10 ways to celebrate Diwali at Schools
It’s Diwali and you plan to do *something* around the festival at your kids’ school. Or maybe you are a teacher who wants to create a more multicultural and inclusive environment in their classroom. Here are some easy ways to provide a memorable cultural experience!
1. Introduce the meaning and 5 Days of Diwali
Explain the significance of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and its themes of good triumphing over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. Talk about the 5 days of Diwali with celebrations that are more cultural than religious.
Use the slide from our free Diwali Celebration guide!
What’s included? everything mentioned on this page along with 45, 60, and 5-day lesson plans along with a Diwali dessert recipe.
2. Storytime with Diwali Tales
Books are a fantastic way to get the celebration going!
Share age-appropriate stories from Diwali such as 5 days of Diwali, what are they called and how do you celebrate each day. Check out Maya/Neel’s three Bestselling Diwali books!
3. Make a fun and simple Diwali craft
Nothing better than a hands-on activity! I love this one because of how easy it is to both arrange for the material and also for kids of all ages to do.
4. Screen a Kid-Friendly Diwali Video
Show an educational and engaging video about Diwali to help children better understand the holiday, its traditions, and how it is celebrated.
5. Invite a Guest Speaker/Author/Dance Instructor
If possible, bring in a guest speaker from the community, like a parent, author or cultural educator, to speak about their Diwali traditions and answer children’s questions.
An Indian dance workshop is another way to provide a fun and hands-on cultural experience!
Ajanta provides incredibly fun Diwali interactive experiences at schools, libraries, and corporates.
6. Host a Diwali Quiz
Use this template to host a fun Diwali quiz! Offer small rewards for participation to make learning fun and interactive.
7. Talk about Diwali Day of Giving
As we mention in our books, Day 4 of Diwali is also celebrated as Saal Mubarak, when people often exchange new year gifts.
Taking this to one step further into giving to the ones in need, we have set up a Diwali Day of Kindness.
How do you participate? Simply enter any acts of kindness performed between now and 4th day of Diwali here.
8. Make a Diwali pop-up card
Make this super fun Diwali pop-up card! The kids love the 3D aspect of this activity.
9. Teach a fun Diwali song
Introduce children to a really fun Diwali song that teaches them about 5 Days of Diwali in the tune of 12 days of Christmas!
10. 5 Days of Diwali Coloring page
A Rangoli coloring page can be quite fun but even better is a coloring page that brings the learning of 5 Days of Diwali home!
Our free Diwali celebration guide has both. Please use whichever suits your needs best.
Beyond the Colors – 6 concepts of Holi celebrated through 50 activities!
You might have heard about Holi, the famous festival of colors from India. You might have seen stunning images of people covered in color from head to toe, celebrating with joyous abandonment!
But is there more to Holi than colors? And if so, how do you explore them with your kids in a fun & engaging way? In our latest book, we provide you easy ways for you to do just this!
Other than the usual RECIPES, GAMES, PUZZLES ETC. Let’s explore these 6 sub-concepts of Holi!
1. Bravery
The story of Holi is steeped in bravery. Imagine a little boy who defies an evil king and actually perseveres?
This little boy’s name was Prahlad and Holi is celebrated to honor his bravery. You can find the entire story in our Maya/Neel story book.
So Holi is a perfect time to talk about bravery and what it really means to be brave – no matter the age. Activities are great conversation starters and our new activity book provides you just that including a very cool Prahlad Bonfire Lamp!
Template & Instructions
2. Friendship
It is no hidden secret that every society has some way of classifying and separating people. And Holi acts as one of the best equalizers in Indian society!
The day of Holi is meant for people to put aside their differences and celebrate together. The easiest concept of such an equalizing factor for kids is to look at it from the lens of friendship.
So have a conversation with your kids about what makes someone a good friend and how to show appreciation for their friends. Aiding you in the process can be some very fun activities including helping Chintu, the pet squirrel and the most popular character from Maya/Neel books, climb up the friendship ladder!
3. Dances
No Indian celebration is complete without the beautiful songs and dances! Bollywood has made its own mark on Holi by coming up with upbeat songs with infectious beats that still capture the essence of Indian folk music!
Our book provides you with SEVEN different dance & movement experiences that you can learn and enjoy and are completely kid-friendly.
4. Flowers
Flowers have always been a favorite topic in Indian art. Whether its ancient literature, paintings or music, flowers have been fervently explored as being equallly associated with the divine to the mortals.
Holi is a spring festival and the book gave me the perfect opportunity to talk about flowers of India and introduce some fun facts about them.
Did you know that long time ago, Palash flower, also called flame-of-the-forest, was used to make Holi colors?
5. Moon
Moon is similarly popular topic in India. It is associated with romance, kinship, and so much more. Did you know, moon is referred as Mama or the maternal uncle?
Like most other Indian festivals, Holi is followed according to the lunar calendar. And every year, Holi is always celebrated on the full moon day.
There is no shortage of fun activities to explore moon and we offer you a few in the book as well including your very own Moon countdown tracker to Holi.
6. Colors
And of course, the most important one – Colors!
Colors are the essence of this festival and the joy of being covered in and splashing them on your friends is indescribable!
So explore colors while talking about Holi but also look for other ways to connect them to India e.g. the Hindi words of common colors. We offer many such ways of exploring colors in the activity book.
Free Holi Dance, Story and Craft Workshop
Join us for a fun session of Dance, Craft & Stories with Ms. Ajanta, the award-winning co-author of Maya/Neel books and co-founder of Bollywood Groove.
Holi Bonfire Lamp Craft
The Story of Holi
The legend of Holi says that a little brave boy named Prahlad defied an evil King. The king asked his sister, Holika, to sit in the fire with Prahlad. Holika had a magical power that fires couldn’t hurt her. But when Holika sat in the fire with Prahlad, a miracle happened. Prahlad was completely fine and it was Holika who disappeared in the fire! Holi is a celebration of Prahlad’s victory over the evil King.
The Bonfire Craft
Now that we know all about Holi, let’s make the craft!
Materials: yellow and orange tissue papers, a transparent plastic cup, brown cardboard piece, LED tea light, popsicle stick.
Step 1: Cut out and color Prahlad’s shape on the left.
Step 2: Glue it to the top part of a popsicle stick. Put the cup upside down and make a small slit in it. Slide the popsicle stick in until it looks like Prahlad is standing on top of the cup.
Step 3. Cut squares about an inch wide from the tissue papers.
Scrunch them up by pressing them into a ball and then opening them up.
Stick them all around the plastic cup
Step 4. Cut strips of cardboard to make it look like logs
Place the cardboard strips under the cup.
Now place an LED tea light inside the cup and place it in a dark spot. Enjoy your glow-in-the-dark Prahlad bonfire!
Dhanteras Craft – Day 1 of Diwali
Diwali is celebrated over 5 days. Day 1, also called Dhanteras, is the day to go shopping!
Traditionally, people buy either pots and pans or jewelry. I have such fond memories of visiting the markets with my Mom and I tried very hard to capture that in our book as well.
Let’s celebrate Dhanteras by making this simple cardboard bracelet craft!
Step 1. Get some toilet paper or paper towel rolls. Cut a slit so that you can open and wrap it around your child’s wrist. I cut the roll in half to fit my kid’s wrist.
Step 2. Apply glue all over the cardboard.
Step 3. Use lots of decorative materials including gems and glitters. We especially loved using flower gems for this craft,
Step 4. Stick them all over the cardboard roll. We did them in horizontal stripes.
And your Dhanteras cardboard bracelet is ready!
