Fairy Doors for Kids

Have you ever spotted fairy doors?

Once you see one, your radar will be attuned to them like it might be for ice cream on a hot summer day or your favorite jeans at a basement sale.

We’re blessed to live near the a fantastic children’s library,and my daughter and I made a trip there just before heading off on vacation. She has a thing for scanning books, and I like that we can be boisterous without ticking anyone off. After dropping off some books, we wandered back into the toddler area, which is when I happened to spot the fairy door.

Huh? It was this cute little door, stuck to the wall, with no fan-fare or explanation…simply a little door. And then I remembered seeing these little doors in other places…which prompted me to dig around and discover that there is a whole world of fairy door people out there, building little getaways for fairies in the most unexpected places. There’s even a shop that just sells fairy doors. Brilliant!

It turns out that Ann Arbor, MI is so rich with fairies that you can take a self-guided tour of all the fairy sites, a very popular activity according to folks who’ve reviewed it on Yelp.

As an example, in the Folk and Fairytale section of the Ann Arbor Library there’s a little fairy home that’s truly inspiring (see photo above).

Fairies and Creativity

After posting last week about fairy gardens, this seemed like a nice follow-up on where the fairy garden idea could go. This is all about building and supporting imagination and encouraging children the think creatively.

I have some friends who build elaborate leprechaun traps with their school-age children every St. Patrick’s Day, an activity that involves a lot of planning, building, imagination, and invention. And then there’s the added benefits of spending quality time with their children and bolstering fun family traditions. If you choose to plant a garden for gnomes, install a fairy home, build a leprechaun trap, or leave lettuce for Santa’s reindeer (our newest family tradition), you’ve instilled your child with the idea that anything imaginable can be invented and created. And they will also experience a sense of playfulness that has the capacity to stick with them for life.

Buy a Fairy Door

Click on the images to get any of these fairy doors (affiliate links)

Miniature Fairy Garden Double Door

Fairy Garden Door that swings open

Fairy Garden Gnome Door

Fairy Bench

The CreativityÂ Crisis

By Rachelle 9 Comments

Newsweek just published a must-read article, The Creativity Crisis, co-written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (both well-known for their best seller, Nurture Shock). In the article, the authors make a great argument for infusing childhood experiences and school curricula with creative-thinking methodologies, stating that children who are stronger creative thinkers will fare better when faced with life’s problems and that “the correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.”

They go on to state that creative thinking skills have been on the decline in school age kids since 1990, and that the numbers are making no real signs of popping back up. Despite the seemingly dire news, the authors share that a solution could lie in enriching children’s educations with creative-thinking activities, and that infusing current educational practices with project-based learning and creative problem-solving pedagogies will also help.

Related to this, they wrote a companion piece called Forget Brainstorming, with seven great tips on how to foster creativity. It’s a useful list for both kids and adults.

Highlights from the Article

“A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 ‘leadership competency’ of the future.”
“Claremont Graduate University’s Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and University of Northern Iowa’s Gary G. Gute found highly creative adults tended to grow up in families embodying opposites. Parents encouraged uniqueness, yet provided stability. They were highly responsive to kids’ needs, yet challenged kids to develop skills. In the space between anxiety and boredom was where creativity flourished.”
“Preschoolers who spend more time in role-play (acting out characters) have higher measures of creativity.”

Big, Bad, Porcelain Canvas

By Rachelle 6 Comments

In preparation for a recent trip to Boston, friends suggested that I stock up on new toys to entertain my child on the airplane. So, along with purchasing a Mrs. Potato Head and an Elmo DVD (a moment of weakness for our almost-TV-free home that thankfully paid off), I found these great washable bathtub crayons in a local beauty supply store.

I knew these would be a hit after seeing our almost-2 year old “washing” the sides of the bathtub with bars of soap and sponges. Drawing on the bath seemed to be a natural extension of that!

Obviously, this wasn’t a plane toy, but what better place to test out bathtub crayons (that are supposed to wash off, but do we know for sure?) than in a hotel bathtub? You’re with me, right? I wish I was able to capture the visuals a little better, but I was busy getting a little wet as my daughter drew and erased the drawings at least four times. I usually refrain from drawing on my child’s pictures, but she asked me to make some stars, which she promptly filled with expressive marks. And the good news is that in the end, it all cleaned up perfectly!

The best part of this activity, in my opinion, is extending the process of mark-making beyond the piece of paper or easel. This is one of those “thinking outside the box” activities that can help kids understand that there can be more than one way to do something. Not to mention, a lot of joy can come from freely moving greasy crayons all over a huge porcelain canvas.

Playdough Tools

By Rachelle 3 Comments

If you have a batch of playdough and could use some ideas for how to play with it, we’re going to dig into that today! If you don’t have any playdough, and want to know how to make playdough, click here.

I collect tools from everywhere: online shops, toy stores, play kitchen tools, my kitchen, second hand shops.

Playdough Tool Ideas

note: this list contains affiliate links

Melissa and Doug Shape Model and Mold comes with rolling pins (see above) and cube stampers with textures (also above)
Play Doh Fun Factory comes with cookie cutters (top left) and a spaghetti maker (much like a garlic press)
Straws
At under $3, This 5-piece plastic dough tool set is one of the most affordable sets I’ve seen
Potato Masher
This 5-piece set of slicers and dicers from Chenille Kraft
Kare and Kind makes this huge 24-piece set for under $13
Toothpicks (not for really young children)
Popsicle sticks
Dull knife
Muffin tin
Cookie sheet
Plastic toy animals

The possibilities are truly endless. At 16 months, it was enough for my daughter to just squish it and move balls of dough from one bowl to another. At 20 months, she wanted to cut it, so we introduced a safe wooden “knife” that we got for free from our local cupcake shop. Lately, at almost 2 years, she likes to “cook” muffins and cookies and tacos, and I’m grateful to whoever makes play dishes, rolling pins, and cookie cutters!

What can you do with Playdough?

Roll the dough into worms and balls
Smoosh it into pancakes
Stamp it
Poke it with forks and straws
Make play baked goods
Make “dinner” for the family

Teach children to use scissors with Playdough

This is one of my very favorite ways to teach children how to use scissors, and it’s far easier than cutting paper!

If you want to help your child learn how to use scissors, roll out some worms and show them how to cut them with safety scissors (affiliate). Cutting dough can be incredibly rewarding to kids who are frustrated by cutting paper, which is really not the easiest thing to do!

Prepare your Playdough Area

One last thing — try to avoid playdough in a carpeted area. If it gets in a rug, it can be torture to get it out.

We work on a very forgiving table, but if your workspace is an unfinished table, you can pick up inexpensive plastic sheeting or oil cloth (affiliate), at your local hardware store.

Just Play!

My best advice is to just put it out with a bunch of tools, play, and see what happens. Also, pay attention to your child’s cues for more ideas. If they’re using the dough to create an imaginary world, you could introduce small toy animals to the play. If they’re interested in backing, add a spatula and cookie sheet. The bottom line — have fun!

More Playdough Ideas

If you want to make your own playdough, this is the best recipe.

Would you like more playdough tool ideas? This post shares 3 playdough tools that you may already have.

Add a new scent to your playdough such as pumpkin pie

If you want to make glow in the dark playdough, you’ll love this recipe.

Want to get creative? Click here and learn how to make masa playdough!

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