Celebrating Diwali Book Review

Books are a great way to learn about cultures and celebrations that we might not participate in ourselves, and there are a lot of great kids books that can help people of all ages understand different cultures and holidays they might not already know about.

Celebrating Diwali by Anjali Joshi is a brief book that covers the basics of the five-day festival of light that is celebrated by about 1 in 7 people in the world across 90 countries.

Diwali is celebrated by several different religions, and the traditions and stories about the holiday can vary among groups and families. The main commonality is that it is seen as a triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.

In some cultures the holiday is said to celebrate Prince Rama’s defeat of the demon Ravan, who had kidnapped his wife, Suta. Other Diwali tales highlight the victory of Krishna over the demon Narakasura, while other religious groups have other stories to celebrate.

The book outlines the celebrations and what the different days of the holiday are said to stand for, and how it is celebrated in different religious traditions. It also includes crafts, recipes and games for your Diwali celebration.

It provides a nice, quick overview of Diwali for people who don’t have much knowledge of the celebration and does a good job of covering different ways it might be celebrated by people of different religious backgrounds.

About the book: 50 pages, paperback, published September 2022 by Rockridge Press. Suggested retail price $7.99.

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Diwali Printables for Kids

Not all of us live where there is a lot of snow in the winter (or even where it is winter as I write this, but it can still be fun to learn about snow, what it is and why it falls, so let’s get into it!

First, let’s talk snowflake science with The Homeschool Scientist. They have a free prinatble snowflake science less that’s more than 60 pages long and good for multiple grade levels. The blog post linked here includes some fun snow facts, information about how snowflakes form and why they are both six-sided and (probably) all different.

Expressive Monkey has a great post about how snowflakes are formed and why they have six arms, and also shows some of the pictures taken by W. A. Bentley in the 1920s (more on him below).

You can also grab a free snow facts worksheet with space for kids to draw their own unique snowflakes from Education.com. Simple Living Creative Learning also has a paid snow study resource set that includes things like different types of snowflakes, the snow cycle, symmetry drawing with snowflakes, tips for snow safety, snow-related vocabulary and more.

Homeschool Superfreak has another great page for learning about snowflakes, which includes information about Snowflake Bentley, a great book to read (and person to learn about). It includes lesson plan ideas and links to activities.

Speaking of activities, if you happen to have snow around you can make snow ice cream or maple candy, paint on snow or with snow, or do some snow science experiments. If you get a ton of snow you could maybe even build an igloo or snow structure.

If you don’t get snow you can learn about how animals keep warm in the snow and cold temperatures with this experiment from I Can Teach My Child. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls can help you learn why big paws (or snowshoes) make it easier to walk in the snow. Or make a snowstorm in a jar like this one from MomBrite.

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