Early Year's Birthday Ritual

Overview

A Birthday Ritual

A time for the celebration of the day you were born!

A time to remember and give thanks!

This ritual has been designed for Prep or an Early Years class. As expected, teachers would need to do some preparation with the children in the days leading up to the celebration of the ritual. This will hopefully ensure that the children are able to be truly “present” to the ritual and participate more fully. It should also ensure that the ritual has meaning and relevance for the children and that hopefully they may be able to make the necessary connections.

What the children will need to KNOW before the ritual:

That the word birthday means that we actually celebrate the day of our birth.
Talk to the children about the symbols of birthdays and the rituals associated with them e.g. the marking off of days when one is waiting for ones’ birthday, the giving of presents and cards, the candles on the birthday cake, the gathering of family or friends to have a party, the blowing out of candles and the singing of Happy Birthday, games we play at birthdays etc
Explore with them what happens before a birthday, during or on the day of your birth and after the birthday. Discuss in particular invitations, being a host and being a guest, and thank you notes.
Read literature associated with the celebrating of birthdays
Talk about what happened on the day of your birth. Where were you born? Who was there? Who was waiting at home? Who came to visit? Do you have any photos of you on the day you were born? What stories do your mum and dad tell about this special day? How were they feeling? Do you remember this day? You may want to involve the parents in this with a questionnaire given out prior to the child’s birthday or for all people who have a birthday in each month.
Invite children to bring a photo of themselves taken as close a s possible to the day of their birth.