Creating Toad Cottage: Making a Whimsical Fairy Garden

We have a sweet little toad (known as Mister Toad) in our yard who lives in a tree. We have noticed him since we moved into our house in 2019, but my toddler has recently taken a real interest in Mister Toad. I have such fond memories of making a fairy garden with my grandma as a kid, so I thought it might be fun to play on that with Mister Toad and give his tree a little makeover into a “Toad Cottage”. 🙂

I turned it into a series on TikTok and Instagram, so it’s been fun to hear people’s ideas of what else to add, how I can make certain elements better, etc! This has been such a fun activity to do with my toddler. He loves the little home we have created for Mister Toad and loves going to say “hi!” to him every day!

Attracting a Toad

Luckily for us, Mister Toad came with our house 😉 BUT if you want to attract a toad to your yard to create a cute toad cottage, there are some things you can do. I do think that toads look for new shelter once they come out of hibernation in the spring, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to put it out whenever. You never know when a toad may be looking for a place to call home!

Provide shelter

There are a bunch of different ways to go about providing shelter to a potential toad if you don’t already have a toad living in a tree in your yard! You can buy a toad shelter (like this one), you can make one using a kit (this one is under $20) and be able to decorate it however you want, or you can even just make one using an upside down flower pot propped up with some rocks.

@saraannsutton Replying to @Cindylouthewho testing out if I can attract MORE toads into the yard to create a neighborhood of gentrified toad houses!!!! #toadcottage #mistertoad #fairygarden ♬ Theme From A Summer Place – Percy Faith

Provide Water

Toads like to soak in water (but not swim!), so you can provide some water near the shelter by filling up a shallow dish (like the draining dish under a pot) with some filtered water, and maybe adding some river stones in it if you need to make it more shallow.

Toad Cottage: Part 1

In part 1, my toddler and I went to Hobby Lobby and he picked out things like flowers, a mailbox, a sconce light (obviously nonfunctional here), and a welcome mat.

@saraannsutton fully expecting that I will take the idea of toad cottage too far 😅 #fairygarden #toadsoftiktok #toddlermom #toadcottage ♬ A Summer Place – Hollywood Strings Orchestra

Doll Furniture from Hobby Lobby:

–Mailbox ($2.49)

–Welcome Mat ($1.29)

–Flower Pots ($1.49)

–Bench ($2.29)

Toad Cottage: Part 2

Part 2 is where I got a bit more creative and the video went a tiny bit viral (half a million views). I made a roof, a porch (which I ended up having to re-do in part 4), and added fairy lights!

@saraannsutton Replying to @Sarah ✨ making a toad house into a toad home 🏠❤️ part 2! Adding a pinecone roof, fairy lights, and a front porch 😎 if anyone has tips on how to clean these white rocks we found in our yard, we would love suggestions! #toadcottage #fairygarden ♬ Theme From A Summer Place – Percy Faith

Roof for Toad Cottage

The roof was made with a paint stirring stick and pine cone scales. I cut the stirring stick in half and then glue them together at about a 90 degree angle. Then I picked the scales off of pine cones and glued each one on to the sticks, starting from the bottom and working my way up. I hot glued each of the pieces on and then used a hot glue gun to attach the roof to the tree! In retrospect, hot glue is probably not an ideal long term solution since it doesn’t hold up to elements very well. Some quick setting super glue might be a better bet!

I thought I was being incredibly creative using the pine cone scales as shingles until my mom found a picture of the fairy garden my grandma and I made and I realized that I subconsciously came up with the idea from what I had done with her!

Solar Fairy Lights

Per a suggestion of a friend I also added these solar fairy lights (this one I used is 33 feet long and comes in a 2 pack for under $10). I think the solar lights probably help attract some bugs so that he can get some extra snacks!

Toad Cottage: Part 3

In part 3, I finally added a pool (highly requested), some flowers, and some rocks.

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Pool

I knew that toads like and need water, but the tree that he lives in fills up with water from rain and is almost always full of water, so truly a pool is not necessary for him, but we added it anyway!

I bought a bowl and stones from Dollar Tree and used E6000 glue (this was recommended to me by many in the comments as it would hold up better when wet and against the elements) to glue some rocks around the edge. I added this solar fountain (under $8) to create some water movement to hopefully prevent his soaking pool from becoming a mosquito breeding ground. Once I got the solar fountain in place on the bottom of the bowl, I added rocks into the bowl to make it easy for Mister Toad to get in and out. Toads don’t like to swim, just soak, so this helped it become more shallow.

I dug a hole in the ground and placed the bowl into the hole to make it flush with the ground and then filled it up with some filtered water. Now it just fills up when it rains!

I also added more of the stones from Dollar Tree around the pool, but I got rid of a lot of them in part 4.

Flowers

I wanted to find some native flowers to plant close to his house, not only to bring pollinators, but also to attract more bugs for Mister Toad to eat. I chose chrysogonum virginianum which is native to the East Coast and here in North Carolina!

Part 4

In part 4, I reconstruct the porch, added moss around his home, and made some toadstools!

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Toadstools

One day, my son and I went out to forage for some acorn tops around our yard. We collected them, cleaned them off, and let them dry out for a few days. Then I spray painted them red and painted some white dots on top. Then, using some sticks, I glued a small piece of stick to the bottom side of each one to make toad stools.

After I transplanted moss from around the yard (alternatively, you could get preserved moss), I stuck the toadstools into the ground to decorate Mister Toad’s area!

Porch

I initially made his porch with popsicle sticks, but then redid it with sticks from the yard and reinforced on the bottom with popsicle sticks! (You can see my process in the part 4 video).

I glued the welcome mat and flower pots onto the porch just so wind and rain don’t knock them over!

We absolutely love Toad Cottage and my toddler loves to go check on Mister Toad every day. Plus toad cottage has been a fun and creative DIY craft for myself.

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