Activities For Families and the Young at Heart in the Harvest Season of Lammas And Mabon

By Ana

Harvest your herbs and flowers and use them!
This is fun for everyone. Get up early one morning and pick your herbs and flowers. Or, for even more power, go out late in the evening on a full moon to pick them (bring a flashlight! you could also have a fun fire or hot cider or another special treat and make a night of it!). If you like, allow the children to pick their favorite flowers and make a bouquet to hang upside down to dry. They could keep these in their doorways or rooms for whatever blessing they want- you could say a simple chant while you wrap the ties around them to dry, to help focus the intent. I also like to make smudge sticks- they are simple- take a bundle of sage and wrap it with embroidery floss. Hang to dry- usually takes a few weeks, and then each person will have their very own home grown smudge stick to use through the fall or winter. Another idea is to make dream pillows. Sew small pillows together with fun fabric. If you hate to sew, buy fabric glue and glue together three sides. Then have the children place in a small amount of stuffing along with their favorite herbs (you can try to have this coordinate with what their needs are, or just let their heart lead them to what they need). If a child is having nightmares you could go further with this as a protection from that. Once filled, sew or glue the remaining side! One last idea to use your herbs- go ahead and save some lavendar and rose petals while collecting your plants in the morning. When your work is done, take them and let them steep along with you in a hot bath!

Make a Scare Crow
This is easy and fun, and looks best in the height of summer and fall. There are many ways to do this. Ours is made using an old lamp post we had lying around (that had broke a year before!), but you could use an old shovel or broomstick stuck in the ground deep. I have an old shirt of my grandfathers placed on the edges of the post (if you use a stick, you’ll need a cross-stick to make a T for the shirt to have shoulders/arms to rest on). Then we used string to tie on old gloves (ones I couldn’t find the match to!) and an we have him holding onto a garden bulb tool (that I hated using and didn’t work so it was fine to give it to the scare crow:). For the head we took old rags, but straw would be very appropriate, and an old piece of fabric in a circle. We then gave him a nice garden hat. For me it’s a sense of garden protection, but more importantly a remembrance of my grandfather. You could also do this as a remembrance for your ancestor, or a spirit or elemental or Goddess protection, using whatever things (beads, colors, etc.) draws that presence out for you. They can watch your garden with you:) This can be a family project, or a child could work on making small protection for their own space in the yard or garden, or near a playhouse or favorite spot perhaps? The possibilities are endless!

Natural Art:
This is something you could change with each season, or with each year. Go out into nature and have your children collect their favorite items- fall leaves, grass stalks, flowers, etc. Then take a large piece of posterboard (or cardboard you have extra- let’s try to recycle what we already have:), and have the children decorate. Make a Harvest Goddess for your window! Make a Summer Sun God (you could get extra fancy with this one, and make it out of something that could be sacrificed- either to the elements by being left out over the winter, or something that could be burned). Or just fingerpaint with nature! Now, as a crafty pagan mama, while this is going on, I can take those leaves and create a altar environment on my dining table… or find things to make a harvest wreath for the front door. To make it more magical, find herbs of protection and blessings for your home:)

Go Raspberry Picking
Something we do every year in early or mid-September is go raspberry picking! This is great fun, and a great way to celebrate the equinox. Last year my daughter ate so many berries I could not believe my eyes! We always pick up some local honey at this farm as well. Then when we get home, I make a berry cobbler, some berry muffins, and then I rinse all the left over berries and let them dry overnight. The next morning I take them and put them in small baggies and freeze them for smoothies throughout the fall and winter season (this is much cheaper than buying berries at the store in winter!).

Salt Dough
Salt dough is a great way to get creative (and not spend any money:) Take 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and a little over a cup of water. Mix it up and there you go- instant clay. You can make all kinds of decorations for the seasons or esbats.
Use star shapes, or moons, spiral goddesses, sunflowers, and more. You can let it dry, or place them on cookie sheets on your lowest oven setting for awhile to dry them out (or stick them out in the hot sunshine). If you want to save them, take a clear paint (I use those sparkly craft ones) and do a few coats over them (this is nice on a yule tree). One fun activity I came up with lately was a bowl. Each person makes a small bowl- mine was a Goddess bowl, but it can be any type of bowl. Let the children make their own designs in it. Then, after it dries (this takes a few days, or else some time in the oven), have each child place something special to them in the bowl. I used affirmations. But, for the harvest season, one could place things they want to either plant (the Goddess plants her seeds in the fall) to grow in the future, or things they want to be released of or transformed through the death of the harvest making room for new things to grow in their life. This would be for older children obviously- my children just like to feel the dough and listen to circle round over and over again:)

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About The Author: Ana is a Level I student in the White Moon School, with Luna Blanca. A stay at home mother of two small children, and focuses much of her energy on them, her home, husband, garden and pets. She is new to the White Moon School this spring, and has been studying pagan paths for the last 13 years or so. Before focusing on mothering, Ana was a yoga teacher and women’s counselor, with a degree in psychology and women’s studies. Her focus as a yoga teacher is on compassion to the self, incorporating meditation and extensive relaxation for the union of body, mind, and spirit. She enjoys reading, gardening, being at the lake, crafts, and vegetarian cooking.