Diwali: Festival of Lights
The learning about India continues!
This week, our classes learned about the festival of Diwali in India. Though this sacred holiday won't occur this year until November this year, it was close enough to be a part of our lesson plans this month. We learned that Diwali, a festival that is similar in its importance to Christmas for Christians, is a spiritual holiday for all faiths in India that basically celebrates the power of light over darkness.
Food, music, fireworks, beautiful colored sand art on the streets and thousands of small clay pot candles line the streets, helping to coin the celebration the "festival of lights". People also enjoy playing dice games, taking their chances on luck, and meditating over positive outcomes for the year to come.
In class as we looked at pictures of this celebration, we also had fun pretending the small LED light was our candle. The children also reviewed what we have learned about India so far, and we watched a neat video from National Geographic on the festival, as well.
The three year old class reviewing facts!
We are still enjoying singing the bat song! =)
Don't forget to ask your child about this week's lesson using the extender questions!
PS--Extra neat fact! One of our parents shared with me over the last few weeks that she visited India recently, and she shared some awesome photos of her trip with our students. Thanks so much for contributing, Adrienne Jamail! =)
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD
1) What country are you learning about in music? India
2) Did you learn about Diwali and the festival of lights? What do the people light to celebrate? Candles and fireworks!
3) Do you remember one of the games that people like to play during Diwali? Dice!