How to Make an Under Water Inspired Mermaid Garden with Succulents

Best fairy garden and mermaid craft ideas

If you have followed the fairy garden trend, you will love this fresh spin with mermaids! This lovely DIY mermaid craft is easy to make. It uses succulents, which thankfully are hard to kill as long as you have a spot with plenty of light. Succulents are perfect for mermaid gardens because you can find succulents with a resemblance to seaweed, coral, anemones and other ocean plants.

Don't have a well lit spot for your succulent mermaid garden to go? You can still make this easy mermaid craft by using fake succulents instead. Simply fill the bowl with sand instead of potting soil and use fake succulents in place of live ones.

Of course, if you do have a well lit spot suitable for your mermaid garden, stick with fresh plants! Keeping plants indoors can help clean the air inside as well as give you a sense of well-being.

Looking for more mermaid magic?

Check out my tutorial for how to make your very own mermaid crown made with seashells and play the part of Queen Mermaid.

How to care for succulents

Succulents are hard to kill! The big thing succulents kept indoors need it bright light. Here are my top tips for keeping succulents alive:

Sunlight, sunlight, sunlight! Most varieties need a mostly sunny to fully sunny area to thrive indoors.
Allow the soil to dry in between waterings.
When you water, water thoroughly. Soak the soil but not so much that there is standing water.
Most succulents don’t need fertilizer and do fine in plain soil

If you still find succulents intimidating or you try live succulents and they die, fake succulents will still look great in your garden!

How to Make a Mermaid Fairy Garden

An "Under the Sea" style fairy garden featuring mermaids

Supplies

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Glass Terrarium Bowl
Potting Soil
Glass Gems
Succulents
Mermaid figurine (this one and these are great options!)
Sea Shells and tiny starfish
Optional: A mermaid styled fairy house like this one

DIY mermaid fairy garden craft idea and tutorial

Directions

Mermaid Garden Step 1: Find the perfect plants

There are so many different options out there. If you are making this with kids, then this is a great introduction to the different kinds. We settled on a few succulents that resembled seaweed and one that looked like it could be a piece of coral.

Did you know that you can buy succulents online? The succulents shown here are available on Amazon! You can also buy live succulents online from Cost Plus World Market. You don't even need to leave the house to go plant shopping if you don't want to.

Fake succulents more your style? Consumer Crafts is my go-to for fake succulents that look beautiful but never die! World Market also has some great looking fake succulents that look real.

Mermaid Garden Step 2: Add dirt

Fill your terrarium with potting soil. Of course, like just about everything else, you can also buy potting soil online and have it delivered straight to your house.

Mermaid Garden Step 3: Plant

Plant your plants in an arrangement that you like leaving room for mermaids, shells or other decorations you choose. If you have a large space you can even add some sand to resemble a beach!

Use succulents to make a mermaid style fairy garden

Mermaid Garden Step 4: Add under the sea flare

After everything is planted, cover the soil with glass gems. I mixed some different shades of blues for ours. Sea glass would also be a super pretty add in!