. The only MAIN thing is that it takes a creative mind to make it fun! Yes, fun. As adults we are extremely serious and long, drawn out in our process of Rituals. When you have children come into the mix you have to make changes to keep it interesting for them and short.So, what exactly is a ritual? A ritual is a spiritual purpose that you focus on and is separate from your daily activities.
A ritual with children is the same. If you have children then you more and likely already done rituals without even realizing it. What do you do everyday with your child? You have the breakfast/lunch/dinner ritual, cleaning your room ritual, getting ready for nap/bed ritual; the list is actually endless. If you do not have children, but are around them enough to see what their parents do with them then you can get an idea
. Simplicity is the key word; along with FUN 
!I have several that I have with my son on a daily basis and as he grows so do they. Once your child understands this you can move onto the nest step.
Purifying. Purification is soo simple. You can have your child do this and have fun while doing so. This can be done in a family coven setting or a simple routine for them to do by themselves (with adult supervision; of course). Some ideas you can use are:
1. have children run a circle counterclockwise
2. babies or smaller children can ring bells, bang pots and pans or use musical instruments
3. older children you can give them salt, herbs, sprinkle water or an incense stick until the circle is done.
Next step is Grounding. How do you go about teaching the form of grounding? If any parents watches children shows they know to make it fun. Kids love to play and act. Does head, shoulder, knees and toes ring a bell? Do it backwards and act like a tree growing
. All kids will love this; as you will too! Speak about the life of a tree as it grows. You can even say this for the Sun, Moon and stars. This is just like what we do; with some improvisation.Next is Casting the Circle. You could have already done this with the purification or separate. Remember to keep it simple. If call on directions then think of an extremely short phrase for your child to say. Remember their memory cannot say a long drawn out course like we adults do when we cast a circle. If they know your God and Goddess; or if they have one of their own that have identified with let them call them in. Before doing so, make sure that you explain to them that they have to welcome them in and then say their goodbye Thanks. (Just another way of teaching them manners).
Calling the Corners. I know everyone is different. I know some call corners and some do not or at only special occasions. Go with the flow or go over it with your child beforehand. If they can read you can write the whole ritual out for them or give them pieces of paper with what to say as you go. Personally, I rarely call the corners except for specific times. Make sure you teach them directions beforehand so they know what is what. You can color code by setting the corners in color appropriate objects, stones, candles. I actually showed and introduced the color aspect to my son on the Fourth of July. We have all the different color sparklers of red, blue, green, and yellow. I had him associate the colors to certain things so he would know who he was calling when we did this. Be creative when doing this.
Invoking a God or a Goddess. Again, this is usually done during the appropriate season or event. Not really an everyday thing. For this you can sing a song. If your child has a favorite song, nursery rhyme you can always adjust it to invoking the Deity of choice. Parents have io be creative. We always sing to our children and they learn songs from tv, radio, cd's. If they are a bit older and you have a statue of your God or Goddess then you can have them place him/her on the altar and have them have a saying. Remember to keep it simple.
Offerings. Again this is where manners will come in. This also a fun part if you have any cookies and milk. As they have a cookie and a glass of milk have them give their thanks to the spirits. Have a separate bowl or plate where they can spill a bit of their milk onto and break a piece of their cookie off to give to the Spirits. Then say a prayer or blessings. Remember, simple and small or words for your child to say.
Closing of circle. Have your child do the opposite of what they did when they opened the circle. Remember you can always join in too!
*NOTE - do not have a ritual go longer than 20-30 minutes. Children do not have a long attention span. They loose interest early. As they get older and are more intune you can go more. Also, NEVER make them, or tell them that they have to do a ritual. They could sit out, or watch if they are not interested in joining. Always let them participate at their own doing.
Well, I hope that this gives you the Basics for children. If you have not started on any of the things then that is okay. If you are just introducing make sure you go through all the steps before actually performing. Some form of understanding needs to be known before attempting.
Brightest Blessings!
