Build Fairy Houses

A great activity to inspire kids to get outside and use their imagination is fairy house building.

Build them from all natural materials such as pinecones, sticks, leaves, flower petals, stones, seashells, feathers, acorns and gourds.  Construct fairy houses in backyards, in flowerbeds, in wooded areas or even on a balcony.  Many public parks and gardens allow fairy house building and create special events around the activity. Ask your local parks about it.  Some great books to get you inspired are those written by author/illustrator Tracy Kane including Kristin’s Fairy House and Fairy Houses Everywhere.

We had Tracy Kane come to our community a couple of years ago for a weekend of fairy house building workshops at Clary Gardens, a local public garden and at the Pomerene Center for the Arts.  It was great fun and inspired Clary Gardens to continue holding similar events over the years.  A fairy house village was created throughout their wooded sections that is enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

Here’s how to get started in your own backyard

1. Find a suitable spot.  The kids in your life will lead you to the perfect place.
2. Talk about what the fairies might like in their house. Let the child’s imagination run with this.
3. Gather some items from the yard that might work. Use only natural materials (no plastic or metal – keep this a non-littering activity.)
4. Have fun building the fairy house. Children may want to do this all themselves, and that’s OK. Just watch and enjoy the process. Trial and error is what makes the process fun.
5. Have the child talk about the various parts of the structure and what they are used for.   For example, a large stone could be the couch, a big leaf could be a slide, and an acorn top could be a bowl.
6. Add accessories such as small berries in the bowls, flower decorations, or a bit of moss or feathers on the beds.
7. This can become an addicting hobby. You and your child will now always be on the lookout for the perfect spot for a fairy house and will spy the ideal materials when taking walks. 
8. This is a perfect activity for boys and girls. If the boys don’t like the idea of fairies, they can build their houses for sprites or the boy fairies.  Surprisingly, when we had our big fairy house building workshop at Clary Gardens, there were just as many boys with their dads there as there were girls.  Pretty neat!  Have fun and enjoy spending time outdoors.

Prayer for Peace

Spoken prayer is one of the most powerful spiritual tools known to humanity.  It is a more powerful spiritual tool than thought, meditation, visualization, centering and silent prayer.  It has historically proven its power as the basis for religious ritual.  The spoken word in prayer an draw un the wm of sacred writings, the Word of God.

Many people have difficulty praying, especially spoken prayers.  Often it is helpful to have a model prayer to follow as a guide. Here is a prayer for peace that can be used in a group setting or alone using whatever name for God you feel most comfortable with.

Prayer for Peace

God, the creator and sustainer of all life, we come to you in prayer about the tensions existing between our nation and the nation of_______. In today’s world, we know that wars destroy people and the ecology of our planet. Most wars are fought in the national interest and out of a sense of some form of social justice. Yet the world craves peace.

We pray for our national leaders, ______, and for the leaders of the nations of _____. We ask you to fill these leaders with your love, peace and presence. Enable understanding to be negotiated so that no military operation takes place. Enable them to be responsible in recognizing the precious sacredness of every human life. We hold these leaders in oneness with you and ourselves. (Here visualize yourself being at peace and in oneness with God and these leaders.)

We also pray for the people of the nation ______. Fill them with your love and peace. Unite us as fellow sacred human beings, seeking to live daily in peace with fairness for all peoples. Thank you for hearing our prayer and for the new life you bring.  Amen.

Written by Dr. Walter Weston.

Family Time Outside

If you’re like many parents of young children, you may have noticed that your kids aren’t spending much time playing outside.  Many factors are contributing to this trend including large amounts of time daily spent on TV, video and computer games, overscheduled lives and the loss of safe outdoor play areas.

It’s not just kids who benefit from spending time outdoors. Spending time in nature is a great stress reliever and spiritual up lifter.  There is also a special bonding that can take place when kids and parents step out of the noisy distractions of life and head to a park, woods or even the backyard.

There are many books available at your local library filled with creative ideas for spending time outside. You will find the book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv, to be inspiring. 

So have fun outside with your kids. I have found that often you can simply follow the child’s lead.  They are fascinated by the tiny bugs they find crawling in the grass or by the way the clouds take on designs in the sky. Try pretending you are different animals in the wild and interact with each other, or see how many different kinds of birds you can count. 

Sometimes you don’t have to ‘do’ anything. Just ‘be’ in nature. Spread out a blanket outside or sit on a fallen tree and just be quiet for a few minutes. The length of time will be dictated by your child’s age and attention span. But most likely, each time you go outside you’ll be able to sit quietly for a bit longer.  This is the basis of meditating and sharing this quiet practice with children is a wonderful gift.  Besides clearing your mind, you will also be able to truly tune in to the nature around you.  You’ll be amazed at what you will discover!

Make an effort to spend some transformative time in nature this week.