My Fairy Garden Magical Cottage from PlayMonster Toys

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review**

The little girl in my house was a gasp with excitement when PlayMonster Toys sent her a My Fairy Garden: Magical Cottage™ to try out.  This playset at first glimpse appears to be a flower pot but take a closer look and you'll find out it is the enchanting home of Freya the fairy.  This toy combines a doll house with a garden. Kids can plant a real garden around Freya's home and when its seeds have sprouted they'll have fun pretending the included fairy figurine is frolicking about her cottage.  With opening doors and furniture for the inside, children can play with the Freya both in her cottage and around the garden that surrounds it.  My daughter couldn't wait to dig in and get her garden started.

My Fairy Garden: Magical Cottage includes a flowerpot cottage, tray, cottage furniture, rooftop trim, toadstool, Freya the fairy, a figurine of her chipmunk friend Hazel, and gardening accessories and tools. Also included are soil and quick-germinating seeds to setup Freya's garden.

To get started cultivating the garden take the 3 included disks of soil and place them in bowl or bucket.  Add some water and stir up the mix so that it can be distributed evenly throughout the gardening trays along the base and roof of the doll house.

Next plant seeds from the included packet around the cottage. The toy set includes some miniature tools such as a shovel, rake, and hoe to help get everything in place for growing a garden.  Once the seeds have been sowed place in a spot with plenty of direct sunlight and water the soil daily with the included watering can to get the garden sprouting.  From our experience, it appears children should be able to put together the cottage and garden on their own with some minimal adult assistance and supervision.  My daughter was so proud of herself for putting together her Fairy Garden Magical Cottage on her own without mom and dad doing it for her.  CLICK HERE for full instructions on preparing and caring for a fairy garden. My Fairy Garden toys are recommended for children 4 and up.

Everyday after school the first thing my daughter would do would rush to check on and water her fairy garden.  It really is amazing how excited she was about planting her garden and watching it grow.  After a week the first signs of life began popping out.  Within two weeks she had a garden setting to play with the included figurines in.  Her garden developed just in time for her to enjoy it throughout her Christmas break from school.  She spent hours pretending Freya and Hazel were enjoying tea in their cottage or having picnics on the garden terrace. The fairy figurine can be placed on a wire making it look like she is flying over the garden or can placed on the ground or inside the cottage to be played with as well.

To be honest, the garden that sprouted didn't look anything like the one on the box.  In my opinion it looked more like a salad plate than a flowery bouquet.  That didn't matter to my little girl though who loved what grew because she had planted and cared for it herself.  She's thrilled with the garden she grew and has had lots of fun having pretend fairy adventures playing with this playset.

For more information about the My Fairy Garden Collection, please visit playmonster.com

Disney Channel Hosts Fall Fairy Festival

My daughter is a big fan of Tinker Bell but she doesn't identify the character from the Peter Pan story but rather from a series of straight to DVD movies that Disney has released over the last few years.  There are six Disney Fairies animated movies out, with a seventh being released on March 3, 2015, that feature the character Tinker Bell and her fairy friends from the land of Pixie Hollow.  This isn't the mean-spirited sprite as portrayed in Disney's 1953 animated film Peter Pan who really wasn't that nice but rather a kinder gentler likeable version that is easier for audience to embrace as a loveable character.  I have to say that not only does my daughter love watching these films, but our whole family finds them enjoyable to watch together with their top notch animation, excellent musical soundtracks, and interesting stories.  Any of these movies would be a great selection for a family movie night.

If you haven't seen the Disney Fairy movies or would like to see one or all of them again, you are in luck this week as they will all be shown on cable television.  The Disney Channel is hosting a Fall Fairy Festival from November 10-13, 2014 showing these movies in the evening throughout the week.

MONDAY - NOVEMBER 10 @ 8 PM: TINKER BELL (2008)
Young fairy Tinker Bell causes chaos in Pixie Hallow when she rejects her predestined occupation as a fixer of broken objects and tries to learn a new trade instead.

TUESDAY - NOVEMBER 11 @ 6:30 PM: THE PIRATE FAIRY (2014)
Tinker Bell and her friends go in search of a wayward fairy who fled Pixie Hollow and joined up with a band of scheming pirates led by the future Captain Hook.

TUESDAY - NOVEMBER 11 @ 8 PM: TINKER BELL & THE LOST TREASURE (2009)
Tinker Bell journeys to save a Pixie Dust Tree.

WEDNESDAY - NOVEMBER 12 @ 8 PM: THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE (2010)
Tinker Bell and her fairy rival strive to keep secret from humans the very existence of fairies.

THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 13 @ 8PM:  SECRET OF THE WINGS (2012)
Tinker Bell and her friends venture into the winter woods to find the secret of fairy wings.

A sixth movie the Pixie Hollow Games (2013) isn't being broadcast as part of Disney Channel Fall Fairy Festival and a seventh movie Legend of the NeverBeast is coming out in 2015.

For more information regarding anything Disney Fairies related visit: www.fairies.disney.com

As we all know kids spend too much time watching television, so I'd encourage you to also check out a great line of comics published by PAPERCUTZ if your children appreciate Disney Fairies. This company has published graphic novel portrayals of many of the Disney Fairies movies plus other comic books containing brand new stories of unique adventures featuring Tinker Bell and her friends.  CLICK HERE for a preview of the PAPERCUTZ Disney Fairies collection.  We have a few of these graphic novels and my daughter cherishes them. They are very nice to take along on a trip, reading on a rainy day or bedtime stories. 

A Geek Daddy Blog gives a nod of approval to both the Disney Fairy animated movies and the PAPERCUTZ comic books as both are very well done family friendly entertainment options.