Seasonal festivals and children

A question from Myra-Lea Berridge
Hi,

This will be my first Yule with a child and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about traditions to do for children?
I want to make it as fun as possible for him but I have no ideas!

Thank you!

Which really begs the question... how do we involve children in seasonal festivals?

Any suggestions?

B*B
Morgana

Arts and crafts are always fun [Very happy]

and let's be honest, there are plenty of decorations to make for each festival [Very happy]

I enjoyed making a table/altar centerpiece for last year's Yule celebration. Drawing on candles, taking care of seasonal plants. For example, every year I buy this plant (I don't know its name in English so here's a picture) and see how long It'll survive. And might I add, mine lived to see Midsummer... and then it got a bit too hot :/

Baking is always fun [Very happy]

no festival goes by without a bit of kitchen witchery in my house [Very happy]

Decorating a Yule log can be quite fun (you can use it for a centerpiece or instead of a Christmas tree), making garlands and things like this.

Not to mention that the unwrapping of the gifts themselves is extra fun for children [Smile]

Though everything I mentioned is there to get the hype up... though the more intensive you make the period before the festival, the more intense the holiday itself will be [Very happy]

You can play a present-search game with the kid ^^ I know it's more traditional for Eostre (Easter egg hunt for example) but I think it could work pretty well here too [Very happy]

And since it's all nice and cold, I don't think that gethering around a nice warm fire with an even better hot cup of cocoa is a bad idea. Family and friends [Smile]

nothing more you could need... except for a good story to tell [Wink]

We don't really have too many traditions with our daughter, despite her being four. We have tended to just wing it, mostly. She comes to the druid groves with us and joins in (or not) as and when it suits her. We've been trying not to really push her too hard into following our faith, since she's too young to really make up her own mind, but she's started school now and that means explaining that 'the lord' is just an opinion and starting to give her another perspective. For instance, her coming home and talking about singing a song about the lord who makes the flowers grow was a good chance to mention Freyr, the Green Man and the fact that some people believe in one god, others in more than one god and some in none at all.

One resource that might be useful for you in a few years' time is a free online magazine called Pooka Pages. You can find it at http://www.pookapages.com/ and it presents a (fairly Wicca-oriented) version of the main festivals for children.

Pooka is great!! [Very happy]

I mean... I'm not a parent but I stil find great things in there [Very happy]

great songs, arts&crafts ideas and great and simple recipes [Very happy]