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Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic
Your enchanted guide to 50+ magical activities for everything from finding hidden flower fairies in your own backyard and making a special wizard staff to creating a tiny woodland village and making your own forest potions.
Come discover the wild magic tucked into the nooks and crannies of forests, thickets, and meadows. Search for fairy dusted glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. Find secret worlds hidden in trees and uncover the tunnels, trails, and dens of gnomes and trolls, and mice and moles. Learn to listen to the forest, make sun-warmed pine tea, and wear an evergreen crown to an elf picnic.
Look inside to learn how to:
Keep a secret notebook filled with maps, notes, and pockets for all your discoveries
*Go on a quest for wild treasures
*Follow a queen bumblebee to her castle
*Make your own forest teas and potions
*Become best friends with a tree
*Create tiny gnomes and build cozy gnome homes
*Seek where mushrooms grow after a fairy dance
*Carve a walking stick wizard staff
*Build your own hidden forest fort
Come discover the wild magic tucked into the nooks and crannies of forests, thickets, and meadows. Search for fairy dusted glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. Find secret worlds hidden in trees and uncover the tunnels, trails, and dens of gnomes and trolls, and mice and moles. Learn to listen to the forest, make sun-warmed pine tea, and wear an evergreen crown to an elf picnic.
Look inside to learn how to:
Keep a secret notebook filled with maps, notes, and pockets for all your discoveries
*Go on a quest for wild treasures
*Follow a queen bumblebee to her castle
*Make your own forest teas and potions
*Become best friends with a tree
*Create tiny gnomes and build cozy gnome homes
*Seek where mushrooms grow after a fairy dance
*Carve a walking stick wizard staff
*Build your own hidden forest fort
- GenresNonfiction
144 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2025
About the author
Susie Spikol
3 books12 followersEver since she can remember, naturalist and writer Susie Spikol has always looked for where nature and story meet. Her love of nature didn’t start with science. It grew out of a rich diet of fairy tales and legends. While out searching her Brooklyn neighborhood for fairies, gnomes, and other magical creatures, she remembers being charmed by fireflies and enchanted by snails. Nature, story, and the hope of magic cast a spell over Susie, whose life work has been helping people of all ages find ways to notice and connect with the wild creatures and enchantment of nature in our everyday world.
Over the course of her 30-year career as a naturalist, she has taught thousands of children, parents, and teachers and given hundreds of public talks at nature centers, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and conferences. She has received numerous awards, including the Garden Club of America’s Hull Award, New Hampshire’s Environmental Educator Award, and the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts Educator of the Year.
Her first book, published in 2022, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... was recognized with a National Parenting Products Award.
Her new book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... is due out this April. Filled with activities inspired by imagination, folklore, and science, this book is an invitation to all readers to step outside and discover the beauty and magic of the world.
And coming in the Fall of 2025, Susie’s Book of Fairies will be casting a spell over people of all ages.
Over the course of her 30-year career as a naturalist, she has taught thousands of children, parents, and teachers and given hundreds of public talks at nature centers, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and conferences. She has received numerous awards, including the Garden Club of America’s Hull Award, New Hampshire’s Environmental Educator Award, and the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts Educator of the Year.
Her first book, published in 2022, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... was recognized with a National Parenting Products Award.
Her new book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... is due out this April. Filled with activities inspired by imagination, folklore, and science, this book is an invitation to all readers to step outside and discover the beauty and magic of the world.
And coming in the Fall of 2025, Susie’s Book of Fairies will be casting a spell over people of all ages.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 11, 2025
Encourage your child’s imagination by sending them outside to search for fairies, make a picnic for elves, hide in a secret fort, and more. This book offers numerous ways for kids to explore in nature using their creativity and imagination. Find an acorn cap? Make it into a tiny twig folk. Take twigs, leaves, and stones and make a gnome home.
Each activity builds a certain skill set for your child such as planning, designing, patience, recipe reading, mapping, recording, and more. This spring send your child outside in search of a fairy clock, or dandelion as we know it. Because the dandelion opens with the sun and closes when the sun goes down, folk tales say that fairies keep track of time using dandelions as clocks. Once your child learns about the dandelion, then they can pick some and make dandelion tea with the recipe in the book.
There are numerous other activities that will spark your child’s imagination and creativity all while building skills to make them better thinkers. Your child will begin to notice things in nature that they might have ignored before. Plus, maybe they will get a surprise visit by a fairy or gnome.
Fill your child’s Easter basket with the Top Ten Tools needed for a Forest Magic search and this book and their summer will be full of outdoor fun.
Click below to see a video review:
https://www.sincerelystacie.com/2025/...
Each activity builds a certain skill set for your child such as planning, designing, patience, recipe reading, mapping, recording, and more. This spring send your child outside in search of a fairy clock, or dandelion as we know it. Because the dandelion opens with the sun and closes when the sun goes down, folk tales say that fairies keep track of time using dandelions as clocks. Once your child learns about the dandelion, then they can pick some and make dandelion tea with the recipe in the book.
There are numerous other activities that will spark your child’s imagination and creativity all while building skills to make them better thinkers. Your child will begin to notice things in nature that they might have ignored before. Plus, maybe they will get a surprise visit by a fairy or gnome.
Fill your child’s Easter basket with the Top Ten Tools needed for a Forest Magic search and this book and their summer will be full of outdoor fun.
Click below to see a video review:
https://www.sincerelystacie.com/2025/...
April 1, 2025
This book was a delight to read! Forest Magic For Kids engages the senses and imagination with its whimsical illustrations, fun science facts, and hands-on-activities that draw us into a magical world.
Indulging in this vibrant book makes the reader feel as if they’re immersed in forest life. It inspires us to believe that there is wild wonder all around us just waiting to be discovered—if we only take the time to roam and investigate. As the author notes in one chapter, “I reasoned that if a chipmunk could exist, then so could a gnome.” She makes us think so too!
Spikol and Metallinou help us foster deeper connections with forest life and provide opportunities to bring generations together and escape through nature’s portal. Spikol also helps us understand that forest magic can be found in urban, suburban, and rural settings and that while we can “learn science”, we cannot know all that occurs behind the scenes in the wild.
In Forest Magic For Kids, Spikol walks us through the trappings we need—and likely already have on hand—to be forest adventurers. We’re reminded that as humans we have always been connected to the forest through the ages, and we’re still connected today … if we allow ourselves to be.
Spikol compels us to spend time in the woods and see our natural world in an expanding light. Never again will you look at a stick or leaf in the same way! And in doing so, Spikol helps us feel we, too, belong with the forest and are part of its essence. Young readers will be excited to go out and build their own leaf crown, make pixie dust, find their world tree, and create a moss garden!
The projects in Forest Magic for Kids can fill up an entire year of adventures through the seasons—and are sure to be repeated in different settings as adventurers change and grow. This durable book is a perfect companion for outdoor exploration to guide us in seeing our world from new perspectives and appreciate the endless gifts forests can offer.
Forest Magic for Kids is an original activities book that infuses magic with nature and invites us to be a participant in our wild world all around us—and a book to cherish with the young explorers in your life.
Indulging in this vibrant book makes the reader feel as if they’re immersed in forest life. It inspires us to believe that there is wild wonder all around us just waiting to be discovered—if we only take the time to roam and investigate. As the author notes in one chapter, “I reasoned that if a chipmunk could exist, then so could a gnome.” She makes us think so too!
Spikol and Metallinou help us foster deeper connections with forest life and provide opportunities to bring generations together and escape through nature’s portal. Spikol also helps us understand that forest magic can be found in urban, suburban, and rural settings and that while we can “learn science”, we cannot know all that occurs behind the scenes in the wild.
In Forest Magic For Kids, Spikol walks us through the trappings we need—and likely already have on hand—to be forest adventurers. We’re reminded that as humans we have always been connected to the forest through the ages, and we’re still connected today … if we allow ourselves to be.
Spikol compels us to spend time in the woods and see our natural world in an expanding light. Never again will you look at a stick or leaf in the same way! And in doing so, Spikol helps us feel we, too, belong with the forest and are part of its essence. Young readers will be excited to go out and build their own leaf crown, make pixie dust, find their world tree, and create a moss garden!
The projects in Forest Magic for Kids can fill up an entire year of adventures through the seasons—and are sure to be repeated in different settings as adventurers change and grow. This durable book is a perfect companion for outdoor exploration to guide us in seeing our world from new perspectives and appreciate the endless gifts forests can offer.
Forest Magic for Kids is an original activities book that infuses magic with nature and invites us to be a participant in our wild world all around us—and a book to cherish with the young explorers in your life.
March 29, 2025
Copy provided by Media Masters Publicity
Want to encourage children to spend more time outdoors exercising their imagination? Do you suspect, like the author, that fairies and magical creatures might be real? This manual on exploring the natural world and its fantastical possibilities is for you.
My students have very poor imaginations these days, so need a helping hand to cultivate a more inquisitive nature and apply this curiosity to all of the possibilities in the world. Going outside and really looking at the world around them would be a great place to start. Starting with a list of essential equipment like a journal, flashlight, and magnifying glass, this book walks young readers through the steps they need to take to become more observant about the world around them, more attuned to natural surroundings, and more aware of tiny creatures that are often overlooked.
In order to develop these skills, there are lots of activities and craft projects. From creating a DIY observation notebook to making mushroom spore prints, there are a huge number of unusual and innovative projects that utilize materials found in nature. The instructions, which include lists of easily obtainable items, are clear, but also have room for a variety of interpretations. I was particularly intrigued by the recipes for making various sorts of glitter and fairy dust out of rocks and chalk, as well as the standard "potions" out of leaves and twigs that used to be hard wired into the repertoire of children of my generation!
Metallinou's artwork is delightful, and reinforces the feeling of whimsy. While believing in fairies and magical creatures starts at a very young age, this book has a fair amount of text, so is better suited for older children, or for supervised use with younger ones. Readers who can't get enough of imaginative activity books like Halligan's Sunday Funday, Brunelle's Turn This Book in to A Bird Feeder or Storey Publishing's Backpack Explorer books will enjoy preparing the activities in Forest Magic for Kids and spending time lying on their stomachs on the grass, looking for tiny creatures and imagining all of the magical possibilities.
Want to encourage children to spend more time outdoors exercising their imagination? Do you suspect, like the author, that fairies and magical creatures might be real? This manual on exploring the natural world and its fantastical possibilities is for you.
My students have very poor imaginations these days, so need a helping hand to cultivate a more inquisitive nature and apply this curiosity to all of the possibilities in the world. Going outside and really looking at the world around them would be a great place to start. Starting with a list of essential equipment like a journal, flashlight, and magnifying glass, this book walks young readers through the steps they need to take to become more observant about the world around them, more attuned to natural surroundings, and more aware of tiny creatures that are often overlooked.
In order to develop these skills, there are lots of activities and craft projects. From creating a DIY observation notebook to making mushroom spore prints, there are a huge number of unusual and innovative projects that utilize materials found in nature. The instructions, which include lists of easily obtainable items, are clear, but also have room for a variety of interpretations. I was particularly intrigued by the recipes for making various sorts of glitter and fairy dust out of rocks and chalk, as well as the standard "potions" out of leaves and twigs that used to be hard wired into the repertoire of children of my generation!
Metallinou's artwork is delightful, and reinforces the feeling of whimsy. While believing in fairies and magical creatures starts at a very young age, this book has a fair amount of text, so is better suited for older children, or for supervised use with younger ones. Readers who can't get enough of imaginative activity books like Halligan's Sunday Funday, Brunelle's Turn This Book in to A Bird Feeder or Storey Publishing's Backpack Explorer books will enjoy preparing the activities in Forest Magic for Kids and spending time lying on their stomachs on the grass, looking for tiny creatures and imagining all of the magical possibilities.
April 15, 2025
Forest Magic is a non-fiction book brimming with over fifty activities designed to encourage children to explore the magic of nature and most importantly to go outdoors. The preface highlights the authors passion for stories like the one about a "spider who saved her dear pig..." and a certain "chubby bear" from the Hundred Acre Woods. An emphasis is put on nature being filled with science, mystery and wonder, while also encouraging the reader to use their imagination and creativity. It's a really nice blend of mythical creatures like fairies and gnomes, with real life activities like making sun tea or spore prints. The book not only will get children interested in nature but also gives them a guide for things to explore like trees, mushrooms and the possibility of secret tunnels and worlds. I was inspired to go on a nature walk, and to try out a few activities because they look like such fun.
In the introduction the reader is prompted to create a notebook to record their adventures and given an essential list of tools for their nature search. The book is broken down into six chapters of areas to explore, The Green Team (trees, leaves and wildflower magic), A Wild Forage (magical potions, pixie dust and an elfin picnic), Mysterious Mushrooms (toadstools, fairy circles and fox fire fungus), Forest Folk (gnomes, homes and wee little mice), Secret Places (hidden forts, and small worlds) and finally Three Ways to Make a Gnome, Fairy, Peep or Any Small Magical Being.
Included at the back of the book is a list of resources for each chapter, including books suggestions to explore the topics in greater depth, where to find items needed for the activities and further ways to expand on an activity. Like prompting the reader to do an online search for other designs that have been used to make a solar oven.
Each chapter is really well organized with lots of relevant details. There's a summary of the place to explore, a description of what skills are being focused on, what to bring, next steps and a quest fest that felt similar to going on a scavenger hunt. It is important to know that there is a substantial amount of text in this seemingly small book, but it is both interesting and adds to each story. The book would make for a wonderful read and exploration for children and their parents to do together. I would have loved this back when I was in the girl scouts.
Definitely would inspire any nature loving child and outdoor enthusiast. The cover has instant kid appeal, and the interior artwork is bright, whimsical and will have kids asking to look for fairy circles and gnome homes.
**A huge thank you to Media Masters for the Hardcover ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
In the introduction the reader is prompted to create a notebook to record their adventures and given an essential list of tools for their nature search. The book is broken down into six chapters of areas to explore, The Green Team (trees, leaves and wildflower magic), A Wild Forage (magical potions, pixie dust and an elfin picnic), Mysterious Mushrooms (toadstools, fairy circles and fox fire fungus), Forest Folk (gnomes, homes and wee little mice), Secret Places (hidden forts, and small worlds) and finally Three Ways to Make a Gnome, Fairy, Peep or Any Small Magical Being.
Included at the back of the book is a list of resources for each chapter, including books suggestions to explore the topics in greater depth, where to find items needed for the activities and further ways to expand on an activity. Like prompting the reader to do an online search for other designs that have been used to make a solar oven.
Each chapter is really well organized with lots of relevant details. There's a summary of the place to explore, a description of what skills are being focused on, what to bring, next steps and a quest fest that felt similar to going on a scavenger hunt. It is important to know that there is a substantial amount of text in this seemingly small book, but it is both interesting and adds to each story. The book would make for a wonderful read and exploration for children and their parents to do together. I would have loved this back when I was in the girl scouts.
Definitely would inspire any nature loving child and outdoor enthusiast. The cover has instant kid appeal, and the interior artwork is bright, whimsical and will have kids asking to look for fairy circles and gnome homes.
**A huge thank you to Media Masters for the Hardcover ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
October 25, 2025
This is a delightful book of ways to learn and enjoy nature in a forest, park, or even your yard. Each chapter has a section called “Build your skills” listing some of the things you might learn on your adventure; one called “Bring it” with a list of items to enhance your time outdoors like a pencil and your secret notebook among other items, and a short section called “Try this too.”. There are many ideas with directions for creating things at home also such as Homespun forts, tiny places, gnomes, fairies, and much more. The author emphasizes safety in what you touch and what to avoid. It reminds families supervise their children in their discoveries.
The illustrations are colorful and fun, with cute animals, plants, moss, mushrooms, trees, and so many things related to the forest. Children illustrated in the book are engaged in discoveries and come are all individuals, of diverse heritage.
There is enough in the chapter to keep engaged in the natural world over many weeks. It’s a book that gives enough direction to get the most out of suggested activities but with encouragement to discovery new things on their own, with parents to guide them according to their age and circumstances. This would be a good book for schools and libraries as well for families.
The illustrations are colorful and fun, with cute animals, plants, moss, mushrooms, trees, and so many things related to the forest. Children illustrated in the book are engaged in discoveries and come are all individuals, of diverse heritage.
There is enough in the chapter to keep engaged in the natural world over many weeks. It’s a book that gives enough direction to get the most out of suggested activities but with encouragement to discovery new things on their own, with parents to guide them according to their age and circumstances. This would be a good book for schools and libraries as well for families.
March 22, 2025
This is a delightfully charming non-fiction book that is designed to invoke a desire to learn about the natural world of the forest. While the idea of "magic," wee-folk, fairies, and such conjure a world of make-believe, this book conversely takes them into the real world of life in the forest from the majesty of the trees to the pure delight of the tiniest creatures and smallest flowers.
The book is heavy on text so will necessitate adult guidance and reading. The book is a grand addition to science class or school libraries, and perfect for families that love nature.
Whilst the book introduces the child to aspects of the real world of the forest, it doesn't shun the tales and folklore shared through the ages. There are activities and projects both educational plus some that are fun and fanciful.
A charming educational tool to have on hand and a perfect gift for the upcoming spring and summer days.
I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.
The book is heavy on text so will necessitate adult guidance and reading. The book is a grand addition to science class or school libraries, and perfect for families that love nature.
Whilst the book introduces the child to aspects of the real world of the forest, it doesn't shun the tales and folklore shared through the ages. There are activities and projects both educational plus some that are fun and fanciful.
A charming educational tool to have on hand and a perfect gift for the upcoming spring and summer days.
I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.
July 4, 2025
I feel like a lot of the activities in the book are geared toward early elementary school students, however the amount of text and the text complexity makes it feel more like something for upper elementary/middle school students. Basically, it is written towards the reader being a child but the activities are geared more to children at an age where they would just be learning to read.
It is also quite a lengthy book, and while broken into 6 chapters with 6 activities in the first 5 and 3 in the last, I'm just not sure how readily kids who the activities are targeted at would be interested in actually doing them.
The ideas and activities do seem great, just seems like it could have been maybe written differently.
It is also quite a lengthy book, and while broken into 6 chapters with 6 activities in the first 5 and 3 in the last, I'm just not sure how readily kids who the activities are targeted at would be interested in actually doing them.
The ideas and activities do seem great, just seems like it could have been maybe written differently.
June 22, 2025
This is exactly what I wished I had had as a kid. It has guided activities, crafts, observation and exploration for kids. I was always looking for fairies, but at a loss as to what else I could do. This is going to be so fun for my kids. Hand this to your kid and send them outside for a magical childhood. It reminds me of the Dangerous Book for Boys/Girls in that aspect.
Also the illustrations are gorgeous.
Also the illustrations are gorgeous.
November 17, 2024
Fantastic! Must purchase for everyone who wants their children to spend more time outdoors.
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June 21, 2025love love love :)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews