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Since I live way out in the sticks, I can't work an in-person faerie magic for children, but if anyone's kids would enjoy seeing photographs of wild Appalachian faerie dwellings, I have documented them in a thread: /1
Unlike their urban cousins, wild woodland faeries are extraordinarily persnickety and will accept only houses made from natural materials. Plastic and especially metal they can smell a mile away. /2
Wild woodland faeries do not build dwellings of their own, but instead take shelter wherever they find it--an abandoned squirrel's nest, an empty rabbit hole, a hollow log. If you build them a dwelling, they will come and inhabit it if it pleases them. /3
With faerie house construction, as with many things, intention is what matters most. If you lean a slice of bark against a tree trunk with the intention of creating shelter, the faeries will come. You will know they have visited if they leave tokens of their presence. /4
Wild faerie dwellings need not be elaborate. They can be simple. But they can also be complex. If you create multiplexes, however, be warned that you may inadvertently attract other residents. This clay faerie house has been claimed by a botheration of tiny dragons. /5
Not only do faeries leave gifts--they appreciate them, too. Colorful leaves, interesting seedpods, shiny stones, and very smooth pebbles are good gifts. If you keep the faeries happy, they will protect you. /6
The territories of Appalachian faeries and tiny dragons often overlap. It is difficult to attract one without encouraging the other. Unlike faeries, however, dragons are not put off by metal like the nails in this old birdhouse; in fact, they frequently prefer it. /7
There are several more faerie house in the woods behind my house, but the light is fading. I will try to document them and add them to this thread tomorrow. /8
Adding to yesterday's thread on wild Appalachian faerie dwellings--pics from today's walk in the woods. This is an unusual sighting--a faerie village. The Appalachian fey are typically solitary and seldom live in close proximity to one another, meeting only to dance at midnight.
A solitary dwelling along a property line. Faerie dwellings in such places are particularly efficacious, as any fey who move in will be inclined to guard the border.
A small, solitary dwelling tucked along a path through the woods:
An atypical design, this house sits low to the ground and may in fact be a gnome dwelling, but of course it is difficult to tell.
Another unusual construction, this small faerie house may serve not as a dwelling but as a ritual site, built as it is against a rock cairn:
