Learning about Kwanzaa

December 17, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

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.

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Book Review: Record-Breaking USA

There’s something great about every state, and Clive Gifford has collected fun facts, trivia and firsts from every state in Record-Breaking USA: Celebrating America’s Biggest, Brightest and Bravest.

Each state gets a one or two-page spread, with facts scattered around the page and illustrations by Paul Hammond. The page lists a state nickname, the capital, state mammal, a fun fact and some famous residents, as well as firsts and record breaking events that happened in each state.

You’ll learn that Alabama is home to the biggest unclaimed baggage center in the world, that Florida is home to the most toxic tree (the manchineel tree, which has sap that can burn the skin and make people go blind, and its fruit is toxic) and that Iowa is home to the largest model of a strawberry, to name a few facts. Loma, Montana, holds the record for the largest temperature range in a day (from -54 to 49 degrees F, which is a 103 degree difference), while Ohio’s Geauga County once employed the smallest police dog on record, an 11-inch-tall chihuahua/rat terrier mix.

South Dakota has the world’s biggest Bigfoot statue, the cotton candy machine was invented in Tennessee, and a car that was 91 percent cake was driven (and eaten) in Washington state in 2021, now holding the record for the fastest moving mostly edible car.

As you might guess from these sample facts, kids will find this book funny and probably learn some things, too. In addition to the states there’s a page for Washington, D.C., where President Theodore Roosevelt broke the record for the most hands shaken in one day (8,513, a record that’s held since 1907), and the US territories, as well as records that cross state lines and span the globe.

Readers will also learn about records set in space and read what it takes to be a record breaker. There are even a few records listed that you can try to break yourself.

This fun and colorful book is sure to engage kids who love facts, and would be a great one to take along on your next road trip.

About the book: 96 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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