Fairy Stones
I totally stole this idea from my daughter’s kindergarten. In the kindy “Fairy Garden” they have red polished glass stones which the children can move around as they wish. My daughter likes them, but her little brother LOVES them. I have had to drag him away from the shiny pebbles many a day.
So of course when I saw a bag of similarly sized, multicoloured glass stones at the local hardware store for around $5 I couldn’t go past them. There are about 50 pebbles in the bag, ranging from clear stones through to blues, reds and browns.
Still under age two, my son enjoys putting the stones in and out of buckets and containers, and carrying them around. He likes just transferring them from one place to another, tipping them out, loading them back up and moving to a new spot! He also likes hiding them in the sandpit to “find” again. My big four year old has been making patterns and pictures in the sand with the pebbles. She has used them to decorate castles, write letters from her name and even make a path for the fairies to follow.
I love simple props for play that appeal to both boys and girls and can be used in different ways according to their level of development. Oh, and I also love “toys” that are under $5…
What have you bought that has been inexpensive, yet precious to your kids?
My oldest daughter when she was younger use to love playing in cardboard boxes, turning them into castle’s,racing cars, forts etc & even my step daughter loves playing in them as well. Now they have both grown up the cat loves playing in the cardboard boxes oh they sort of come free when you buy a deep freezer, microwave etc.
.-= Motorbikes_Lady´s last blog ..Messy or Clean Desk =-.
Something else to think about as we step out to work on the garden today
I think these would be great to add to the little area I am keeping aside for Princess’ own garden. Love the little toadstool
.-= amandab´s last blog ..Disney on Ice =-.
Oooh we love fairy stones.
Heidi’s PreSchool had a fairy garden also and it was her fav. place to spend time. They had a variety of baskets for the children to fill with fairy stones and two lovely overhanging trees that the staff had hung windchimes from it was beautiful spot.
We started collecting fairy stones at home. I’ve found op shops are a great place to get them for a $1 a bag. We’ve found sea creature shapes and different sizes and varieties. Plus some super cute little metal bowls shaped like flowers.
I :heart: fairy stones and I :heart: op shops.
I love the simple entertainment ideas. Especially when they are reuseable, cheap and have endless possibilities. This idea is right up my daughters alley too and its always fun to see what they come up with using such simple tools. Thanks for sharing it with us.
What a lovely yet simple idea. Wish I still had young children! Will have to think of someone I can use this as a gift idea for.
A simple and cheap activity our children all love is some offcuts of wood and a $1 packet of nails. They love to spend hours just hammering nails into wood (or the wooden cubby!).
.-= Lightening´s last blog ..Mother-Daughter Road Trip =-.
My kids have fairy stones and also “fossil rocks” (interesting bits of rock they’ve collected about the place, mostly the eldest who is currently setting her sights on being a geologist). They are such fun for them to have in the yard.
.-= Kathy´s last blog ..We Play – A Ladies Tea Party =-.
This is a beautiful play idea Cath. We purchased a bag of shells from the cheap shops that the girls play with in the sandpit. They bury them for treasure and decorate things with them.
.-= Amanda – Busy Brissy Mum´s last blog ..Contact Collage =-.
Just yesterday we made an outdoor music space. The kids helped put holes in tin cans and other Bits and pieces, strung them up. Instant hit for next to nothing!
A terrific way to get the kiddies outside.
I bought some coloured stones from Cairns years ago and they could be used for this activity.
.-= Lilian´s last blog ..Book Review- Churchill =-.
What a beautiful plaything those stones are. I’ve looked at the polished rocks for decorative mulch in pots before since my two like playing with rocks.
.-= Catherine´s last blog ..looking back – July 2009 =-.
this sounds like an idea my boys would love …I must get some coloured stones.
.-= Trish´s last blog ..Mud sticks =-.
The $2 shop is where we get our ever growing supply of fairy stones… good for sooooo many things!
.-= katepickle´s last blog ..We Play Dolls =-.
Lovely idea. We will just have to make sure our stones are over a certain size – my son still tends to test everything out in his mouth first!
.-= Julie´s last blog ..Anniversary Outing =-.
Don’t kindys have some GREAT ideas. My children love the fairy stones too
I would have to agree with Marita, opp shops are a fantastic place to find this kind of thing. Full of inspiration if you think outside the square.
.-= Claudette´s last blog ..An Epiphany and some Good Timing =-.
This is such a lovely idea. It’s so much fun to see a simple plaything take off in different ways.
.-= Mom and Kiddo´s last blog ..Refesher =-.
There is that op shop again. I’m from Texas and we do not have op shops. Are they like second hand stores? If they are I love shopping at these stores too.
.-= joyce:waddleeahchaa.com´s last blog ..The Car Washing Street- Book of the Week GIVEAWAY =-.
Irresistible Cath! We call them treasure stones at kinder and you’re so right … girls and boys LOVE them!
Donna
.-= Sherry and Donna´s last blog ..more flying machines =-.
@waddleeahchaa
Cheap and cheerful.
Yes Joyce, Op Shops are the same as second hand stores
@SherryandDonna
TREASURE stones! Why didn’t I think of that? That’s a great alternative term if the little man doesn’t want to play fairies with his big sis.
So fun and so pretty! I can see why kids find them irresistible. I may have to steal this idea from you
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..Blueberry Crisp =-.
FAIRY STONES ARE AWESOME!
We also had a special jar of them in the bedroom.
Which we used as a reward system:
for eating all your veggies you got a fairy stone,
If you didn’t you had to take one out and give it to Mummy.
Worked like magic.
Oh we used to call these treasure stones too…but i love the idea of calling them fairy stones
Gotta love inexpensive treasures! My little boy has a “specialbox” full of gumnuts – they are very precious to him and completely free, of course!
.-= Gill@OurParklife´s last blog ..Vintage – what a great year- =-.
So pretty and playful. I love the way glass beads look and feel, their smoothness is so relaxing (not that that really makes any sense.)
.-= Christie – Childhood 101´s last blog ..More than one way to play =-.
[...] fairy stones [...]