Our Fairy House: Vacancies!We've been outside every day this past week, enjoying weather that is more typical of July than April. While outside, I'm always thinking of crafts and ideas for increasing language. I saw "fairy houses" in a magazine and thought I'd try it with my kids. My three year old is in the target age range, but even Nolan enjoyed crafting the house and furnishing it with acorn cap sinks, bark beds, and flowers.
Adding flowers to the house
Building little houses like these is great for:
- Imagination: Matthew checked his house this morning and was ecstatic to find that fairies must have visited. The acorn cap sinks were turned over, so the fairies must have been to visit!
- Fine motor skills: weaving the sticks together, balancing the acorn sinks, and threading the flower stems through the sticks.
- Language: we had to gather thin, long sticks. We had to snap them, weave them, and were constantly discussing what would go into the house next. Even Nolan would say "pow" for flower, then run and pick a dandelion.
- Incidental spring yard clean-up: sticks were cleared from the lawn and many dandelions removed for the house.
The best thing was that Matt has continued to play with this house long after my involvement ended. Also, the activity cost NOTHING and used all natural supplies!
5 comments:
So cute! I'm going to have to try that!
Very cool! And they were learning a lot more than language, too -- basic mechanics (balance, rotation, fitting together), science (the look, feel, and smell of plant materials, and probably some discussion of flower anatomy), and math (counting, geometrical patterns, length, compare and contrast). My mother always thought it absurd that so many teachers say, "We're learning language arts now, and later we'll do social studies." Interdisciplinary study isn't just for college!
I love it - very cute (you know, in a boy-ish way).
And, look! You're a home-schooler ;-)
Julie
Very cute! I want to build a fairy house! I wonder if my 8 yr old would still be interested ... I love the innocence of it all.
NOW LOOK AT YOU!!!!
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