in a lot of places or can be substituted for other things that you might be able to find instead.
Live in the Madison, WI area? I would encourage you to look into the Aldo Leopold Nature Center for your next birthday party (do I sound like a commercial? HA!). They really are a lot of fun and today proves to me that we can pull off just about any theme that you might be interested in! I mean do you remember the dinosaur party? That one was awesome too! Okay, I am all done tooting my own horn. Thanks for listening.
I love fairies so do my girls we are doing flower fairies for her birthday. waldorf and nature blogs I read have fairies with in their blogs so I think its a nature waldorf approach maybe. I think alittle magic and imagination is fine :)
you balanced it good and I bet it was a great fun party.
Posted by: welcome to our wonderland | 01/08/2011 at 04:44 PM
she will absolutely LOVE a fairy party!!! can you plan to come in town for her birthday??? i LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea!
Posted by: jodie | 01/08/2011 at 05:02 PM
Another approach, to maintain the balance, might be to encourage the children to imagine that they are the size of a fairy (or mouse/insect) and see what the world would be like at that size. A patch of moss, a puddle and a stalk, with interesting seeds at the top, provide the children with a chance to experience a different perspective. Being that size has different challenges. You still maintain the magic and inspire imagination at the same time as delivering a natural science lesson. Older children may use the laws of nature to build solutions.
I can see you doing a lot more of these parties in the future.
Posted by: Cheryl | 01/10/2011 at 01:42 AM
Those are super cute!! Certain girly things just make me melt. :)
Posted by: gina | 01/10/2011 at 04:40 PM