[Ansteorra] children and teen activities in the SCA
Sher M
runa.herd at earthlink.net
Sun Jan 20 09:07:17 PST 2008
Personally I think there should be something for various ages. I'm not fond
of children or adults who misbehave. With a lot of children it's from being
bored because they don't have anything else to do. Those who are ill
mannered 'naturally' I've been known to mutter something about locking them
in a closet and keeping the survivor (that includes adults by the way).
Boffer sounds good for both sexes. Kids get bored, matter of fact grownups
get bored. Most children (until the advent of machinery) followed in their
parents footsteps and did the same tasks as they did (sometimes on a smaller
scale but sometimes as equally difficult).
I normally do well with animals, children and people (unless they're my age
because most of them are grumpy). If you keep it in theme and easily
portable then there should and could be activities involving fighting,
sewing, weaving, spinning, making weapons, things of that nature. Why
couldn't someone teach the littles to make a practice sword or a favor for
their parent(s) who are fighters? After Spring shearing I could furnish
anyone who wanted it dirty llama wool (neighbor discards it). A class or
activity could be held to clean it, card it, spindle it into a thread and
the end result a small woven item. During spring, summer and fall in my
area there are edible plants, plants that can be used for dye, flowers that
could be pressed. Walking around finding plants can help wear out younger
ones.
With scrolls feather quills could be used to show how to form the letters.
I'm not sure I'd let smaller ones make their own quill pen.
Jewelry is easy to make and appeals to a lot of younger people. Left over
beads from projects could be put out with dental floss (yeah I know it isn't
period but it's strong and easy for small hands to work with) and let them
make necklaces or earrings that would hang on their ear (don't want anyone
poking unauthorized holes in their ears).
I do not think activities should just be a place to 'dump' your wee ones
while you go have fun.
Runa of the Thundering Herd
http://thethunderingherd.net/
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