Hands-on activities at PlusKids Măgurele, at after school and in the courses, during "Proud to be Romanian" week.
We chose handwork because a theme like this is not remembered from explanations. An eight-year-old does not retain a definition of tradition, but does retain a pattern they drew themselves, a motif they had to repeat until it came out straight, and a piece of work they took home and explained to their parents.
Something else happens along the way: when you repeat a traditional pattern, you notice that it was not made at random but has an order, a symmetry and a rule of its own. The children discover this for themselves, through their hands rather than from an exercise book.
"Good luck with the work" was, at the time, exactly the right thing to wish them.