The Earth Child's Handbook

In my never ending quest for cool tools for pagan parents, I ran across The Earth Child's Handbook, and it was love at first site!

First of all, I'm pretty sure most of you will already be fans of the creator (or at the very least have heard her name), Brigid Ashwood. She's a highly talented artist who's fairy works have been spread throughout the internet on avatars and graphics. When my daughter was younger, she played with the gorgeous paper dolls that Ms. Ashwood created and shared online. She has an impressive range of work in several different mediums.

Now, she's created such a wonderful project for pagan parents, The Earth Child's Handbook! There are so many great things about this book, the first of all being that you purchase it online and print it out yourself. That means that if you have more than one child, or if they want to do a project more than once, you can print out as many copies as you'd like! The conditions of the book even allow you to share a few pages with another family to let them try it out!

Another great thing about this book is that the chapters are sold separately, which means you can buy just the ones you want, or buy a little at a time as your budget allows. The price of each chapter is based on the number of pages in it, but none of them are more than $8.

Now onto the contents! I have Volume 1: Me and My Family. Wow. Just wow! The volume is just filled to the brim with goodness. It starts off with a letter to parents and a separate letter to kids on how to use the chapter and what supplies you will need to complete the projects within it. It continues on with a short, 1 paragraph essay on what family is and how we should treat them, then moves right on to the fun. Included in this volume is a project on making a small family scrapbook (with printable templates), awards to give to your family, a project on making life sized paper dolls, and making a picture frame (among other things).

At first, I was a little concerned that this book might be a little too "young" for my 10 year old daughter, who is the kid that is the most interested in the pagan religion. Yes, she still likes to do arty projects, but they need to be a little more complex for her to really enjoy them. Then I got a little deeper into the chapter (it's 21 pages long) and got to the page on Chakras. It explains what they are and what they do, and includes a page to color them in on a blank outline of a body. The pages that follow this one are about meditation and shape shifting and contain more in depth, complicated text and activities - truly there is something for kids of all ages. You can even preview some of the pages here.

Currently, there are only 2 chapters up, Me and My Family and Mother Earth and The Elements (which I'll be looking into next week, to see what it's all about), but you can sign up for an email alert to let you know when the other chapters go up. I totally recommend Me and My Family to any pagan parent looking for ways to engage their children in a fun way and teach them about the subjects included. It really just includes such great info and so much to get your hands into!