The art table was a flutter with activity last week when CHP mom, Suzy, came to do a fairy project with the children. Suzy and her two boys brought supplies for the fairies, including old-fashioned style crafting clothespins for bodies, flat wooden ice cream scoops for wings, and colorful sparkly jewels.
Many children were attracted immediately to the project. Suzy demonstrated how the wings could be doubled up and slid inside the clothespin. The children glued them into place and adjusted the length and angle of the wings.
We got out scraps of material, ribbons, pipe cleaners, yarn, markers, seedpods and other natural materials.
Then we helped the children
decide how they would decorate the fairies by asking questions: Would they be boy or girl fairies? (This sparked a conversation of the possibility of boy fairies, which we all agreed is of course important. This discussion led to several boys joining the art table)
Would the fairies have hair, clothes, a crown, jewels, necklaces, tools? The children each chose their material, and made such unique fairies, from one covered entirely in jewels to one that had a scrap of animal pelt for hair and seed pods covering its wings.
We discussed where the fairies lived, and what things they could do to protect animals.
When children were finished with one fairy, we had them make another if they would, so that we could add them to our fairy world in the classroom and so that all the children could play with them. Some flew away before we could photograph them!