Let’s talk Diwali 🙂 Why am I talking about diwali this earlier? Yeah, I am excited to be part of “Montessori for the holidays” blog hop series along with other amazing Montessori bloggers.Please check out the previous blog post on this series here on when hippos talk.
For those who don’t know what diwali is, it’s not just a Hindu festival, it’s an identity of the Indians. It could be simply termed as ‘festival of lights’ which is believed to dispel darkness and bring in the light of clarity. The whole country is excited during this season and there is so much of hope and joy in the air. There would be loads of deepams/diyas in every corner of India, houses being decorated with flowers and garlands and the aroma of sandalwood, incense and vadas being fried lifts your spirit 🙂
And there is no shortage of things to do with children during this festival season and this is how we would be doing it.
Lamp size sorting
Terracotta is Indians’ version of glass. They are nature friendly and we have them as a part of our Montessori classrooms. We got in some of these lamps and the size difference was so obvious that they were sorted based on its size. We were polishing our pre-math and visual discrimination skills.
Flower rangoli on Water:
This is adapted from the classic practical life activity of flower arrangement in the Montessori classrooms. This one is simple, easy to do yet so refreshing for the soul and eyes. This one went on to the nature table after we were done.
My little one hasn’t mastered scissor skills yet, so I had to help him on cutting the stem tips.
Skills practiced:Pouring,sequencing and cleaning up.
Leaf Lacing/ma thoran
Ma-Mango, Thoran-Banner
Diwali isn’t complete without hanging a ma-thoran on your entry doors. Ma thoran during Diwali is like wreaths during Christmas. 🙂
I had to punch the leaves and have them laced using a file string. Plus I couldn’t get my hands over ma-thoran since it isn’t the festive season yet, so this one is the beetle leaf illustration 🙂
Skills practiced: Fine motor skills
Number Cards and Counters using Lamps:
I had too many lamps and I had to put them to use. This one is for the older kids. We aren’t done with the red rods yet, so this activity would wait. I lay them on the mat to share them on this blog post.
Skills that could be practiced: number sequencing, odd and even numbers
I hope that you like what you read and would practice them with your little ones during this festive season 🙂
I know this is yet another lengthy blog-post when compared to some crisp ones here but I just can’t stop talking about festivity 🙂
Over to Magical Movement Company who would be blogging about outdoorsy holiday activity 🙂
Don’t miss out on other posts on this Montessori for the holiday series and follow them for updates on this series.
The Montessori Notebook ~ Montessori by Mom
When Hippos Talk ~ Little Fingers at Work ~ At Kid Level
Magical Movement Company ~ Christian Montessori Network
Montessori Unfiltered ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Montessori Nature
Welcome to Mommyhood ~ Our Montessori Home
I Believe in Montessori ~ Living Montessori Now
The Kavanaugh Report ~ The Natural Homeschool
This is a wonderful cultural post for what the “Diwali” is in India! I love it! Thank you for sharing these fun activities. 🙂
So happy to see a post about Divali ine of my all time favorites that is celebrated all over the world! I remember celebrating it in Fiji Islands! Beautiful article !
This is just wonderful! Thank you so much for joining us in the 15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays blog hop. Have a wonderful Christmas season!
What a beautiful blog about a beautiful Hindu celebration! I love the sharing of Indian culture and fantastic Montessori learning ideas all blended together. Great post! Thank you, Melani!
Oh yes, Diwali is coming soon in a couple of weeks! Fab ideas for handicraft, to decorate the house. Have a blessed season!
How fabulous to bring Montessori and Diwali together! What wonderful and simple activities. Thanks for sharing this.
so many hands on activities that’s what I have always loved about Montessori style of learning I believe we will try a few that you shared at here at our home as well.
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Beautiful set of activities!
These are beautiful activities. The lamps being graded by size is just brilliant! Those simple activities are my favorites. Thank you so much for posting!
This is so super exciting and interesting. It is so much in need to teach our kids about our traditions during festivals. These are something they will have fun and also learn in the process. Very creative.
Amazing activities to be honest. Kids can learn about our festive traditions alongside. What a thoughtful one. creative and fun acticities as well. I loved the mango thoran especially.
Such a creative concept, incorporating activities with Diwali decor. Lovely post
This is such a creative post. You have created such wonderful cultural activity ideas! I am definitely sharing this. Thank you!
Love all the ideas, especially the Diya sorting and flower rangoli. I am sure my son will get too excited with these two activities. Looking forward to trying these out. Thanks for sharing this amazing post.
These are wonderful ideas. You are very creative I must say to integrate learning with celebration 🙂 this is what I love about Montessori – you don’t need any special toys and equipments to learn something. Loved the lacing paan toran!
These are such great ideas. I will surely try these for babyT. The thoran making and flower rangoli look nice.
Great ideas! I’m going to try these with my toddler.
Very simple yet interesting activities. Loved all of them. Will definitely engage my Tweenies with these.
Sharing this post for the benefit of more moms 🙂
Great activities for kids. It is called festive learning. Superb ideas. You are a creative mom.