Museum Fairy and Gnome Program

In early August I did a fairy and gnome program for 5-9 year olds at The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The Woodson is a premiere art museum specializing in bird art. Artists from all over the world strive to become a part of their annual (runs from mid-Sept thru mid-Nov) art exhibit, Birds in Art. For an artist that does anything that has to do with birds- this is THE museum to be in. It is a 1931 English Tudor period Cotswold-style home that is so beautiful. What is even cooler about it is that on the grounds there is a beautiful sculpture garden. It is a gorgeous spot for reflection and natural eye candy! This was the setting for the program!

The view to the entrance of the museum and the Terrace Garden from the entrance to the Formal Garden.

The Woodland Pond just down the slope from the Terrace Garden and the sculpture Mountain Fishing (that mountain lion lurking near the pond...). The water nymphs left some sea glass treasures for the kids to find on the scavenger hunt here at the pond.

The gnomes... Made from Sculpey.

The gnomes and toadstools in an orchid plant's pot. They're cute, aren't they?

The gnomes were hiding by the Terrace Garden wall.

A fairy ring of toadstools by a trio of birch trees. This was the sight of the fairies' midnight ball the night before.

A fairy made from wire, beads and some paper flower petals.

A number of the petal fairies.

The fairies were hiding in the Secret Garden. Can you find two of them? There is a cool rock waterfall in the Secret Garden as well as the sculpture Two Herons in the middle of the small pool of water.

Tissue paper flowers were hiding in the middle of three large pine trees. The kids found them and some of them gave them to their moms. How sweet is that? There was a ring of stones by a clump of trees where the fairies and gnomes had a meeting that morning. The fairies make a special candy, Pixie Stix, that were found by The Heavyweight, a bronze sculpture of a very large hippo. The Formal Garden had shiny gems that the gnomes are very protective of but were willing to pass out a few for the kids and the tree line at the edge of the garden had Carmelitos, a very rarely seen creature that are friends with the gnomes. If found by humans they are edible if their clear, crinkly skin is peeled back.

We made fairy and gnome bookmarks after the scavenger hunt.

As well as fairy and gnome puppets.

The kids were really great. Our limit was 15 but there was a waiting list of about 10-15 and then there were a bunch of other calls from people trying to register for it! A very successful program indeed!! I look forward to working on another program in the spring (dogs are the theme) possibly with Jayna and Erin at the museum!

A funny side note: I think this is my first post about fairies... There should have been more by now since it is an obsession of mine... :)