During the month of March, the Toddlers had so much fun as we celebrated the Hindu Festival known as Holi and participated in lots of colourful experiences that brought about a sense of community and friendship. For one experience in particular they were presented with different colours on a white paper, that was inside a plastic sheet. First, the toddlers were very curious and slowly touched the colours using their fingers, only to discover that the paint was not getting on their hands. This sparked their creative side and they began to tap, squeeze, and spread the colours all over the paper. This different type of creative process created some colourful and beautiful art works and displayed the Tod squad’s artistic side. Holi is a vibrant Hindu festival of Colours, Love, and Spring, celebrating the triumph of good over evil, the arrival of spring, and new beginnings. In India, where Holi is a national holiday, festivities traditionally begin with Holika Dahan the night before the main event. People light bonfires to honour the triumph of righteousness and sing and dance around them. They might also throw wood, leaves, grains or chickpeas into the flames as a symbolic gesture of letting go of negativity and welcoming the new season with positivity. The following day, known as Rangwali Holi, streets burst with colour as scores of revelers playfully toss gulal (coloured powders) and water at each other. Parneet shared with the toddlers that Colours play a significant role in Holi. Each one represents various emotions and elements of nature. Red symbolizes love and fertility, Yellow signifies prosperity and new beginnings, Blue is associated with the divine Krishna and Green represents the rejuvenation of life and the beginning of Spring. Not only is the act of throwing these colours so much fun it’s also a way to celebrate the changing seasons and unify all that participate. Continuing on with our celebration of Holi, the toddlers also took part in a sensory rainbow foam soup experience was a huge hit. Using a concoction of dish soap, water, corn starch, liquid paints and whisks we worked together to create heaping mounds of colourful bubbles. The children then continued to use their fine motor skills to manipulate the foamy bubbles with their hands, mixing colour into colour creating a rainbow foam-like soup. This activity gave the toddlers the opportunity to further celebrate the Hindu celebration of Holi, as they explored with the bright coloured bubble foam. As described by our educator Parneet and Conestoga Student Jasmeen, we recalled that Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates Spring, Love, and New life. It's a colourful festival, with dancing, singing and throwing of powder paint and coloured water. Holi is also known as the "festival of colours". This sensory experience also had them exploring with textures and concepts such as volume and capacity. This was displayed as they would attempt to scoop up the bubbles using their hands and then transfer them into the small containers. “How many coloured bubbles can we fit inside our container?” inquired the educators. “Let’s see, what colours can we spy?” they asked. Together, we identified the colours Yellow, Orange, Blue, Green, Red and Pink. The toddlers loved watching the colourful water as it splashed and flowed from their hands back into the sensory bins. You could tell just how much fun they were having by the big smiles on their faces, colourful bubbles everywhere and the giggles that erupted as they explored.
