Imbolc: Fun Ways to Get Children Involved

* blessing of seeds for this year's garden

* hearth fires are put out and re-lit

* a besom is placed by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming the new

* candles are lit and placed in each room of the house to honor the re-birth of the Sun

* stone gatherings

* decorating ploughs

* Help your kids go through all their clothes, toys, and books to find the unwanted and outgrown items. Donate everything to a local charity.

* Go for a walk! Search for signs of spring. Take off your shoes and socks and squish your toes in the mud.

* Open all the doors and windows and turn on every light in the house for a few minutes. Let the kids sweep all the old energies out the doors.

* Lead the family on a parade around the outside of your home, banging on pots and pans or playing musical instruments to awaken the spirits of the land.

* Create a sun wheel out of stalks of grain and hang it on your front door.

* Meditate as a family. Have everyone explore what it would feel like to be a seed deep in the earth, feeling the first stirrings of life. Lie on the floor and put out tendrils. Stretch and bloom.

* Have your children hold some herb seeds in their hands. Talk to the seeds. Bless them with growth and happiness. Fill them with love. Plant an in-door herb garden.

* Decorate candles with stickers, metallic markers, paint and anything else you can think of! Light your candles and give thanks to the Goddess for her inspiration.

* Help your kids make a special feast! Spicy foods and dairy dishes are traditional.

* Set a fabulous dinner table with your candles, evergreen boughs spring flowers, dragons, sun symbols, or whatever says Imbolc to you.

* Make a tiny "Candle Garden" by filling a small aluminum pan with fine salt or sand and "planting" birthday candles or tea lights in the "garden".

* Tie tiny strips of fabric in trees near a stream. Use cotton strips and the birds will use them for nesting or they will bio-degrade over time.

* Meditate as a family. Have everyone explore what it would feel like to be a seed deep in the Earth, feeling the first stirrings of life. Lie on the floor and put out tendrils. Stretch and bloom.

* Help your kids go through all their clothes, toys, and books to find the unwanted and outgrown items. Donate everything to a local charity.

* Have your children hold some herb seeds in their hands. Talk to the seeds. Bless them with growth and happiness. Fill them with love. Plant an in-door herb garden.

* Make a Crown of Light similar to those worn on St. Lucy's Day.

* Buy a "salt lick" block and leave it out for the wild animals.

* Make a window garden with seeds, soil, old glass jars or rinse some tuna or cat food cans, and get ready for spring! Easy items are beans, mints, marigolds.

* Make homemade butter.

All of these activities were gathered through hours of web searches.  I cannot give one source credit as similar ideas were found on a variety of sites.