LOVE Serving LOVE

This Magic Garden was created as a gift for JoyMaster Lisa’s brother, JoyMaster Nancy’s son. He loves to play tennis. The net is made with an old ping pong net held up with wire. One of the things we love about these Magic Gardens is repurposing things to work in unexpected ways. We painted the pot like a tennis ball and made the court out of moss. Ryan also published a book on tennis, so we added his mini-book in the garden with a medal and  other famous tennis books.

Make the Magic Garden

Design
  • Should we create a whole court or a 1/2 court?
  • Who should be playing tennis in our garden?
  • Should we have a scoreboard or crowd?
  • Should it be in the garden or a container?
Create
  1. Make the tennis planter (see below)
  2. Fill with soil
  3. Place the moss court
  4. Use small stones to create the border and pipe cleaners for court lines
  5. Mulch outside the lines
  6. Add net, players and the crowd
  7. This is an Ace!
Connect
  • Do you like tennis?
  • Do you know how to play?
  • Have you ever seen anyone play?
  • The scoring is funny, here is how it works…
  • Do you know any names of professional tennis players?
  • What is your favorite sports? Why?
Plants We Used
We used cuttings from a willow tree. You could use any house plant that is small in size to add a tree-like feel to the pot
Materials
  • Tennis Planter (see below)
  • DIY Tennis net made from and old Ping pong net and wire
  • DIY Printed racket
  • DIY Tennis ball (bead on a wire)
  • DIY books
  • DIY clay flowers
  • White stones for lines
  • White pipe cleaner for lines
  • Bench, fabric for a towel
  • Flat rock/asphalt piece (stand for bench)
Magic Basket
A Magic Basket, is a collection of extra fun that kids can take into their Magic Gardens. It can be bark, rocks, pinecones and toys - the sky is the limit. For this garden, here are a few other ideas:
  • Laminated family members playing
  • Scorecard
  • Action figures
  • Crowds
  • Food
  • Locker room

Make the Tennis Planter

1Paint: Sponge paint (dab paint on with sponge or paper towel) whole pot yellow. This makes it look fuzzy like the real ball. Paint a green base to look like grass or the green court.

2Stripe and Clear Coat: Use a pencil to draw the white line on the pot – use an actual tennis ball as a guide. Paint white line with a thick brush. Once dry, cover with clear coat.

3Fill With Dirt Fill: The container with soil. If kids are not going to play with the garden, use soil with fertilizer like Miracle Grow. If kids are going to play, use plain black dirt.

Make More Magic

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