Let's create a beautiful rainbow fairy land + fairy sensory tray
Small world play is a wonderful type of imaginative and creative play for kids!
Fairy play is always a favourite here, so I decided to draw these rainbow toadstool fairy houses to go with our fairies and Grapat Nins. Some of the colours aren't an exact match - but my kids are happy with them.
They look cute set up with some small world props for some magical fairy play!
*Important: Play ideas shown here are for children ages 3+ as they contain small parts. All play was supervised by an adult.
Rainbow Fairy Small World Play
How to set it up:
Print and cut out the fairy houses choosing which colours you would like.
Back the houses onto cardboard by tracing around the house shape onto cardboard and cutting it out to stick onto the fairy house or laminate for durability.
Use blocks, cardboard tubes or boxes to stick the houses to in order to make them stand up. We used blocks from our Grimms large stepped pyramid.
We set up out fairy houses with our Ambrosius fairies and also some Grapat Nins that matched the colours.
Small world play is wonderful for developing:
Creativity
Imagination
Vocabulary
Communication skills when playing with others
Story telling and so much more!
Some small world play challenges/tips:
Buying resources to set up small worlds can get expensive.
This is especially true for wooden hand crafted pieces.
DIY resources, printables and items from discount stores (think craft supplies) can be a perfect way to grow your small world collection inexpensively.
Old pieces of material or some simple felt pieces can be used to make interesting landscapes for small world play.
Using items from nature is great too - think flowers, rocks, leaves, shells, tree cookies ... there are endless possibilities with a little creativity!
Storage of all the small world pieces can take up lots of room.
I have had this issue as our collection of small world items has grown over time. They can take up a lot of space. Here are some of my suggestions to help overcome this problem:
Choose pieces that can be used in lots of different ways/different small worlds e.g. trees, coloured felt pieces or silks that can be used for different bases -grass, sand, dirt.
Start with and follow your child’s interests when buying small world pieces e.g. are they interested in fairies or dinosaurs, sea animals? etc.
Think about using printables for props as they are easier to store and don’t take up much space.
Can you make some of your own props using items from around the house/craft items?
Fairy Sensory Tray
This was a fun fairy themed sensory tray! The split peas are a fun dry sensory base perfect for pretend grass in this tray.
What we used:
Ambrosius fairies
DIY cork toadstools
Split green peas (from the supermarket)
Wooden slide from the QToys doll playground set
Inspire My Play PlayTRAY
Rainbow fairy house printable (Playfilled Motherhood Subscribers download the printable at the bottom of this page)
Safari Ltd Flower toob
Piece of green felt
Photo After play:
My kids enjoyed using the little slide to pour the sensory base down!
You can get the rainbow fairy house printable here:
Playfilled Motherhood Subscribers - download your Rainbow Toadstool Fairy House printable at the bottom of this page.
Thank you for reading this blog post!
Fairy play is so much fun! Small worlds and sensory trays can bring so many joyful play opportunities. I hope you found some inspiration for some fairy play setups.
You could even get your children to draw their own fairy houses to make a fun small world.
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Until next time, have fun learning in a playful way!
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