Wings
We've just read a wonderful book for the kids: Fairy Houses
This charming story quickly captured my children's imagination. We have spent the last couple of days working on our own fairy house in the yard. I think it's coming along quite nicely.
The rules are: use only natural materials, and the items you use must not be harmed - no picking flowers or pulling leaves from trees. If it is already on the ground, it is fair game.
The best thing, of course, is the checking to see if we've had any visitors. The book explains that when you build a fairy house, the woodland creatures all come to visit, because they are friends of the fairies. If your fairy house attracts lots of animal visitors, it is a very special house indeed.
My daughter tucked a small apple in the ground floor of fairy central, and was delighted to come out the next morning and find that someone had been pecking at the apple. She added a path of pea-gravel to the entry, and added a slide of bark to the sleeping loft. My son gathered a pile of twigs, and improved the roof.
Believing in magic is so important, at this age, and any other. I skulk around in the grown-up, pragmatic world, making sense and lining up my ducks, day after day after day. All too often, I march-step my children along with me, pulling and pushing their thoughts towards tasks. Always with the tasks.
My inner-child? The one with the lopsided pigtails? She's loving the fairy house. I find myself as giddy as the kids when I see a visiting bird. I can see it from my kitchen, and it makes me irrationally happy. A cluster of twigs, some dead leaves, gravel and other yard debris - mundane has become magical.
The end of the book has the visiting fairies turn into a fluttering mass of butterflies. What do you call a group of butterflies, I wonder? A herd? A flock? I always loved the fact that a group of rhinos are called a "crash." Really, I should start referring to my children as a "crash" of children. That is much more descriptive.
Ahem.
I'll be riding to the school on my awesome bike to pick up the kids in a little bit. I promised we'd take a roundabout route home to look for treasures to dress up the fairy house. We'll see how that goes, because my son has a flair for getting tired of riding his bike midway through the route and flinging it to the pavement, giving it a few kicks for good measure. It is um, what's the word I'm looking for here...challenging. So we might not go too far off our beaten path.
In any case, check Fairy Houses
edited to add: Fairy Houses site!
Comments
I'm certain that my own daughter would love the adventure of creating a Fairy House! I intend to first, find the book(s), read them to the girls, then begin our own backyard project. Of course, my previous 'intentions' have been lost in the chaos that comes with having three young children...
Posted by: Erin | January 17, 2006 1:58 PM
A rabble or swarm of butterflies! And OHHHH, I so agree with you about childhood's fantasy worlds! The children whose parents nurture this are fortunate indeed. The realm of fantasy is not entered into lightly, and enriches our children's lives forEVER.
Posted by: Mamacita | January 17, 2006 2:19 PM
Adding this to my list of books to get. I love magic and minatures. One of my favorite books as a child was called The Incredible Shrinking House which was about this man who would shrink people's houses and then put them in the most realistic dollhouse display. Of course a bunch of kids were minaturized in one of the houses. But minature fairy houses??? It awakens the child in me...I wonder if my 2 1/2 year old will enjoy it. If not, I can enjoy it now until he is ready.
Posted by: cary | January 17, 2006 4:26 PM
You know. Living in the southwest and growing up among several native american tribes I've seen things quite similar to your fairy house. They have little special places they leave offerings of food or a cradle board. The tradition is to carve a cradle board from a local tree and then when the cradle board is no longer in use you return it to the tree. The baby's umbilical cord is buried at the tree and it's that child's responsibility to care for the tree.
I think it's a lovely tradition you've started.
Posted by: Big Gay Sm | January 17, 2006 6:46 PM
I'm so glad that I stopped by your blog today! I can't wait to pick this book up for my daughter. She will LOVE it!
Posted by: Lisa | January 17, 2006 9:12 PM
Oh I love this. I am going to have to get that book.
Of course I have lots of time since all the twigs and leaves and things on the ground are covered by a FOOT OF SNOW... God I envy your california weather.
Posted by: chris | January 18, 2006 5:46 AM
as i read this i could picture in my head the perfect spot in our yard for a fairy house! i know my son would love this idea... we just have to wait for the snow to melt.
then i followed the link and it's a local (to me) publishing house! how cool! thanks for sharing Jenny!
Posted by: monique | January 18, 2006 7:31 AM
Okay, will you be my mom?
Aren't those "magic mom" moments the best?
Posted by: Jenn2 | January 18, 2006 7:59 AM
This book (which I'll be checking out) sounds similar to a movie from a few years ago: "Fairy Tale - A True Story". Very gentle movie, excellent rendition of the fairies. I love that you and your children are building this house!
Posted by: Anna | January 18, 2006 8:04 AM
We love this book. We have built a variety of fairy houses in the different seasons with the materials around.
There is also a lovely CD called "Flower Fairies" based on Cecilia Barkers poems/writings. Each Flower Fairy has her /his own song.
Posted by: Dawn | January 18, 2006 9:20 AM
oh.. oh wow.. im just super excited! fairy houses! i wish i was a kid again.. maybe i could go borrow my neighbors kids for a bit.. that's an awesome sunny afternoon activity!
i wonder if we have the book in stores over here (New Zealand) im going to have a good hunt!
Posted by: Erena | January 18, 2006 1:45 PM
That is such a cool project--one I'm sure they'll never forget.
Posted by: Surcie | January 18, 2006 3:26 PM
Our backyard is chock full of fairy houses, it's one of my daughter's favorite activities. In winter, she gets sheets of frozen ice (as opposed to the other kind which is, I suppose, water. Or steam) and builds ice houses for them. We don't do Santa or the Tooth Fairy or that other crap, but the fairy thing rocks. In fact, I'd been mulling a blog post about it just yesterday. You beat me.
Posted by: Deana | January 19, 2006 8:18 AM
What a beautiful book! Thanks for the tip :-) I'm always on the lookout for unique books to fill out Baby Girl's library. She's only 5 months old, but she already loves hearing the sound of my voice and looking at colourful pictures while I read to her. And when she's older I hope the book captures her imagination too :-)
Posted by: heather | January 19, 2006 9:35 PM