Make Popsicle Stick Fairies

Want to spark your kid's interest in gardening? Help him make popsicle stick fairies to decorate an enchanting garden oasis. Each fairy represents a different plant, so they'll come together to form a collection of magical, greenery-inspired creatures. These fun, colorful fairies will help teach him more about plants and encourage him to express his creativity.

What You Need:

• Craft sticks
• Wiggly eyes
• Colorful yarn
• Scissors
• Tape or glue

What You Do:

1. Have your child tape or glue the googly eyes in place near the top of a popsicle stick. Brainstorm design ideas with him so that he can capture the spirit of the plant he’ll use the fairy to decorate. For example, to make a tomato plant fairy, he could design a green skirt, red top and green felt hat.
2. He should apply a small amount of glue to the back of the top of the popsicle stick. Have him take a strand of yarn and twirl it around the top of the craft stick to form a beehive hairdo. For a looser hairstyle, don’t wind the yarn as tightly. Finish by tucking in the end of the yarn behind another strand.
3. Help him form a skirt for the fairy by winding a length of yarn around his fingers. When the circle of yarn is thick enough to make a skirt, ask him to apply some glue to the bottom half of the popsicle stick and put the skirt on. Use a small length of yarn to reinforce the skirt by tying the top of it around the popsicle stick.
4. Let the glue on the fairy dry, and then stick the bottom of the popsicle stick gently into the soil of a plant.

These fairies are good beginning ideas for any popsicle stick plant decorations. If your child isn’t a fan of fairies, adapt this project to build popsicle stick robots or other figures.