Children's Program
Object Details
- Introduction
- The Children's Program was created to celebrate children's folklife - those things that children teach each other and pass from one generation to the next through friends and siblings. Some of these traditions are hundreds of years old, while others are fairly recent and spreading actively. To demonstrate children's folklife, young participants were selected in cooperation with schools, scout troops, and camps from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Festival visitors were invited to join participants in presentations in the crafts tent, game ring, hill and sand area, and around the stage. On the Children's Stage, children demonstrated jump rope rhymes, ring games, clap games, drumming, dancing, singing, play parties, cheerleading, and sparring. In the Crafts Tent, participants made cootie catchers, water bombs, airplanes, and dolls from corn husks, yarn, paper, clothespins, and fabric; they could carve, whittle, draw, and learn crafts from participants drawn from other areas of the Festival. Participants in the Folk Swap Tent heard stories and told elephant jokes, "knock-knocks," "mother-mothers," moral stories, parodies, riddles, secret languages, tongue twisters, ghost stories, and other special areas of lore. The program was coordinated by Kate Rinzler, assisted by Barbara Melnicove.
- Participants
- Groups: Barrie Camp, Silver Spring, Maryland Bells Mill Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland Brent Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Brightwood Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Burgundy Farm Country Day Camp Camp Meadowbrook Canterbury School Center Branch YMCA Edmonds Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Friendship House, Washington, D.C. Frost Junior High School, Fairfax, Virginia Girl Scouts - Port Byron, Illinois Girl Scouts - Roseville, Michigan Girl Scouts -Troop 1466 Green Acres Camp, Rockville, Maryland Hardy Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Knoxville, Tennessee County Schools Lafayette Recreation Center, Washington, D.C. Landon Camp for Boys Metropolitan Police Boys Clubs, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Girls Club, Washington, D.C. Parkland Junior High School, Rockville, Maryland Piney Branch Middle School, Takoma Park, Maryland Ross Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Sligo Junior High School, Kensington, Maryland Takoma Elementary School, Takoma Park, Maryland Travillah Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland Valley Mill Camp, Germantown, Maryland Watkins Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Individuals: Helen Englar, quilter Stu Jamieson, 1922-2006, folklorist Bessie Jones, 1902-1984, folklorist Vanessa Jones, folklorist Paul Ofori-Ansah, 1942-, folklorist Claude Yoder, 1904-1991, whittler
- Collection Creator
- Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
- See more items in
- Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife
- Archival Repository
- Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
- Identifier
- CFCH.SFF.1975, Series 3
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
- Collection Rights
- Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
- Record ID
- ebl-1503511974073-1503511974126-4
- Metadata Usage
- CC0