The school holidays are drawing to an end.  While most days have been extra special, fun-filled adventures, I'll admit that there were a few days that were not.  And maybe one or two that were eye-crossing, hair raising blurs of mayhem.  And yes, I'll also admit that it wasn't always the two year old at fault - we were both to blame.

 

To keep things calm and centered, I decided to make a Little Person's Zen Garden.  You can buy these online, but while they're fairly easy to make, they can cost somewhere in the vicinity of $15-$40.  All you need is some sand and a few objects that can fit in the palm of a tiny hand, so we decided to save our money and make our own.

 

We also decided to make this gorgeous Rock Ornament (above) for our zen garden.  Making this ornament was a great activity to do together, restoring happiness and calm.

 

You'll Need: ornament

 

• 5 paddle pop sticks

• glue

• three rocks

 

You'll Need: zen garden

 

• play sand or beach sand

• a container of some description 

• a small collection of natural objects - crystals, rocks, gumnuts or seashells etc

 

 

Steps:

 

Use one paddle pop stick to run a tiny amount of glue along the side of each paddle pop stick.

 

Leave to dry.

 

Take the largest rock and glue down first, followed by the medium and then the smallest rocks.

 

 

Press down and hold in place, allowing to stick before gluing the top rock.

 

Leave to dry while you make your Zen Garden.  (If you do nothing else, this rock ornament alone looks stunning in the garden!)

 

Take your container and fill with sand.

 

 

Pat down the sand gently, until smooth.  Add in your rock ornament and collected items.

 

We each had a turn at arranging the items...

 

 

And after spending a few moments quietly positioning the objects, we both felt calmer...

 

and saw things from another perspective. 

 

 

Happiness was restored.

 

For more inspiration, see Indirect Observations blog or this post about Preschool Zen gardens at preschool, which I loved.  The Happy Hooligans website also has a great blog on putting together a zen garden for little people.