UNDER MY PILLOW is my tooth-fairy-themed children’s book, written for kids aged 4-8. After you and your child read the book together, you can try these fantasy craft activities, all of which may be completed using everyday household items.
Finger-paint the tooth fairy’s bird.
In UNDER MY PILLOW, main character Sam loses her first baby tooth—and then the tooth goes missing! To help solve the mystery of the missing tooth, the tooth fairy shows up on her magical bird, Gordy … described as having “an enormous plume of blue feathers, a red face, an orange beak, and green eyes.”
To finger-paint the tooth fairy’s bird, all you need are:
- Construction paper
- A pencil
- Washable paints
- Your hands!
Begin by drawing the outline of a bird on your construction paper using your pencil. Then, cover your whole hand in blue paint. Make handprints all along the bird’s body, overlapping them to become Gordy’s “plume of blue feathers.” Wash the blue off your hands, then dip your fingers in red paint to color his face, in orange paint for his beak, and finish the craft off with a single dot of green paint for his bright green eye!
A Gordy Bird Craft Example courtesy of https://www.etsy.com/shop/PerfectChaosDigitals?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1000468313&from_page=listing
Build the tooth fairy’s house.
Every year, Austin’s Zilker Botanical Garden hosts a Woodland Fairie Trail event designed to showcase tiny fairy houses. One of them might even be where the tooth fairy lives! Check out the images from past Woodland Fairie Trail participants for inspiration, then try creating your own. You can make them as fancy or as simple as the pictures below!
To build the tooth fairy’s house, all you need are:
- Rocks
- Sticks
- Bark
- Leaves
- Moss
- Any other natural materials
Pick a good spot outside to assemble your fairy house. Give it a level foundation, straight walls, and a strong roof. Then leave it alone, so the tooth fairy (or her bird, Gordy) can move in unseen.
Put together an UNDER MY PILLOW costume.
Whether it’s almost Halloween or you’re just feeling like playing dress-up, it’s easy to put together an UNDER MY PILLOW costume. First decide if you want to be the tooth fairy or her bird, Gordy. Then gather the materials below.
To put together an UNDER MY PILLOW costume, all you need are:
- A brown paper sack
- String or twine
- Washable markers
- Safety scissors
- Feathers or glitter
- Glue
With a marker, trace a masquerade eye mask shape or a pair of fairy wings onto the brown paper sack. Cut the shape out with scissors under adult supervision. To make a Gordy costume, color the eye mask blue, then glue a few blue feathers to the edges. You can add a piece of string to tie the mask to your face. To make a tooth fairy costume, color the wings any color you like, then glue on some glitter (optional). Add two pieces of string to tie the wings around your shoulders like a backpack.
What color will your fairy wings be?
For more craft ideas, see the list of suggested activities at the back of UNDER MY PILLOW.
