So Magic DIY Wonder Garden

The So Magic DIY Wonder Garden has been a revelation for us. It is a wonderful toy on many, many levels. Some obvious, some not so obvious.

The main idea of the Wonder Garden is to create your very own little world. With a sparkling slime pool, coloured sand gardens, arches, decorations, stones and cute little animals all surrounding the centerpiece. A crystal tree you get to grow and watch transform over 12 hours.

L loved creating the garden, it actually arrived ready for his first week of school, which timing wise was perfect. I had a stressed out little boy, tired and surrounded by newness. A new classroom, new teachers, new children and a new format to the day which involves a whole heap more actual learning. So having this little bit of calmness to focus on was really helpful.

It’s like a little, mini sensory garden. Sure it’s cute and pretty and it’s fun to add the sands and make patterns but once that initial fun is over L found a lot of peace just raking the sand and creating little patterns. He likes the little animals and loves the magic of it, he’s fairly sure his fairy visits every night and helps to water the tree.

The crystal tree is of course the most fun part. The set actually comes with two. So after your first tree has bloomed and Autumn has hit, you can plant a second. The crystals grow quickly, just 12 hours, so L really did get to watch it grow and was very excited about that. It is then supposed to last two weeks inside it;s terrarium. We are getting ever nearer to October Half Term and our first tree is still going strong!

Now there are some downsides to this lovely little garden. You could do with a smidge more slime for the pond, you get literally just enough. The different, brightly coloured, sands inevitably end up mixed into one single, sparkly brown colour. Unless you happen to have the neatest child in all of the world it does make a mess, you will find sand spilt over the sides, mixed into the slime and in odd corners of the house you were never expecting.

Despite these minor, and to be fair, expected downsides the So Magic DIY Wonder Garden offers a lot of fun and has helped create a little corner of calm and magic that my little boy has come to rely on after a long day at school. Weeks in it has maintained it’s hold on him and he knows he has to be gentle and treat it with respect.

We still have some spare sands that we can into the set later and the second tree to grow. We just need to find a nice little area we can keep it in all the time. For £19.99 I am very impressed with this and think it makes a wonderful gift.