Diwali (pronounced “duh-vaa-lee”) is the Festival of Lights and is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. It is India’s biggest holiday of the year! As someone who knows very little about this holiday, I made it my mission to do some research, talk to people who do celebrate it AND get my kids involved in learning about it. I am *not* an expert on this holiday, but I am learning! If there’s any information that should be fixed and/or added, please let me know! Let me tell you, this is SUCH a special holiday, focusing on light and hope for the future. Here, in this blog, you will see some fun, engaging and meaningful Diwali activities for kids including writing prompts (which can be found HERE) and Diwali Crafts.
A little bit about Diwali:
Diwali is a lunar holiday which means it ranges between Mid-October and Mid-November. Watch the video below to learn a bit about it. I especially love this quote from this video “Diwali signified victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair”. This just gave me chills. What else could we need to hear right now?!
How Is Diwali celebrated?
There are so many traditions around this holiday, the biggest holiday celebrated among India. Diwali lasts for 5 days and over those days people celebrate with family, friends, lighting cancels, dressing in their best clothes, sharing delicious food, making flowers and fireworks, to name a few. I thought it would be fun to celebrate by making flowers. It was such a fun craft!
Step 1:
Get a paper plate or just grab some paper. Using very colouring paper, cut out shapes.
Step 2:
Put it together! Layer by layer fit the shapes together to make a beautiful flower. Remember, it’s the kids that are doing the learning, so make sure that they’re the ones doing the art work!
And the finished product! A beautiful flower. Diwali is celebrated in so many ways. Click the link HERE to see more crafts! I also loved the deeper explanation of this holiday from this site, National Geographic. Click HERE to check it out!
Writing Activities to tie it all together
I wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t tie in engaging writing activities. The first activity that I need to show you is the Diwali Flip book. As a class and/or at home we must do a bit of research to find the answers. This has always been one of my students and now kids favourite activities to do as we learn about the holidays!
The second writing activity is great for writing summaries and shorter explanations of holiday events. In this resource I provide 5 different types of lines so that it can be differentiated across different grades and ages.
