Beyond the Book: "Fairy Houses" by Tracy Kane

S is a longtime participant of Story Stretchers here and pairing fun and creative activities with literacy in our home and on the go has truly, I believe, ignited his love for reading. He often makes his own Story Stretcher activities and, of late, has requested that I plan for more of these. One of my very favorite things to do is take our Story Stretchers outside or on the road, and even better if we can do both!

Tracy Kane's first book, Fairy Houses has inspired a tiny world of wonder for children and adults alike. Fairy gardens cropped up around the nation and even internationally, forcing us all to crouch down, become small again and look more closely at the wondrous world around us. It sparked a simultaneous reverence for nature and fantasy. And woven in between these two worlds and beautiful illustrations on each page is the story of Kristen, a little girl on a family vacation, who creates her own tiny world of wonder in the woods.

We love small world and fairy play in our own yard and garden, but we also are fortunate enough to live nearby some great outdoor spaces and places. A visit to our local botanical garden center was the perfect venue for us to get outside and read! Anytime I'm taking a Story Stretcher on the road, I carry it with a grain of salt--knowing that my kids may be interested in the activities or may be more interested in other aspects of our location. Our botanical gardens is a paradise for kids of all ages (and their grownups, too), so I was not entirely sure how the boys would respond. I never take it personally if they have no desire to stop and read or do a take-along activity. It's just as easy to tow it back home as it is to take it with us in the first place. I also keep it short and simple when I bring a Story Stretcher on the go. Here are a few tried a true trips for traveling beyond the book, both literally and figuratively:

• Keep it light: don't pack a ton of materials or activities you may or may not use. Keep in mind you'll be shlepping it around!
• Keep it short: this may not be the time for a long and detailed book and activities.
• Keep it familiar: this is a GREAT time to bring out a book you've already read and know well. A new location can add new life and interest to an old favorite. It's also OK to not read the book at all and just verbally correlate it with the activity.
• Multitask: reading a book when there's a playground nearby may not be your kids' first choice. Reading a book while they're stopped and snacking might very well be right up their alley and spark an interest in an activity to follow. FYI, this is a great tip for home as well.

So, I packed along our book, and some tiny drawstring canvas pouches I DIYed into necklaces for the boys. I stuffed a few of our tiny fairies and gnomes into each pouch and when we got to the gardens, I pulled them out of my backpack. The boys were thrilled! Right away, each of them got very busy holding one fairy, wearing the other two in their pouches and showing them around as we walked toward the children's garden.

And while I did not give a whole lot of verbal direction or input, I did play along with them as they explored the spaces around them. Some of the time they enjoyed exploring from their own size perspective (as you can see with Y who is pleased whenever there is a broom in every room). And some of the time, they crouched down low to explore and create worlds from a smaller size perspective, that of their fairies and gnomes.

It is from this crouched position that a worm is found on the sidewalk and then a shadow is discovered. It is from this perspective that the outdoors that is so often a means to get to a destination becomes a destination. S and Y are not the fastest pair to travel with in these instances because the notice so much and stop so often. I calculate time for that in our trips when I can; these are qualities I want to nurture and not discourage. There are times we do need to get from A to B before noon and in those instances, I ask for "all hands on deck" to get the boys to join me in pushing C's stroller. However, on days we can manage to stop and smell the roses or look for worms or pick up rocks and sticks of all shapes and sizes, I am just as pleased as they are. It slows me down as well, and goodness knows I need that.

And as I stand, stopped in the amazement that these kids who can't see to pick up the toy they dropped right in front of their two little feet can somehow find a dragonfly on the sidewalk with his wings folded together, I am brought back to my own little world of slow and steady observation. I, too, can find a tiny weed poking through the crack in the sidewalk or a bumblebee basking in the pollen of a purple coneflower. And I am grateful to Tracy Kane for weaving a little bit of magic into the pages of her books so that children and adults alike could have their own sense of wonder in nature sparked again or even for the very first time.

As we stopped to snack and read, so did the fairies and gnomes. S found a large chunk of wood that looked like a perfect slide to him and his fairies. Y contributed a couple of tree circle tables and some bark chips for snacking. I found a loose weed on the ground that fit just inside a small hole on the second table and made for a lovely picnic umbrella. And when it was time to get up and play and walk some more, the fairies and gnomes returned to their pouches and the journey continued. But S stopped by a fountain to stop and look some more. "Mommy, a frog!" he shouted and I thought he was looking toward the other fountain nearby, one that has four sculptures of frogs spitting water into the pond. S has even remarked that this is not very nice of the frogs because spitting is a "not good choice," but on this day, he was not talking about those frogs, he was talking about this one:

Somehow, he managed to peek inside of one of many plants like this one, surrounded by dozens of other plants and flowers and people and fountains and excitement of all kinds. Somehow, he stopped and looked in just the right place to see this little green tree frog, crouched deep at the base of a leaf in exactly the same color as his skin, staring just as observantly back up at us from his own little world of wonder. And I wonder, if it were not for the whimsy and magic and possibility of fairies just maybe coming around when we are gone, would we have overlooked our little amphibious friend?

Happy Playing!