National Children’s Gardening Week arrives in late May and is the perfect time for young children to get involved in gardening activities. In celebration of the event, we describe a wonderful gardening-related activity that’s small-scale, easy, fun, and educational — perfect for little ones! The finished result is also rather magical and, once complete, lends itself to imaginative play. Today, we outline how children can make their own miniature fairy gardens. These are a great way to introduce little ones to creative gardening at a child-friendly scale. Under parent supervision* and largely using scavenged materials from outdoors, under-fives can let their imaginations run free and get creative! What’s more, the results are simply enchanting and will bring magic and a whole lot of delight to young children!
Take a look at some of the examples we show below and you’ll quickly see how enchanting the results can be. Shown are just a few of the many magical mini gardens that are possible using simple, natural, materials and a sprinkling of creativity. They are sure to inspire children to attempt their own fairy garden creations. Whether children call them fairy gardens, magical gardens, or mini gardens is up to them. Indeed, they may even think of them as mini kingdoms where imagined adventures are ready to unfold! This is a wonderful open-ended activity for kids that’s perfect for National Children’s Gardening Week. Enjoy!
When is National Children’s Gardening Week?
National Children’s Gardening Week begins on the 24th of May this year (2025) and runs until the 1st of June. The timing is no coincidence as it’s generally a warm week and therefore perfect for gardening and growing plants and flowers. What’s more, it also spans the half-term school holiday that most schools recognise in the last week of May.
The Aims of National Children’s Gardening Week
National Children’s Gardening Week is designed to inspire youngsters to get involved in gardening-related activities. It’s timed to arrive during a traditionally warm time of year when seeds, plants, and flowers grow fast. With such timing, they’ll see the fruits of their labour in a short space of time — sometimes literally! That’s great for little ones who may not have mastered the art of patience!
Gardening teaches children so much. Through gardening-related activities, they can spend time outdoors* in the fresh air and enjoy the many different benefits of spending time closer to nature. They’ll discover new skills and learn about living things, the world around them, and their place within it. Through such endeavours, they’ll better understand the circle of life and the need to care for living things. They’ll learn about taking responsibility, the importance of empathy, cause and effect, and so much more. It’ll also be fulfilling, enjoyable, and fabulous for their physical and mental well-being. Learn more about the benefits of spending time around nature for children here.
* (Appropriate adult supervision is essential for children, especially the youngest, when playing, exploring, and foraging outdoors. This includes the assessment and oversight of fairy garden assembly including age-appropriate component choices).
Fairy Garden Inspiration for Your Child
With that explained, let’s begin by showing 24 wonderful fairy garden examples to inspire you and your child. Click an image for a larger view and caption:
As you can see, each fairy garden is made almost entirely of natural materials that have been scavenged from the outdoors. Parents can help children find such things and, of course, supervision outdoors is paramount for young children. The types of materials that are perfect for making fairy gardens include:
- Loose compost or sieved earth, which can be shaped to form the foundation of the fairy garden structure;
- Different types of moss, some of which can be carefully laid onto the shaped earth or compost and used to represent grassy lawns and hills, while other types can represent bushes;
- Small pebbles, which can represent footpaths, stepping stones, or even standing stones;
- Medium-sized rustic rocks, which can be used to represent rocky outcrops, small cliffs, and focal points;
- Small sticks and twigs, which can represent trees or be used for picket fencing boundaries or paths;
- See shells, which are perfect for introducing a magical feel and can be used as attractive decorations;
- Small pieces of driftwood from the beach, which can represent tree trunks and suchlike;
- Tin foil to mould into miniature ponds, lakes or streams or to cover rocks that are used as magical features;
- Small seedlings or picked flowers, which (under supervision) can be pushed into mossy mounds to add a bit of colour and beauty;
- Small fir tree sprigs which, when placed vertically into mounded moss, will look like trees;
- Plus other small props to add details that will appeal to a child, for example, a little wooden house that a child may already have in their toy collection. Other options are (when age-appropriate) miniature figures, small animal models, and so on. These are a great way to add characters to fairy gardens in readiness for the creation of stories and interesting adventure scenarios in the child’s play. They are the finishing touch that can bring the fairy garden to life!
How to Assemble a Child’s Fairy Garden
First, your child will need a small space in or on which to build the fairy garden. Although this could be a small, unused area in the garden, something more portable would be better so the fairy garden can be created somewhere convenient like on a garden table, on a raised flowerbed, in a potting shed, etc. A medium-sized flower pot filled three-quarters with soil, a shallow tin, a flat section of log, or a flat rock — as shown in many of the examples — would make perfect portable bases for mini gardens to sit on. A kitchen tray or seed tray could also be suitable as a base, particularly if the final creation will be housed indoors and children intend to water them to keep the moss and any plants alive.
TIP: Sometimes, it’s useful to get a head-start with the main base by choosing a log, flowerpot, or rock that already has some moss established. This saves time and also means the moss will hold more firmly from the outset. Be mindful not to harm any minibeasts living there though – teach kindness to little ones.
If starting from scratch, a little soil or compost needs to go on first to form the structural ‘landscape’ of the scene, shaped creatively to the child’s preference. Although a flat mini landscape will work, an undulating format will add extra interest to the final scene. For instance, children could shape this ‘foundational’ base to form a hillside, valley, or simple slope. Such things will eventually allow for intriguing details and picturesque focal points, particularly once covered in a thin layer of short moss to represent grass. Longer or more bulbous types of moss can be great for representing bushes, while fir tree sprigs make wonderful trees if stood on end and secured upright by pushing into the moss and underlying soil. A hillside with trees or bushes surrounding a miniature house will look fabulous as in some of the photo examples provided today. Lower levels may be perfect places to make ponds or streams. Once such foundations are in place, paths can be represented using carefully placed pebbles. For larger fairy gardens, children can consider introducing bigger components like standing stones, or rocks used to represent cliffs and rocky outcrops. Small seashells and even small flowers with stems pushed into the moss can be nice decorative touches to take creations to the next, beautiful level. Children can occasionally water the final creation to keep the moss moist, green, and alive.
The beauty of this activity is that children (and parents) can let their imaginations run riot! And, who knows; the activity could even lead to a life-long interest in model making and the creative arts! Children will love the finished result and can interact to create stories, different scenarios, and adventures using their wonderfully organic and magical scenes.
Support for the EYFS
Speaking of creative arts and crafts, this activity is also a great way to support the specific ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ area of focus within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. It’s indeed the perfect opportunity to spark children’s imaginations and creativity and perhaps even result in some role-playing.
Another area of the EYFS that’s supported by this activity is ‘Physical Development’ as children will need to be dextrous in order to carefully place items like moss and other components within their fairy gardens. It will require fine motor skills and good hand-eye coordination.
‘Understanding the World’ is another area of the EYFS that’ll be well-supported by this activity. Children will learn more about nature, the world around them and some of its flora and fauna. And, if they decide to try to keep their fairy gardens alive through watering and perhaps even selective plant-growing, it’ll teach them important lessons about responsibility and the care of living things.
Have a wonderful time with your fairy gardens! They’re great fun, rather magical for little ones, and superb settings to use as focal points for imaginative play!
Nursery Places Available in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley
If you’d like your under-five child to get the best start in life in a first-class childcare setting near Chorley, consider a nursery place at Little Acorns Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods. Here, we understand just how important nature is to children and that’s one of the many reasons why Forest School was introduced to the setting. That’s along with a high-quality curriculum that brings out the best in every child, fabulous facilities indoors and out, and an enviable reputation for excellence. Ours is a home-from-home environment too, where children are part of the Little Acorns ‘family’ and first-class early years practitioners ensure they’re as school-ready as possible by the time they leave us. Free childcare hours are also available here for eligible babies and children aged from 9 months.
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As a nursery based in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, we are also a suitable choice for families in Clayton Brook, Clayton Green, Thorpe Green, Pippin Street, Buckshaw Village, Whittle-le-Woods, Farington, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall, Euxton, Leyland and Penwortham.