Robin Hood Hat

It is party-planning time again! This time, my 6 year old has requested a Woodland Party. My children are notorious for requesting party themes that are too obscure for Party City. I searched the Internet for Woodland themes and found many hits for fairy parties and baby showers, but none that would suit a boy turning seven.

The only site I found useful, Zhinka dinka doo, had a clever idea for an activity in which a woodland elf leads children on a hunt for treasures by leaving notes for them: a scavenger hunt! But, alas, the link to the pattern was broken and I needed to improvise.

I first made a template from newspaper and cut felt to match.  The straight side of the semi-circle is 18 inches long. The highest point in the arch is 11 inches.

After folding the semicircle in half, I sewed both straight sides.  The side that had been the straight part of the semicircle needed a 1/4 inch seam, but the fold only needs a seam that runs right along the fold (the purpose is to provide just a little bit of support to the fold).

I folded a flap on either side and glued it in place. 

This was so easy to do that I was able to make 8 hats in (far) less than an hour!

Special thanks to my mom for modeling and providing much needed

emotional support through this craft! : D

Seashell Sidewalks

Got seashells?  My sister gave us a bag full of shells from her recent vacation.  The boys had a great time turning these shells into sidewalks for fairies and dinosaurs in one of our herb gardens. Above, you can see a dino 'back in thyme'.

We've done similar seashell gardens before, so we know to expect wild birds to completely wreck it by winter.  The birds pick up the shells, hoping they might still house edible treats.  It is OK.  It will be fun in the spring to find random seashells scattered in the mulch, and the shells are good for the soil.

Most importantly is that this project kept both boys occupied for a few hours. : )

Jack and the Beanstalk: the Beginning

Surely this is when Jack's story started to get interesting: those beans started to grow!  And this is when our Fairy Tale Garden* starts to get interesting, too.  I didn't have to trade a cow (not that I own one to trade), because most of these beans were given to my by my father, who grows pole beans around his swimming pool.

Our Fairy Tale Garden will hopefully be full of many magical story elements by summer: beanstalks for Jack, orange pumpkins for Cinderella, giant sunflowers for the wondrous effect they create, and purple cabbages to represent that mythical cabbage patch where all children are told they were found (all my children, anyway).

*Our Fairy Tale Garden is different from the Fairy Garden, which is another magical place found here.

Fairy Garden

One of the first things we noticed about our home when we moved here is that the yard has an oddly placed circle of pine trees in the corner.  I have no idea what the original garden-planner was intending for these trees, but I was immediately drawn to the room created by the branches.  We started calling it the fairy garden, based partly on the 'fairy circle' lore, but also based on a delightful memory I have from my babysitting years (long, long ago) when I had the honor of working for a family who had tiny houses placed throughout their home...for the fairies.

Now we keep our eyes peeled for tiny things that the fairies can use as homes.  Birdhouses work well, like the yard sale finds above and in the branches below, and each year the kids try to make houses from sticks and other natural materials.

The home-made houses usually don't last more than a few months, but the act of building them is the best part. 

We also add things to the garden for our own amusement, such as the old elf statue, stepping stones and toadstool seats.