Fun for kids at faire

[Bevin]

Hi all...I have a favor to ask. Would you all be kind enough to think about the various faires you have been to/worked at and give me some information on what about those faires is most appealing to kids, say in the 5-8 year old range (boys and girls).*
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I'm thinking of everything from foods, to music, kid's shows, games, meeting the Queen, whatever you can think of.*
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Thank you

Bevin

[SquishiWench]

MNRF use to have a lot of crafts for the kids.....my oldest son made himself a medallion...and they had great supervision there...thankfully, since the metal was hot. He also made a shield design. There were lots of "sporting" games set up just for the wee folk. They had quite a few things for kidlets. Next to making the medallion and shield design, I think his favorite thing was watching the "Merlin" show. He also enjoyed the archery. And there were just as many little girls there as there was boys.

I've noticed through visiting a few faires that there's generally always something good for the kids... Many have a kids area with a multitude of fun things to do which seemed to be very closely supervised, and a lot of performances geared for them.

My oldest..who will be 19 next month...STILL has his medallion wrapped in a velvet drawstring bag in his top "special small things to keep" drawer. :D

All my boys still have their little wooden swords and shields. They consider them collector's items now. =)

~Squish~

[I'Cin]

Bevin,I think you've been to Maryland haven't you?

Even so, in case someone else wants to know -- Maryland has quite a bit of "kid" friendly things. At least in the past there have been the elephant rides, an archery booth, several other kid type game booths, a climbing wall, a free play area (if its still there - I can't remember), a soap or candle making booth, a number of acts aimed at kids (or at least reasonably appropriate). They also usually have a time of day when the King and/or Queen meet with people and "knight" the little kids.

I've always found it very kid-friendly when I needed it to be. One year sometime after I joined the IWG and the kids talked about faire a lot, my ex decided to take them and his new wife. You should have seen the kids (at the time about 17, 14, and 10) going through the program and planning out the day to make sure that he was never near any of the bawder things so that he wouldn't say they couldn't go anymore. They had him at the kid shows and the storyline shows, reasonably serious Shakespeare, etc. It was sort of funny. I also had to make sure that my cleavage was not quite so prominent. I loosened my laces and pulled my neckline waaaaaay up. :D

I'cin

[Bevin]

Actually, I have yet to visit the Maryland faire, although I keep threatening to...

This might just be the year, though. Lord knows I don't need to go to THREE Halloween weekends at PARF.

Thanks to you who have shared your thoughts so far!!

[KissMeKate]

Bristol has a LOT of activities for the kids! (Although that could be quite a road trip for you) There's Kid's Kingdom, which has a ship to play on, a mini-maze, shows (including some with the Queen), the make-your-own shops are popular, elephant and camel and horse rides, being made a lady or a knight by the Queen, a scavenger hunt, plus there's a whole series of letterboxes to find.

There are plenty of shows outside Kid's Kingdom that are kid-appropriate, including one where Broon juggles a club, a bowling ball, and a small child.

[Queen Maggie]

[quote="I'Cin"]Bevin,I think you've been to Maryland haven't you?

Even so, in case someone else wants to know -- Maryland has quite a bit of "kid" friendly things. (snips)

If you bring kids to the MD faire, make sure you check in at the information booth, just after you get in the gate: there is a list, republished each weekend, of all the events that should appeal to (and be safe for) kids. I'll also suggest The sing-along and Stupina's shows. There will be at least 2 faire written shows for kids this year ( a repris of the Princess who wouldn't laugh, and a new original, "The missing Princess") We've got the immense slide, the swings (free) pony rides (also free) the elephant rides, the Kytson household does demos (usually including one about arming the household) the Fight Show, the Human Chess match, the Fool named "O", the jousts and 2 knighting ceremonies a day.