Fairy Nature Wings

Our fairy nature wings were dreamed up with a group of students who love playing in the fairy garden, but needed some reminders to remain physically distant. Fairy nature wings became a perfect solution for extending imaginary fairy garden play, while naturally encouraging some physical distancing with the span of the wings. I was also particularly pleased to have another motivator for kids to help out with the weeding in the garden!

How to make fairy nature wings

The first task is to find a large piece of corrugated cardboard you can up-cycle for the project, preferably without any printing or plastic wrap on it.

Consider the shape of the wings you want. Are they butterfly inspired? If you are going for physical distancing with younger children, consider a wider wing span in your design.

We found box cutters to be particularly helpful in getting the wings cut out efficiently, which did slow down the process because each child needed assistance to get their wings cut out by an adult. Once the wings are cut out, fashion the wings with a strong twine.

We poked holes with scissors, and used small knots to secure the straps to fit snugly around each shoulder of the child.

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With everyone wearing their wings, go for a walk in your garden or community to collect weeds or flowers that can be used in your project.

We encouraged cutting long grasses, and pulling weeds over cutting flowers, simply to avoid the over-harvesting of blooms that feed our pollinators. Use your discretion in your own garden and outdoor classroom, if you have plenty of blooms, they certainly perk up the whimsy of your wings!

We attached our weeds and blooms with double sided tape, but we also just used masking tape to hold down the nature materials. Kids were able to go back and colour over the masking tape.

We had so much fun making these, and they can be customized and personalized to be as quick and easy, or detail orientated as you please. The wings themselves could also be re-purposed and re-decorated each season to extend the routine of looking closely. Many of our students made crowns with the blooms as well!

If you give these a try, be sure to tag me so I can share what you’ve made to inspire others. I’m at @roomtoplay on Twitter and Instagram.

If you are interested in learning more about fairy garden play, read this post for how to build a fairy garden in 3 easy steps.

And if you are looking for more imaginative play in the garden, you might find this post on how to become an anywhere artist helpful.

And if you are looking for more nature inspired arts and crafts, join me on Pinterest!