Craft: Mini Zen Garden for Father's Day

Zen Gardens are relaxing, decorative, and really easy to make. This mini version of a dry landscape garden is perfect for a tabletop or desk. With Father’s Day fast approaching, this might be the perfect gift to make dad for his office. It can serve as a calming, ever-changing piece of art wherever you choose to keep it. The kids will love getting involved with this project too. In fact, my six-year-old is the one putting our Mini Zen Garden together in the video below. Two hours later, she was still entertaining herself with it. I think she thought it was her own personal sandbox. Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Zen Garden…

Mini Zen Garden

Supplies:

small box (We used one of the boxes from my Birchbox subscription, but any small container will work.)
sand
air plants *
rocks
rake

*Air Plants: Air plants are perfect to use for this tiny garden because they don’t require soil. They still need to be watered once a week. I simply soak mine in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes and then let them dry on a paper towel before returning them to their gravel terrarium or zen garden.

Directions:

Gather your materials.
Pour the sand into the box.
Add your air plants and gravel.
Use the rake to draw lines in the sand.
Enjoy changing up the layout and design of your garden. It’s your own 3-dimensional piece of desk art!