Habitat Sweet Habitat

He stood tall…one foot cocked on its side, his hands close to his body tightly gripping the bottom hem of his shirt, a soft smile spread across his face – all suggesting a bashful pride in his newly constructed masterpiece. 

He wanted to enter the Imagination Fair at school. I was thrilled. It took me back to the days of working with my childhood friend, Billie, on The Moon Base project for science class. My Superhero mom helped us bring our ideas to life and we took 1st place. 

He decided on a Monsuno Habitat for his tiny articulated plastic creatures – tailoring to the electrical, water, ice and fire types. Everything had its place. He beamed at the sight of the satin blue participation ribbon that he earned and it was proudly displayed on the exhibit. 

Monsuno Habitat. Proud boy.

I purchased felt in a variety of colors to simulate earth, lava, water, ice, etc. I also picked up a bag of dried moss. For the rest…we put on our coats and boots and took a walk outside. We gathered sticks, rocks, and bark from our wise old trees. 

Small plastic animals / dolls / cars (dollar store is a great place for these!)

First, you and your babes will need to decide what type of habitat you would like to build. Take this opportunity to teach them what the word means and brainstorm options, as well as the elements, that would complement each. White felt would make great snow! Why not try an underwater creature scene? A mini-doll house is also on our list. The sky is the limit…and baby blue felt makes a great sky!

For our Country Cow Habitat – pictured above: 

-Start by cutting the top four flaps off of a small box. 

-Next, cut a piece of light blue felt the size of the bottom of the box (that will become your backdrop) and glue it down. If you’d like to add a cloud, cut that in white and glue it to the blue felt now. A sunshine would be a great addition too. 

-When it’s had a minute to dry tip your box on its side. We added rocks, a twig nest with eggs (confused? No. Either that’s a dinosaur or one sweet omelet), a sprig of artificial flowers for our ‘tree’, and moss to simulate grass and a pasture. Voila!

-Reminder: dollar stores are great places to find little plastic creatures. 

As you could expect, little sister was not to be left behind on this project. She had ideas of her own and dove right in beside us, unguided. The little lady decided on a Fairy Habitat. She had six special little wandering fairies that needed a place to call home. The scraps of paper were flying and glue was strung from surface to surface as she positioned gems, glitter, and treasures from her personal collection.

Wikipedia defines a habitat as…
…the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment the surrounds a species.

While glitter trails and sparkly gems may not be considered ‘natural’ to an environment, I think my babe’s fairies would beg to differ. It was perfectly suited. She made them a slide (paper towel roll), a glitter river (duh), second level bedrooms with wallpaper, and a hot tub. And she’s nowhere near finished. 


















In the end, the blue ribbon earned a prime spot in my little guy’s bedroom, the cows are content tending their nest, and the fairies are soaking in their tub. Just another day at home. 

Home is a starting place for love and dreams…   -unknown

Cheers!
J