Tag: fairy house

Tipi Tent

Would you like to learn how to make a very easy house for your rabbit or a fairy out of sticks?

You will need:

  • 3 or more straight sticks  of the same length
  • A pipe cleaner or two
  • Extra things to decorate your house

First let’s practice wrapping.

Hold out your two fingers and wrap the pipe cleaner around them several times.


When that is easy you’re ready to begin.

  • Gather your materials
  • Step 1: Make an X
  • Step 2: Wrap the pipe cleaner around the top like this
  • Step 3: Add the third stick and wrap it with the remaining pipe cleaner
  • Tada! If you wrapped it tight enough you’ve just made a tipi tent
  • See your rabbit can go inside.
  • Then decorate with sticks, ribbons, yarn, leaves, whatever you want!

Note:
Your tripod will only be secure when the sticks are driven into soft ground (dirt or playdough)

Experiment lots until you get it secure and stable so it  doesn’t knock over when you put your toys inside of it.

Add more sticks to the sides. Decorate!

To the grownups

This is a skill that is repeatable on a larger scale to build a full size fort (with long enough sticks) or den. We will continue to build upon these skills to build several different forts.

A Frame Stick House

Let’s continue our practice building houses for fairies and gnomes and see if we can’t build something a little bit bigger so they can have some friends over.

You will need:

  • 4 sticks the same length
  • 1 stick a bit longer than the others
  • 5-8 pipe cleaners
  • soft ground
  • a small blanket or piece of cloth
  • clothes pegs

Last week we learned how to make a tipi style shelter.

This week we are going to start with a similar shelter but instead of 3 sticks the same length we will add one that is a bit longer. When you stand it up you can see the longer stick makes more room for storage at the back of our house. But we are going to continue and make even more room.

Watch my 6 year old build an A frame shelter. Apologies for the terrible video. New skill!

The full scale inspiration for this Woodland Forest Shelter

  • Step 1: Make an X
  • Step 2: Wrap the pipe cleaner around the top like this
  • Step 3: Add the longest stick on top of your X
  • Step 4: Wrap to secure
  • Step 5: Make a second X
  • Step 5: Attach the other end of your long stick to the X just like the first.
  • Tada! You’ve made an A Frame. It’ll be a bit wobbly so I’m going to secure it into the ground.
  • Step 6: Secure in ground by pushing in the sticks.There we go. All pushed in and I added my tea towel mini-tarp
  • Step 7: Secured to the edges with clothes pegs.
  • All done. Clara thinks it looks good!

After you have made your modified tipi. Take your two remaining sticks and make another X in the same manner you started the tipi.

Take the end of your long stick and place it between the top of your second X and viola! A frame stick shelter.

It is going to fall down very easily until you secure the poles. You can do that by pressing the ends of the Xs into the ground or tying the ends of your ridge pole to a tree.

Now that you have a frame your next task is to build walls. You can use more sticks and bark and lean them up against the edges or you can use your bit of fabric or blanket and peg it with a clothes peg.

After you have built the walls you might want to decorate. You can use leaves, grass, flowers, pinecones. Whatever you want to lean up against the walls of your mini shelter. When you’ve done decorating it’s time to play!

Find some toy animals and see what they think of your creation.

Maybe you can build a whole town of shelters for your toys.

Fairy Doors

Do you know where the fairies live?

I bet there are fairies in your back yard.

They probably live in the most beautiful, most hidden, quietest spot in your yard.

Far from where you are playing mud kitchen and building forts.

If you picture your backyard right now in your imagination can you see where the fairies might live?

In my garden I like to leave doors for the fairies to invite them to come into my yard. I’ll also leave round rocks that are good for sitting on just outside the door so they will have somewhere to sit and watch me while I work.

Maybe you can turn this piece of cardboard into a special fairy door and put it somewhere in your yard?

You will need:

  • cardboard fairy door
  • felts
    Optional
  • sharpie
  • things to decorate the door (sequins, felt, stickers, jewels)

To the grownups:

Leaned up against a tree a cardboard fairy door will last a surprisingly long time, so long as it isn’t being hit by a sprinkler.

It’s ok for a tired sad looking fairy door to mysteriously disappear. If your child asks you can simply reply, “Maybe it ran out of magic.” with a hint of excitement in your eyes.

They can always make another one. This is a simple playful way of using recycled cardboard and so easy to throw in a backpack and take with you. They could even be left around your neighbourhood if they are just cardboard.

Fairy Door

Would you like the fairies to be able to come visit your backyard?

They need a special magical door to get in.

You will need:

  • Cardboard door cut out
  • Felts
  • Paint (optional)
  • glitter (optional)

The more time to you take to make your fairy door the more likely it is the fairies will know it is special and made just for them. Where is a beautiful special place in your yard? That’s where the fairy door should go.

What can you create around the door to make sure the fairies know it is safe to come into your yard?

Be careful with your toys. Fairies are very curious and mischievous creatures.

You might find the fairies will collect toys you’ve left strewn about in the yard and take them home with them.

To the grown up

This is an invitation for your child to embrace the world of magic and wonder.

Along with the cardboard cut out set up lots of beautiful materials for your child to create their magical door.

Flat back jewels, small beads, glitter, flowers, small stones, clay. The sky is the limit.

In my craft kits there is a special glue that remains tacky as it is drying. Placing a little bit of this along the edges of your door would enable a child to string a row of pebbles or beads along.

You can cut a frame for the outside of the door and add dimension and depth.

Building fairy doors is a project that can be enjoyed and scaled up or down to meet the skill level of the whole family.