Also I'd love to get older more mature advice on what I need to work on ... if I need to explain then the question doesn't apply to you .. praying to the god and goddesses for this answer ....
Maypole! At our local Beltaine in the park ritual we have a huge Maypole set up for the adults, and a smaller one for the kids :) Sometimes we attack the cloth strands to a tree and weave them there, with little poppets attached to them to induce creativity/fertility/whatever :)
I'm going to work on getting the pole... also getting the big fire built to jump through .. any other? Ostara was so much fun with the crafts any with Beltane for small hands? What I've read is the fires and poles maybe head wreaths of flowers .. also with traditional Easter coming up does anyone do the eggs then? I know ostara was for that but it would be fun now with the dye kits out? Any suggestions?
As Beltane is a fertility festival, I don't see why you couldn't dye eggs then, too. Daisy crowns are popular, as is eating fertility based foods like strawberries and cream and chocolate :)
There are some great books on how to celebrate the various Sabbats with children. I would suggest the following:
" Circle Round " by Starhawk
" Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon " by Ashleen O'Gaea
" Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara " by Ashleen O'Gaea
" Ancient Ways: Reclaiming Pagan Traditions " by Dan and Pauline Campanelli
" Wheel of the Year: Living the Magical Life " by Dan and Pauline Campanelli
" Raising Witches " by Ashleen O'Gaea
And a good website is " The Witches' Sabbats " at http://www.witchessabbats.com/
Depending on where you live and the age of your children a bonfire may, or may not, be a good idea. However, it isn't necessary to have a roaring blaze to celebrate the passing through the fire. You can also put a lit candle in a safe container (I use a cauldron) and jump over that instead. This gives you the safe option of even doing this indoors if the weather is bad.
If you have daughters, one of the old customs was for women and girls to wash their faces in the morning dew to keep them beautiful all of their lives.
for a more child friendly version of Beltane it's a time for faerie folk so you could make wind chimes or plant a faerie garden. you could also make flower crowns and have a picnic outside.
