Fairy Cottage

We spent the day at the beach today making this sweet little beachy fairy cottage. I built the cottage itself from pieces of coral. The thatch is ironwood needles which are like pine needles which are built over a lattice of sticks. We used more coral for the stepping stones, sticks for the picket fence and gathered plumeria flowers from the ground to plant a garden. A seed from a pandanus tree made a cute little gnome with spiky hair. This toy is a three-year-old's dream.


Check out these links to other fairy house web pages:

How to Build Fairy Houses
Disney Family Fun Fairy Houses
Bluebird Baby
Gypsy Magic

Free Word Search Maker

Check out this free word search maker by Lakeshore. Just input your words and it will create printable word search and key pages.

Faux Butterfly Collection

I am floored by this faux butterfly collection by Paper View. I like the idea of changing her craft up a bit and using it as an educational tool. Just go online and download some butterfly clipart. Then print it out on a color printer and cut out the butterflies. (The most precise way is to use an Xacto knife, so parents may need to do this part.)

Print out the butterfly names separately and have the kids look the butterflies up in a field identification guide. After matching the butterflies with their name, they can glue them to a board or frame with the appropriate name underneath. These would make a great educational project that is also decorative.