This post is a collaboration of Raising World Children and CultureDabba but the opinions are of the author.
The Festival of Lights is coming! It brightens up our lives with love and hope. Diwali is the time to celebrate the essence of family. Festivals, though, are not only a time to splurge, eat and enjoy. They a special time to nurture values.
Values like –
- Curiosity – having healthy dialogues about mythological stories of origin of festivals.
- Empathy – understanding the root of the many flawed characters in the tales mentioned.
- Being inclusive – taking the time to connect with all our friends and family.
- Experiencing life with all our senses – food, fireworks, new clothes, gifts.
- Spending wisely – choosing to create gifts, decor by hand.
- Being yourself – creatively and in expression.
- Appreciating talents and art.
and much more.
We can make this Deepavali and any festival a great time for significant connection. And for that one of the outstanding sources I found was the Diwali edition of CultureDabba, a great initiative to make Indian Mythology, Diwali and even India relatable to kids from around the world. How does it do that?
Stories –
The stories behind festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Dussehra, and of course Deepavali or any festival around the world are wondrous examples of teaching kids how there is always good within all that seems bad. Mythology though, is hard to comprehend by young minds. It is paramount we connect these stories to real world examples to make them easier to understand and digest.
They even have stories long forgotten. Stories that talk about moral values that help kids nurture their own qualities. Akbar Birbal, Panchatantra all were wonderful to share again with my children. Tales which I myself had forgotten long ago.
Encouraging Curiosity –
Stories are just a tip of this colorful iceberg! They go onto talk about the festival and how it is celebrated in vibrant detail. Some customs were new to even me and the kids and I had fun discussing the same with each other. I can foresee some new traditions beginning soon.
Crafts –
The magazine has DIY crafts for kids to do on their own. In the issue we got, there is a card that you can make and replicate for your family and friends. They even have coloring pages to encourage kids to do their own thing. Creating something helps kids use their imagination and helps them relate better to any occasion/topic.
Laughter and Riddles –
Aunty Bindi tickles the kids’ brains with fun, unique riddles. My kids had a great time guessing what the answers were. They now ask all their friends the same and share the jokes that are there in the joke section.
Stimulating the Mind With Light Exercises –
Crosswords, mazes, find the differences and more were a pleasant surprise to be included. We truly enjoyed together finding the answers and played along.
Explore A City –
CultureDabba truly brings India to the finger tips by sharing special things to do in a city. The one we have is Delhi and even I was surprised to learn unique features about a city in India I have never visited.
The magazine even has codes that you can go online and use to access more fun for your kids.
CultureDabba Giveaway
It was for these reasons and the colorful presentation that Raising World Children is happy bring to you a special Giveway this Diwali, with not one but three winners !
One lucky winner will get a gift set of three different festivals filled with the above and more and two bonus winners will get copies of the Diwali edition to cherish to empower kids understand the essence and celebration of Diwali l
You do not want to miss out on three chances to win this amazingly fun filled magazine bringing kids closer to Indian culture in ways they are so used to these days. Click here !
10 Responses
This seems like such a great activity for the kiddos!!
Loved reading this post! So interesting and SO cool! I’ve always wanted to go to the festival of lights, the pictures of it look absolutely incredible!
What wonderful ideas it makes you consider! I think this would be an excellent festival for anyone to celebrate.
Very interested. We have a large east indian population where I live and I always wondered about their different types of celebrations.
This is so cool! I love anything that gives us insight into different cultures and traditions! Awesome!
Sounds like a great resource to help children connect with their Indian heritage. Beautifully done!
This looks like so much fun. I have also found that doing fun activities and crafts helps kids to remember things better and help them to create memories of their own.
This looks awesome! I love learning about holidays and traditions and I love books and magazines that allow me to teach them to my daughter!
Looks like a great activity we can do with our kids. Thank you for sharing this post.
I love this. We love to celebrate the festivals of other cultures so our kids realize that there is more to the world than just what we know.