Fairy Small World Play - Fairy Forest Bookish Play

Let's create a magical fairy small world for some bookish play ...

Welcome to this week's blog post - a fairy small world bookish play idea after reading the book Fairy Forest.

I shared a little while ago that I am trying out using a book a week to set up some bookish themed play for my youngest daughter who is 3. We read the book together and then I set up a small world, sensory play tray art/craft or playdough play invitation to explore the ideas from the book further. It's also a great opportunity to develop vocabulary and learn through play.

This is working well so far (even when we have missed a couple of weeks). It's not about perfection, just trying to add in some more reading together and invitations to play. Books are the perfect thing to inspire some play!

We recently purchased the book 'Fairy Forest' written by Sheila Knaggs and illustrated Jennifer Falkner. It is an amazing book with beautiful illustrations and rich vocabulary. We had to buy it as my youngest daughter loves 'Fairy Beach', which we bought earlier in the year.

*Important: All play ideas shown here are for children ages 3+ with adult supervision as they contain small parts. It is your responsibility to determine the suitability of these ideas for your child. Please ensure all play is actively supervised by an adult.

Setting up the small world play

For this small world play I used a little coffee table with 2 little stools to sit at and play. I used a pegboard at the back to sit the fairy forest book on and our little seasonal lamp from De Noest.

A simple fairy small world using a pegboard as a backdrop.

What we used:

Book: Fairy Forest written by Sheila Knaggs and illustrated Jennifer Falkner 2026, Affirm Press

• Magic Wood Treehouse - from Honey Bee Toys

• Grass table runner for the base (look out for these in the shops at Easter time. You can also buy fake grass squares from hardware stores such as Bunnings and cut them to the size of your table or tray.)

• Grimms pastel rainbow

• Fairies - Ambrosius brand - ours are from Honeybee Toys, Oskars Wooden Ark and some other toy shops too.

• Grimms pebbles in green and pink (you could add rocks in here instead)

• Papoose trees

• DeNoest lamp with Spring insert (they don't ship these to Australia anymore. Check out Toverlux lamps for something similiar. They have lots of beautiful inserts that you can use).

• Twinkle lights (up high - always supervise use with children) These add extra magic to a play space!

Adding fairy lights and a lamp creates a magical play space!

Reading the book - Fairy Forest

I read the book to Miss 3 after I had put together a little fairy small world for her.

While reading Miss 3 pointed to find and count the fairies on each page. This was an easy child-led way to add in some counting practice and learning about numbers.

This is also a great time to also explore any new words that your child may not already know. This book has rich vocabulary, so there are sure to many words that you could explore and talk about how to use them when speaking.

Keeping the small world simple invites your child to add in their own ideas

I set up this fairy small world really simply to begin with, with minimal props (see the photos above). This allows children to add their own ideas to the small world and to have greater ownership over their own play.

After reading the book Fairy Forest we added in a blue play silk to create a river like in the book. Miss 3 wanted to create a waterfall so we did.

A fairy small world for bookish play

We also added in some rocks, vines and wooden pieces to the small world. Miss 3 chose what she wanted to add in from our box of small world pieces.

Fairy small world play is always very magical!

Adding in some dolls house furniture was a fun way to extend the fairy play. Kids love to play with tiny little pieces, that included mini drinks, a kettle and some cupcakes. For those of you in Australia, Spotlight has some little drinks and cupcakes for fairy gardens in the craft section that work perfectly for small world play.

Adding in dolls house furniture is a fun way to extend the play!

Learning in a playful way ...

Here are some possible ways your child/ren can learn through this play/book:

• Developing vocabulary

• Imaginative play

• Creative thinking - what to add into the small world, how to play

• Social skills - when playing with others

• Concepts of books and print when reading the book e.g. which way a book goes, the front cover, title, that words have meaning etc.

• Early numeracy - when counting the fairies in the book

• Fine motor skills when playing with the small parts.

• + so much more ...

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Fairy Small World Play - Fairy Forest Bookish Play

Books are a fantastic resource for inspiring play ideas and early learning! We had lots of fun reading and learning with the book 'Fairy Forest'. This little fairy small world had lots of play following reading the book.

Have you used a book recently to inspire some bookish play? If not, I would encourage you to give this a go. Not only are you getting some reading and vocabulary development through reading the book, but extra playful learning through the play invitation set up afterwards!

I hope you found some inspiration today.

Until next time ...

✨Let's create a more kind-hearted world: one playful,

mindful and creative moment at a time.✨

Danica 🩷

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