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Holi is one of the most exciting of all festivals, especially for children, because it’s messy and colorful! While that may be an unbeatable combination, kids today are not as enthusiastic about the festivities because they are more exposed to a global culture and also because of growing concerns about water conservation and the environment. Nevertheless, there are plenty of ways in which your kids can have fun and celebrate the festival of color in an eco-friendly manner. Here are 10 activities to get your kids to look forward to Holi:
Toothbrush painting is probably the most fun of all activities for pre-schoolers, because it doesn’t require much skill, but is still a good creative outlet. It will give your young ones a chance to have fun, make a mess, and possibly create a masterpiece that you will treasure years from now.
There is scarcely a thing as satisfying as displaying your own creation. Help your children channel their imagination, creativity, and love for colors into designing their own DIY Holi t-shirts. From simple designs that allow them to just get their hands dirty, to more complex artistic patterns, this activity will give your child the chance to actually create something. You can be sure that this activity will get them very interested in the festivities!
You can’t take the colors out of the festival that celebrates them, so why not find a middle ground? Organic colors are safe and non-threatening to the environment, so you do not need to worry about your child’s safety or about planet earth. Instead of scouting the markets for organic colors, turn this into an activity itself. Making organic colors can be part of the celebration as it can be a lot of fun and a great bonding activity. You can use wheat leaves, amla, henna, and other natural ingredients to make safe and natural colors for the festivities.
As a child, having everything planned out for you can be irksome, so what better way to get them excited in the celebrations than by allowing them to get involved in the planning? You can subtly give them suggestions and ideas, allowing them to feel like it was all their doing! Don’t forget that the activity is about them, not about you; so, help them incorporate ideas and party-activities that they would love to include. To make them feel even more important, you can create cute badges that display their status as ‘organizing committee’ members.
Parents often complain about their kids watching too much TV these days, but that is also because they often don’t have other avenues of entertainment. Plan a puppet show for your kids to convey a social story or to illustrate the historic and religious significance of Holi. This will be one of the most unique forms of entertainment and you can be sure that your child will be instantly reeled in. Just be warned that you may have to put on puppet shows more frequently, as you will be inundated with requests!
Most of us fondly recall our childhood memories, very often revolving around the preparation of Diwali or Christmas sweets. Yes, kids love sweets, but the activity of making them is much more valuable as a family-bonding experience. This is how memories are made. This Holi take the time to make sweets with your children. Give them simple tasks and get them involved. Allow them to help with chores like stirring the batter, kneading the dough, and so on. You can even try making chocolate variations of traditional sweets. Just keep in mind that this is about having fun as a family, not about making the best possible sweets.
You can help your kids become better stewards of the environment by helping them enjoy an activity that celebrates the beauty of nature by making eco-friendly craft flowers. Craft activities are stimulating for children, allowing them to think out of the box, while having fun. Help them make colorful bouquets to celebrate the festival of Holi. You can even incorporate traditional Holi colors made from organic and herbal products into the creations by using small circular packets of the colors as a stick-on eye or disk for each flower.
Values of compassion and empathy are absorbed at an early age, so encourage your child to think about those who are less fortunate than them, while they are still young. Joyous occasions like Holi are the ideal time to visit others and share in the happiness. This year take your children on visits to orphanages, old-age homes, and other shelters, where they can share their joy and enthusiasm for the festival. While helping to spread cheer they will also learn valuable life lessons that will stay with them forever.
There is growing concern about the state of the environment because of the widespread use of plastic and the wastage of natural resources like water. These issues have put a dampener on Holi celebrations, as kids had fun playing with plastic bags and balloons filled with water in the past. This year, get your child interested in Holi by embracing the colorful nature of the festival in an environmentally friendly manner. Instead of wasting water and using plastic bags, introduce them to the art of paper mache. With just a little glue, cardboard, and paint they can transform old newspapers into colorful works of art. They can even use these skills to create vibrant paper mache gifts that resonate with the flavor of the festival.
Pichkaris became such a craze in the last few decades that it is hard to imagine celebrating Holi without these fun toys. Here is a unique way to enjoy the thrill of playing with them, without having to deal with the guilt of water wastage. Fill these toys with fruit juices instead of using water and allow your kids to drink from them. You can even liven things up by creating games in which you have to squirt juice from the pichkaris into each others’ mouths! This is undeniably plenty of fun and does not involve any wastage of water.
With these exciting activities you can be sure that the festive season will be a time of joyous celebration, just as it’s meant to be. Rest assured that once you do try out these activities, henceforth, your kids will be looking forward to Holi every year!
