Facts about Diwali and Indian Celebrations for Kids

Diwali is a popular choice when doing a holidays around the world unit in an elementary classroom. If this is not a holiday you celebrate personally, you may not know a lot about it. These facts and resources about Diwali will help you plan and prep a comprehensive unit that your students will enjoy.

Diwali in India is an interesting topic to explore with elementary students. This Diwali in India resource can be used as a stand alone unit or as part of a larger holidays around the world unit. It includes everything you need to teach your students about this special winter holiday, even facts about Diwali to help you become familiar with the topic.

Why You Should Teach Students about Diwali

The months of November and December are a great time of year to teach students about the different holidays and celebrations that take place around the world this time of year. Students are already thinking about the upcoming holidays, so it makes sense to use this excitement to engage them in their learning. There are so many different ways to tie this topic into your curriculum – especially social studies and literacy standards!

Diwali in India is a particularly interesting topic to explore because some of your students may have never heard of it before. Students can learn about a culture and set of traditions that are different from their own. Learning about this holiday creates an interesting opportunity for students to compare and contrast this holiday’s traditions and what their own holiday traditions look like. For your students who do celebrate this holiday, it’s a great way to invite them to share about their experiences and recognize the value in their holiday and family traditions.

5 Facts about Diwali in India

Diwali is the Hindu “festival of lights” which celebrates the New Year.
Diwali is India’s most important holiday.
The festival is calculated by the lunar Hindu calendar, so it falls on different days each year.
It is a five-day celebration.
Fireworks and firecrackers are often a part of Diwali celebrations.

Diwali Unit

What’s Included?

This Diwali resource includes the following:

resource overview that identifies all of the printables included in the product
teaching ideas that offer suggestions for how to implement the resources in your classroom
organizational tools to help you keep track of the resources you add to this thematic unit
book suggestions to help you find relevant read alouds you might like to use as part of your unit
close reading passage for both teachers and students to learn more about the holiday
printable book for students to use to learn about the holiday
two-column notes graphic organizer so your students can organize their ideas and the research they collect
top-down web graphic organizer so your students can take the information they collected and transfer it into a paragraph framework
cover pages that students can color in or design their own illustration
geography map to help students make sense of where the country is in relation to themselves
flag bunting that looks great displayed on a bulletin board
flag coloring page that pairs well with the writing project and makes a great bulletin board
postcards so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
travel scrapbook so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
travel journal so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
art project to engage your students in a fun learning experience based on an academic topic
recipe for students to bring home, share with their families, and enjoy a hands-on learning extension
digital version of the product so students can access the materials in school and at home

5 Reasons Why You Will Love It

This resource includes a bunch of activities, so it’s a great value!
Many of the resources are completely print and go, which saves you lots of prep time.
You can customize it to fit your needs by selecting which included activities you implement.
The activities are open-ended making it easier to differentiate and make modifications and enabling you to use this in multiple grade levels.
It’s a great way to keep students engaged during a month where that can feel extra challenging!

A Quick Summary

This is an excerpt from the reading passage and student mini-booklet that can be found in the Diwali unit:

“Diwali is the Hindu ‘festival of lights’ which celebrates the New Year. It is India’s most important holiday. The festival is calculated by the lunar Hindu calendar so it falls on different days each year. It is celebrated in October or November.

Diwali is a very exciting and colorful holiday. It is a five day celebration. Diwali is held in honor of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Homes are cleaned to welcome the New Year and windows are opened so that Lakshmi can enter.”

Tips for Activating Schema

Like all lessons, you will want to begin by activating student schema and engaging them in their learning. It’s a great way to see if your students are familiar with the holiday, celebrate it personally, or know any facts about Diwali. You can do this by:

Locating India on a map.
Discussing India’s climate.
Inviting students to participate in mapping activities that help them understand where your students are in relation to India and the rest of the world.

Printable Diwali Resources

Please note that you can either choose to get these resources specific to Diwali in India on their own or as part of the popular cost-savings holidays around the world bundle which includes the following countries and holidays:

Australia
Brazil
China
France
Germany
Mexico
Italy
Israel
Holland / The Netherlands
Sweden
Spain
The United States
Christmas
Chinese New Year
Boxing Day
Diwali
Epiphany
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
Las Posadas
St. Lucia’s Day

The bundle also includes the following bonus materials:

Access to a digital portal for easy planning
Passports and country stamps
Luggage craft activity
Boarding passes
Travel map
Compare and contrast countries with Venn diagrams
Craft ideas
Scrapbook cover
Recipes

3 Diwali Craft and Project Ideas

In addition to the Holidays Around the World resources spotlighted above, a study about Diwali lends itself to a variety of other complementary projects like travel brochures, an animal research project, and crafts.

1. Travel Brochures

You could have your students create travel brochures by researching the country. It’s a fun and creative way for students to share the facts about Diwali they learned. This can be done in class or as a homework assignment to complement what you are doing in school. These printables travel brochures make it super simple!

2. Animal Research Projects

You could have your students learn about the wildlife native to India. This print and go animal research resource packet can be used over and over again through the school year because it was designed to be used when researching any animal.

If you need ideas specific to India, I suggest:

Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros
Bengal Tigers
Asiatic Lion
Lion Tailed Macaque

3. Diwali Crafts

Take some time to do a craft with your students to represent the country you are focusing on. It is so hard to fit in creative activities, but this is a perfect time.

Here is what we made when we studied Diwali:

You can see the instruction if needed for how we made this (as well as these other crafts we made to complement a study of many other countries) on my holidays around the world Pinterest board.