Fairy Houses

With summer here, we are making Fairy Houses.  They serve many purposes:  One, they invite attention to little details from the earth and getting little hands involved.  Two, they inspire creativity, and a sense of magic and wonder.  I have a good friend who is a landscape designer who is sure that her career began with Fairy Houses.  Finally, they are a great fallback.  If we are waiting around somewhere, stalled while someone finishes a hike, stuck while we pick someone up who isn't ready, I can always say "Lets make a Fairy House," and at least three of my kids will be into it.

There are certain places where we build repeatedly: at the nearby park, at the nearby creek, places we frequent in the mountains.  Our methods tend to repeat themselves:

• We pick the spot
• We clear the ground with a good stick or some bark.
• We gather things up and put them in a "storage" place.
• We build, inside and out. 

The houses have borders, sometimes walls, many rooms, little beds, a table and chairs, patios, and if June is involved, lots of baby furniture and accessories.  Here are a few: