Magical Fairy Garden :: Small World Play

A magical fairy garden small world play

Small world play is fantastic for fostering many skills in the Early Years; storytelling, imaginative play and language development to name a few. I love to create small worlds in a bowl which makes them easy to access for little fingers and easy transport (see our Dinosaur Small World in a bowl for another play idea).

This time we made a Fairy World! Using the same large salad bowl as my previous world I pressed in some glittery play dough over about two thirds of the bowl  (using our no-cook play dough recipe). I left a little room for the water.

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I lined the back of the bowl with leaves I picked from my garden and added other items into the dough;

  • Golden rocks: I got these from a craft shop in the clearance area but they could easily be recreated by painting or spray painting normal rocks gold
  • Colourful gems: these were off one of my necklaces that had broken
  • Glass pebbles: I got mine from Amazon but they can be found in aquatic or florist shops too
  • Pinecone
  • Colourful wooden beads: from Tiger
  • Wooden pot: from ebay
  • Wands: these are made from toothpicks. I trimmed the sharp ends and used star stickers to create them

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I made a fairy house from a cardboard tube decorated with Sharpie windows and flowers. I also cut a little door. The roof is a yogurt pot.

small world fairy garden 4

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The fairies are wooden dolls
with wings tied onto their backs using a hole punch and twine. I actually used some of S’s artwork to make them.

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Once the world was created I added some water to the part of the bowl without play dough. It had a little blue food colouring in and some golden glitter for extra magic!

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I left bowls of some of the resources on the side to allow for S (2.5yrs) to customise the world and explore the loose parts.

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As she played she created her own story and made the little fairies speak to one another. Splashing in the water and stepping on the golden stones were a particular favourite.

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The fairies were busy casting lots of spells!

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I am learning…

  • to build and extend vocabulary through play experiences :: Communitcation & Language
  • to concentrate for longer periods of time at an activity of interest :: PSED
  • to enjoy playing with small world models :: Understanding the World
  • to build stories around toys and small world scenes :: Expressive Arts and Design

If you enjoyed this activity don’t forget to come over to the Wings and Roots Facebook Page to share how you used this play idea.

And don’t forget to visit our Youtube channel for more ideas and inspiration!

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