Kwanzaa Activities for Kids

Kwanzaa is a celebration that often gets overlooked at school for lots of reasons, not the least of which being its celebrated when most kids are not in school, the week after Christmas.

But it’s an important celebration for kids and adults to think about and honor, whether it’s something you do at home or in the classroom either before or after winter break.

If you need a refresher, Kwanzaa is a holiday created by Maulana Karenga and based on harvest festival traditions from southern and western Africa. It’s a seven-day celebration, with each day representing a principle of African heritage:

Umoja, or unity
Kujichagulia, self-determination
Ujima, collective work and responsibility
Ujamaa, cooperative economics
Nia, purpose
Kuumba, creativity
Imani, faith

A kinara, a candle holder with places for seven candles, is commonly used during kwanzaa, with one candle being lit each day. Homeschool Superfreak has more details including what order the candles are lit, other symbols common in Kwanzaa celebrations, and information about how the holiday was developed, who celebrates it, whether it is religious and more. They also have a digital resource for purchase that includes activities and recipes for celebrating Kwanzaa.

Homeschool of 1 has some coloring pages and fact sheets about Kwanzaa you can print and use at home or in a classroom. They include information about the history of Kwanzaa, the symbols and the principles.

HMH has an activity idea for each day of the week, including a printable memory game, instructions for making different symbols of Kwanzaa, and a recipe people can work together to make.

Activity Village has a cute handprint kinara kids can make, or make one out of a paper plate with instructions from Craft Club.

Another important symbol that’s easy to create by crafting is a woven mat, known as a mkeka, where other important items are placed on the table. You can make one with the instructions from Free Kids Crafts or Make and Takes.

This pretty unity cup from HGTV is a reminder of the community that comes together to celebrate Kwanzaa and that it is community that gets us through whatever troubles we face.

If you want to cook something for Kwanzaa, consider traditional African and African American foods like jerk chicken, gumbo, peanut stew or grits. Sweet potatoes, plantains and greens are other good options.

You can also check out some books about Kwanzaa, such as:

Together for Kwanzaa
My First Kwanzaa ABC Picture Book
Holidays around the World: Celebrate Kwanzaa (this book from National Geographic Kids is a good one, with photographs of real people celebrating, and the series includes lots of different holidays)
My Family Celebrates Kwanzaa
The Story of Kwanzaa

If your family celebrates Kwanzaa or you talk about it in your classroom, I’d love to hear about what you do!

[Kinara image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]

Next Plan Idea:

Book Review: African Icons

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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