Diwali - Introducing and including toddler in all things festivals !

💥💥 H A P P Y D I W A L I !!!! 💥💥

Happy Diwali and prosperous new year!!! Diwali being one of the biggesssttt and brighteesstt festivals we celebrate, it is FULL of traditions and festivities and so much MORE!!

I wanted to introduce a lot of traditions but wanted her to understand what it means by celebrating Diwali. Have her experience how I celebrated Diwali when I grew up in India.

Growing up, it always meant helping mom, doing things around the house, decorating, firecrackers etc. I love the helping your mommy + daddy part! I feel this a great way to involve your toddler and they feel like they did something SO SPECIAL and IMPT.

We started off by getting some earthen diya's and then coloring them with paint. You don't have to be the best painter / artist , we literally colored them in ONE color. But it was great way of introducing her to earthen diya's and talk about what we do.. When we light them at night, she was so happy to see her colored diya's being used..

Simple diya

After coloring

During the day of Diwali, as a tradition we draw rangoli at the entrance. And so we did! We did a very very basic design - flower, with big petals that the toddler can fill colors in... Obviously, we had spill overs and messy designs. But hey, that the best rangoli, I have ever made.

Diwali is spread over multiple days, "Lakshmi pujan", "Dhanteras" where we do puja(prayers) and so many different things. We included Toddler S not only in the aartis (devotional songs) but in puja preparations like bathing the idols or offering flowers, etc. We don't shy from introducing holding aarti thali's with diya's (adult supervision required) and we did that.

There are a few more, I can think of which we could have done, but there's always next time :-)

Enjoy!

Comments

Kid friendly wineries!

Visiting wineries with a toddler, it is a requirement to look for wineries that are kid friendly! As we continue our wine adventure, I plan on sharing kid friendly wineries as we explore! Napa Castello Di Amorosa A Tuscan style castle winery with beautiful views! Plan on making reservation during summer, holidays or weekends - It’s a popular spot and guided tours can be sold out. If you don’t plan on doing a guided tour, they offer general admission for two levels of the castle and wine tasting. The castle has grass area outside with some trees. Trees are great on hot summer day to sit and relax. Winery comes with emus, peacocks, goats, sheep and chicken. Great for kids to run around, and play with the animals. The coolest dungeon tasting room, lets you enjoy some wine tasting while the kids are kept happily occupied with breadsticks and grape juice. A knight’s suit of armor in the corner completes the ambiance.St Helena downtown is just

How do I setup an open ended play space?

Navigating our way to building a "yes" space with has endless possibilities! Once I got rid of all the passive toys(milder way of saying battery operated, self entertaining toys), I started thinking of what can I add. I wanted to be cautious that I don't make this an expensive affair. Be more reasonable understanding this is an experiment but also knowing that I should try! Reading through a lot of article, experiences etc, there was a very common theme in all of them. RE-USABLE!!! I am learning as I go too, so from how I have interpreted this is - You want to add things that are natural can be re-purposed in various different way in various different types of activities. Here are some examples : Play Dough Wooden blocks Sand Water Paint Sticks, leaves, pine cones etc They are sounds simple, doable and things that make sense. These don't cost a fortune too, so I started with them. I already had some like play dough, sand, etc. An

Endless Possibilities! - Our introduction to open ended play.

Starting our journey with understanding, building an open ended play environment! Well, it all started when I felt like kids are meant to explore, be curious and NOT necessarily just follow instructions. Most of the toys today are very instructions based, match the shapes, color within borders, follow the path etc etc. I saw that my toddler was getting good at following instructions and doing exactly what it said! Shouldn't this be like a win! I actually started feeling like I was taking away the creativity, making more instruction following kid. I am not in any way saying kids shouldn't follow instructions, they absolutely should learn too. And in many things they should, but while they play, do things, maybe NOT. That's when I started exploring what would it be like if we weren't into these toys and having kids follow instructions to create things/play only in a certain way. The first thing I noticed was these battery operated toys. They ar

Wandering Toddler

Search This Blog