In Preschool 1 we celebrated the Lohri festival. The Lohri festival is celebrated to mark the end of the winter season. It is also called the harvest festival, where people create a bonfire and dance around it to celebrate the harvest of crops. On this day, the farmers pray and show gratitude for their crops before the harvesting begins and pray to Lord Agni (fire) to bless their land with abundance. People enjoy the festival by flying kites while playing loud music to make the festival more special.
The group made kites and decorated them with markers as the children drew pictures using their imagination. Stark said, “I am making a monster foot” and he named his kite “Monster kite”. Promise loves polar bears, so he drew a bear on his kite and also wrote the alphabet. Some children said they are making Paw Patrol kites and monster kites. The children had fun while making their kites and they talked about why they were making them. During outdoor time we brought our kites outside to make them fly. The children were really excited to fly their kites and Zayn commented, “My kite is dancing in the air”. When they saw the kites in the air, they began to applaud and jump. At pick up time the festival was explained to some of the parents, when they asked about their day.
Through this activity, children learnt about a festival from another culture. They enhanced their fine motor skills by using crayons to draw pictures and gross motor skills by running, walking or jumping while flying the kites. The children improved their social and communication skills by talking to each other about their favorite things like paw patrol, monsters, bears etcetera.
This activity is an illustration of cultural integration. An Indian parent saw the kite, she felt a sense of belonging and started talking about the way they celebrate this festival. The other parents showed excitement when we explained about the festival.
