Learning about Kwanzaa – Lesson Plans

Kwanzaa is a celebration that I’ve written about a little in the past (see: Kwanzaa Activities for Kids) but I feel like it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves since it happens in the week after Christmas. It’s not a time most kids are in school, but you can talk about it as part of winter holidays around the world, or discuss it at home and talk about how you bring the principles of Kwanzaa to your family.

If you need a refresher on the basics, this coloring sheet from Crayola covers the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Kids Activities Blog has a set of printable fact sheets that talk about when it is celebrated, why it was started and what the celebration means. There are also lots of great videos about Kwanzaa for kids, including this song about the seven principles from Sesame Street and a Kwanzaa facts video by Twinkl.

Around the Kampfire has links to other videos and more ideas for talking about Kwanzaa in the classroom. They teach about Kwanzaa in a holidays around the world unit, which you can purchase from them if you need it. Mrs. Richardson’s Class also has a mini unit about Kwanzaa that you can buy that includes vocabulary cards, fact organizers, pocket sorting and a compare and contrast between Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

Crafting a Fun Life has a couple of great projects for your Kwanzaa study, including making a kinara (candle holder) craft out of simple shapes and a collage. She made hers using Kwanzaa stickers and paint, or you can print out Kwanzaa clip art from places like Free Images to use in your project. That’s where the kinara photo above came from.

Need more coloring pages to help your kids learn about Kwanzaa? This set of 17 pages from Academic Intelligence on Teachers Pay Teachers includes individual pages for the seven principles, as well as other images. Another good one on TPT is this Kwanzaa PowerPoint presentation from Shelia Melton, which is great for K-5 students. It goes into good detail about what the seven days mean and how Kwanzaa is celebrated.

I also like these activity sheets from Malisa Goes Digital on Etsy. They include fact cards that you can read and use as a memory game, cutting practice and two-piece matching puzzles.

Next Plan Idea:

Kwanzaa Activities for Kids

I really thought I had written more Grinch content than I seem to have over here. The only specific Grinch thing I’m finding is this Grinch science activities post. That’s definitely not enough of the green guy, so let’s look at some more Grinch activities and crafts for the classroom.

Make it a full Grinch Day in your classroom with these ideas and activities from The Friendly Teacher. I’m a sucker for a good Venn diagram! Michelle J Designs has some cute Grinch printable activities you can include, such as a dot to dot, Grinch trivia, word games and more.

Younger students can practice their scissor skills with these printable cutting pages from 3 Boys and a Dog. They also have a super cute Grinch code and decoding worksheets where kids can match the symbols to the letters and read the secret message. Christmas Countdown has a lot of great Grinch content, too, including a fun Grinch quiz that has questions about both the book and the movie. (Some of these activities are better for adults, but there are word searches and movie quotes and things, too.)

Grab some Grinch coloring pages for art area or to use at home from Cute Animals Coloring Pages.

I’ve done one easy Grinch craft that I shared on my blog when I made these as a craft for a Christmas party for my daughter’s class many, many years ago. You might have to order the green chenille stems in the correct color, but other than that it’s pretty easy to source the materials and easy to make as well.

You can also make a Grinch face with Popsicle sticks, like this one from Rainy Day Mum.

And this one is a bit of a deep cute, but you can make wreaths like the Whos have in the book with this tutorial from Babble Dabble Do. They’re so cute and not as obviously Grinchy, which is kind of fun.

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