The Children's Program was created to celebrate children's folklife - those things that childrenteach 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," "mothermothers," 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.