On the summer solstice this June the BPC Education Committee took advantage of the pending full moon to hold its first fairy house workshop in the field opposite Narragansett Boat House on River Road. About 60 parents and small children turned up to hear kindergarten teacher Nadine DiStefano talk about fairies, the “caregivers and healers” of nature. The audience listened raptly as she explained that fairies are shy and generally can’t be seen—“when you are in the woods and a leaf moves without wind, it’s a fairy.” Asked if they’d ever seen a fairy, two children raised their hands.
Children crouched down in front of a piece of driftwood to closely study five miniature houses created by Elena Riverstone, our resident artist, to show the children whatcould be done. Helped by retired kindergarten teacher Suzanne Renfro and others, the children selected “building materials” from trays of bark, acorns, fronds, pieces of slate, feathers, flowers, etc. Each child received a blob of play dough, a flat cardboard cutout designed to be folded it into a three-dimensional house, and tape. Then they spread out to waiting worktables to work their own magic.
