Diwali brings with it a lot of fun, frolic, and loads of festivities. It is a time when you get to enjoy your favourite dishes, buy new clothes and gifts, and celebrate with friends and family. Children enjoy this festival more than anyone else, lured by the bright colours and lights, bursting of crackers, and Diwali-inspired artifacts. But with online learning and proliferation of technology, kids are so hooked to their gadgets, they have a hard time making out the colours and the feel of the festival. So how do you make your child’s Diwali special? And how can you make sure they enjoy the festivities to the fullest?
To make your little one’s experience of Diwali more meaningful, we bring you five simple activities that will ensure everyone has a heart-warming celebration.
Rangoli Sketching and Painting
With the colourful festival of Diwali around the corner, there’s a natural tendency to think of it as a celebratory time. However, this Diwali, you may want to go a step further and focus on at least one aspect where you can help your kids tap into their creative instincts. And what better way could there be than going over the age-old tradition of rangoli pictorial art, which has been seeing increased interest in recent times.
Rangoli is a quintessential and essential part of almost every Diwali festival celebration in India. It’s, in fact, just as important as the diyas and crackers you to mark the occasion. The trend of rangoli art is becoming popular even among young kids, thanks to the internet and other avenues amplifying their popularity.
Glitter Diwali Cards
Holidays are always exhilarating for children, and a special day like Diwali seems all the more remarkable for kids. Therefore, it is essential to be creative when you decide to celebrate this festival through the eyes of your kids. A project that will help them have fun and develop some creative ideas would be to get them some Diwali greeting cards. Let them add a bit of sparkle and colour to the cards they design on their own. In this way, they can exercise their creativity and learn a lot about Indian customs and celebrations.
Storytelling
One of the best activities to engage kids in Diwali celebrations is to tell them stories associated with the festival. The different versions of why Diwali is celebrated will ignite their interest in the significance of the festival. There is a different story about why we celebrate Diwali in each part of the country, so your child will be aware that people from different ethnicities commemorate this holiday. Provide them context behind the reasons we celebrate Diwali and answer any questions they might have. This helps engage them and may get them to ask more, which encourages them to participate further in festivities.
Diwali-inspired Artifacts and Origami
Adding origami to a child’s craft repertoire provides them with a fun method of art-making. And what better way to introduce them than Diwali-inspired origami? Origami creates a significant impact on children’s brain development, fostering their creativity & imagination. By teaching them origami, they can make colorful earrings, flower garlands, greeting cards, and more. All you need is origami paper along with glue or double-sided tape to create lovely designs they’ll love to wear, give as gifts, or display at home.
Green Diwali
Climate change is a cause for concern, and we must understand the environmental impact of our actions. Educate your children about the importance of eco-friendly Diwali celebrations. Allow them to use their creativity to create alternatives to traditional firecrackers. This will teach them about caring for the environment in a fun and engaging way. You could try cutting thin pieces of paper into animal-shaped rhombus, playing with the shape to create an aesthetic appeal for your papier mâché firecrackers.
At Square Panda India, we believe in the importance of playful discovery and learning during early childhood. Incorporating joyful learning about Diwali helps children develop skills that contribute to their creative and intellectual development. Let your child be fascinated about this festival of lights!
Happy Diwali! ✨