Setting up a Fairyland small world surprise

What a lot of fun it was setting up Fairyland for the kids to play with. We had a heap of great ideas which we were excited to use. We quickly came across a problem while gathering what we needed. We found only one fairy doll in the toy box so we had to come up with another plan. Buying more fairy dolls was not an option because we wanted to create Fairyland before the kids came home after school. We discussed what we could do to improvise. We had two options. We could either make fairy wings for dolls in the toy box or we could do print outs and create a lot of characters for Fairyland. We chose the latter.

Before we continue, we would like to explain that every now and again, we like to give the kids a play surprise. This means that we set up something for the kids as a surprise. We always make sure that the parts are moveable so that they can be easily changed and moved around. This means that the kids can make choices about what they want to change so that their play stories evolve into what they want them to be.

Back to our story! We printed out fairy characters and other pictures. We cut them out and attached some of  them to small blocks. Other pictures were glued onto pieces of cardboard that could easily bend to make the pictures stand on their own. We made trees, a gnome, a rainbow, and a range of fairies. We then created the gnome’s cave out of a shoe box. We also used some fairy bits and pieces that we found such as the fairy house and the toy unicorn.

To make Fairyland magically exciting, we scattered colourful counters which gave the rainbow effect. We used material for a stream and a few other bits and pieces for different effects. Oh the excitement that followed! The kids were delighted to find Fairyland when they came home.  We observed some wonderful fairy stories that emerged during their play. Of course, the counters were scattered a bit around the room and that was okay! If you aren’t keen on that happening, you could always use another idea for your own fairyland.

The learning highlights of fairy play are many. These are our favourite moments. As expected, interesting fairy stories emerged during play. There was lots of language developing with the characters “talking” and new words being used. Both kids seemed to enjoy the experience of being storytellers. Moving the loose parts around gave the kids the freedom to make Fairyland the way they wanted it to be. Picking up counters meant that little fingers were using the pincer grip. Rearranging the scene required thinking about position and space for each object. Best of all, Fairyland play meant that the kids could immerse themselves into the magical world of Fairyland. How wonderful it is for kids to visit Fairyland when they pretend to play. That’s the beauty of pretend play. You can be anyone in any place doing anything when you play! 

So step into your own Fairyland and be part of the magic kingdom that awaits you. To see what we did, watch our YouTube video below:

Click the download button below to get your copy of the images we used in our video to create our Fairyland. Cut out the pictures and stick them to a block or cardboard stand. Before you know it, you will have a magical Fairyland of your own!