Seasonal Rituals with Children
Perhaps you have a small one (or more!) at home, or perhaps you regularly hang out with grandchildren, neices/nephews/others, or are an educator or carer.
Here are some very simple ways to invite children in towards understanding and honouring the changing of seasons. These are pagan activities but easily translatable into (and inoffensive in most) non-pagan environments. For older children a couple of these activities can be combined, for example an outing with an altar, or a mini-ritual combined with eating seasonal food you’ve prepared together. Some activities may become traditions, while others are a one-off. Introduce the activity by speaking briefly about why you are doing this today, what the time of year means, and then during or after the activity ask the child what they enjoyed or noticed.
An excursion
Go on a seasonal outing – you could pick berries at the Autumn Equinox, visit the beach for the Summer Solstice, go star gazing at the Winter Solstice, or have a picnic in a flowering meadow or forest for Beltaine.
Food
Cook something special with the child – maybe plaited bread for Lammas, Beltaine love-cookies, or an ancestor meal at samhain. Let them know why you are baking this today, and what it means to share this food at this season.
Craft
Create an age-appropriate craft activity – painting a huge sun together for the Solstice, making a Lammas or corn dolly, either making candles or decorating a candle for the Winter Solstice or Imbolc; or using collage, fabric work, or clay with an older child.
Altars
Make an altar together – indoors or outdoors – to celebrate the season. This can be as simple as autumn leaves arranged in patterns on the ground, or as complex as you like, with an altar cloth, figurines or images, and offerings.
Mini-rituals
Create a very simple ritual activity – with an older child it can be more complex, or they can help create it. Activities I have used are: Choosing a coloured candle and speaking a wish as it’s lit at the Winter Solstice; tying a leaf, feather, or shell to a length of ribbon and hanging them from a tree in the garden as a blessing for the earth at Imbolc, each person around the dinner table speaking of a loved ancestor at Samhain. You can add in a song or chant if you like. You can also send these mini-rituals in an envelope to be done on the day if you’re far away!
Take a walk
Just go outside, either into a park or garden or walking with the focus of looking for the season and see what you notice together. Perhaps it will be flowers, seedpods, falling leaves; the activities of birds or animals, the sun/wind/rain/temperature. If you do this each festival, you can compare one season to the next – what has changed?