Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Holi is coming. festival of color.....festival of happiness.it is celebrated on the day of full moon in the hindu month of phalguna. it is the time when nature shakes off the cold winter and welcome the beauty of spring.
It is primarily celebrated in India, Nepal and other regions of world with significant Hindu population. Also known as symbol of victory of good over evil. this is a great time when all family and friends meet with each other and enjoy the festival with fun and masti. it is a great stress buster for kids too (because exam session is on during these days...)
So these are some pretty good reasons that why we wait for this festival whole year and want to enjoy festivities of this vibrant and colorful festival. this year why not give a new twist to this festival...A holy twist to make it more memorable. How...let's explore?

Do not forget to share mythological story with kids- Although Holi is renowned for its spirit for fun and enjoy, but at the same time it has a great mythological importance too. we all know about "Bhakat prahlad and Holika. A demon king Hiranykashyap demands that every one should worship only him and when his own son Prahlad (who was a true devotee of lard Vishnu) was disagree, he tried to kill him by various method and f has called his devil sister Holika (she was blessing that she could not burnt in fire) who tried to burn Prahlad by taking him in her lap. but god has saved him from fire and Holika burnt in fire and turn in to ashes. And in the memory of this great mythological event we celebrate Holi eachyear. so just make your kids to introduce our ancient mythology. festivals are great time when we can do that and teach them moral values of our ancestors.

Activity- planning a Holi party. why not encourage your kids to perform a drama on mythological history of Holi. apart from amusement and entertainment they will learn a lot and this Holi will be their most memorable one.

Second history- is based on love of lord Radha- Krishna. it is believed that Krishna was jealous of fair comlexion of Radha, so applied color on her face making her one  like himself.

Activity- A good dance performance on any Radha-krishna song will be indelible. ( are ja re hat natkhat will be best song that can create frolic and antic touch to your party)

2- Try to play Dry Holi with natural and homemade colors- Although Holi is famous for wet colors and fun with water balloons, but this year try to save water and play dry Holi with homemade colors.
mixed corn starch or white flour with desirable food color can be a good option. other natural substance that can be used to make homemade natural color are-

Green color- heena powder
Red color- red sandalwood powder
Yellow color- mixed besan with turmeric powder
Brown color- coffee powder
These all may be an ideal substitute for artificial and chemical rich colors, that can cause potential hazard to our health.

3. Be creative and crafty- Enjoy the pleasure of festival with creativity. explore your imagination and try some colorful simple crafts to set the good mood. we had already started pre- holi crafts. here i am sharing two of them.kids love colors and my daughters too. so first craft we had selected is-

-Holi card-
Material needed- construction paper, scissor and paint colors.
Method- 1. cut the paper in desirable shape and design a nice border on it.
2- dip your child's hand in paint and make a hand print.


3- Write down "Happy Holi" message and decorate it with other decorative matreial.




Spring welcome flower art- another very simple activity to explain the kids about whether change. we can also explain them about spring and flower blossoming.

material needed- construction paper, tissue paper, yarn or thread, glue, colors,

Method- cut the tissue paper in small square shape. you may keep it white or color with any color. we used yellow color.

2. Draw a tree with branches in sheet.
3- Glue a yarn at the place of branches and stem or color it with brown color.
4- Scramble tissue paper and glue it like flower.

5- Write down the message of " Welcome spring". your simple spring welcome flower art is ready.

4- Indulge in healthy snacks and give a healthy twist to your favourite recipes.
1.Kids love idli. Try this festival season multicolour idli. Use routine idli batter and make it colourful by using different colour puree (for ex- use beetroot for pink, carrot for orange and spinach for green puree) mixed it with idli batter and steam it like routine idli. Your Holi especial healthy colourful snack is ready
2. Puri and namakpare- are routine dishes for Holi. Make a healthy twist by using different puree. My kids love beet root puri. A healthy and colourful version of simple dish.
3. Vegetable and fruit taster plater- usually kids do not like fruits and vegetables. Arrange a platter of different fruits and vegetables (try to make plater attractive and colourful) and asked them to taste it.
So these are my plans to celebrate Holi in Holy style this year. What is yours? Do not forget to share.