How to Make a Play Fairy House

Draw the basic design for your house. Build the house like a traditional doll house or make it a little more rustic, like an animal den. The size of your house should be no larger than a child’s doll house. Ask the child you are making this for to suggest ideas on what it should look like.

Form the base of the house. Using your plywood, make a base that's larger than the finished house will be--this way, you'll have a kind of “yard” around the house and make it easier to grasp when you move it around. If you plan to keep your fairy house in one spot, use bricks or stone as foundation. Dig shallow holes to anchor the bricks or stones. Place them in, then pack dirt around them.

Glue, nail or screw walls to the base. Walls could be stone, wood, bark, cardboard, twigs or clay. If making multiple rooms and levels, add them before adding the roof. Don’t forget to cut out windows for your fairies.

Add a roof. Pieces of bark make great roof tiles.

Paint and add other details to beautify your fairy house. Ideas include feathers and beads, as well as moss--attach them with hot glue. Create landscaping around the house.

Make doll furniture. Using various yard clippings and sticks, you can make nearly anything. For instance, make a table with twigs. Lay equal sized twigs in a row and glue them together for the tabletop, then add four twigs below for legs. Reinforce the ends with twine. For chairs, pick two large, long twigs for the back chair legs (these will also make up the back of the chair). About halfway up, glue several twigs perpendicular for a seat. Glue two more twigs on the other side of the seat for the front legs. Glue a short twig between the two top twigs. Enforce all wobbly joints with string. Acorn tops make great dishes. A bed can be made from a matchbox and some moss or bits of cloth.

Choose a spot to place your fairy house. Pick a sheltered area, protected from the elements. According to stories, fairies don’t like to be bothered, so a secluded spot works best. Now all you have to do is sit back and watch to see if any fairies take advantage of the house you made for them.