Fairy Houses–a magical activity for everyone!

I love building fairy houses. It was a favorite activity with my daughters and with the children in my class. You can make them any time of year, but I love to make them in the spring and summer especially.

Who are the fairies?

Fairies (also spelled faeries) are nature spirits. There are lots of different kinds of fairies, but the ones who will move into your fairy houses are garden or forest fairies (depending on where you build your fairy house). By the beach is another great place to build a fairy house.

Fairies are small beings. They sometimes appear as human, but in elf-life outfits of a variety of colors and textures, but sometimes you can see them as specks of light. They move quickly! Some people can see them with their peripheral vision or feel them with their eyes closed. Many children can see them.

Are they real? To me they are. I don’t see them, but I feel them when I am out in nature. You can believe in them or not. You can think of them as the forces of nature that cause the flowers to bloom and the fruit to grow. Or not.

You can enjoy building fairy houses regardless.

Why do they need us to build them houses?

They probably don’t. But it’s a fun way to connect with nature and to honor the spirit of nature, whether you call those spirits gnomes and fairies or something more scientific. And who knows, they might leave you a gift in return for yours.

Materials to build fairy houses

You can build a fairy house from any materials you find around your garden, in the woods or at the beach or wherever you are in nature. You can build them inside, too.

Here is a list of some possible building materials (some of these are from Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden by Betsy Williams):

• sticks
• leaves
• stones
• flowers
• yarn or string
• bark
• sea shells
• grasses
• acorns
• egg shells
• acorns
• pine cones
• seed pods
• seaweed

Use only things that have fallen or dried–that’s how the fairies like it.

You can add some treasures from home, if you want, like some flat marbles or little shiny things or a bit of glitter. I usually bring some string or yarn to use to tie things together, but you can also use grass or stems for this.

How to build a fairy house

The children know how. But here are some suggestions

1. Collect your materials
2. Choose a spot that is away from where people walk–like by the side of a tree, on top of a boulder or beneath a bush.
3. Clear the space
4. Select materials and arrange them in a pleasing manner. Prop things up. Tie them together. Make a garden if you want, or furniture, do some landscaping if you want.
5. Let your imagination run wild–and have fun!
6. Take a photo if you’re so inclined.

Have a fairy tea party

Make tiny tea cakes–and some bigger ones, too. Have a tea party near your fairy house. Be sure to leave some little treats and tiny cups of tea for your fairy friends. They will enjoy that. Sometimes they will leave you a gift in return, so be sure to check the next day.

Fairy house books

There are tons of books about fairy houses. Here are a couple of mine. I love to look at them for inspiration and just to be amazed at the fairy houses that people build.

And here are a couple more (these are affiliate links):

• • Fairy Houses Everywhere! (The Fairy Houses Series®)
  • Fairy Houses
  • And here’s a favorite book of mine that’s about fairy fashion- Fairie-ality: The Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand

Time to flit

I hope you have a lot of fun building fairy houses. It’s a wonderful, magical activity. I’d love to see pictures!!

Here is another post about fairies with a couple fairy verses in it.

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo