Happy Birthday Krishna Kanhaiya!
Date: August 17 & 18, 2022
Theme: A Traditional Festival
Facilitators: Simran K, Simran J, Raveena, Jasmine and Sweecha.
Introduction
Janmashtami is a religious festival celebrated in India every year. This day commemorates the birth of Lord Krishna, an hindu mythological god. The class experienced the ethos of this festival in the class for the whole two days.
How did it go?
Day 1: The day began with the faces of the kids dressed up in traditional attires. The class was also adorned with colorful dupattas. During work-time, the kids got introduced to the earthen pots/Matkas that is a popular item around this festival, since he used to eat Makhan/Butter stored in the pots. They decorated the pots with confetti and pasted cotton over the matkas.
Subsequently, the kids were given real mini earthen pots that they decorated using colorful bead stickers. It was interesting to watch how these kids handled the matkas with so much care and after they finished embellishing, the matkas were packed to be carried home with them. Lastly, the feather and scarf play gave the kids quite a sensorial experience.
Day 2: Each kid dressed up as Lord Krishna or ‘Radha’ and their excitement towards the class decorative items like balloons and flowers was quite uplifting.
With the very first activity, the kids explored marigold flowers (pasting it over the ‘Jhula’/mini swing and tearing the petals and over it over each other). In the small group, the kids indulged in preparing a sweet snack of mixing butter with sugar and eating it.
The day was followed by a short movie that depicted Lord Krishna's birth. Lastly, the toddlers played flutes and mirrored a traditional act of pulling and pushing the ‘jhula’ over which Lord Krishna (made out of a Conical grapad) sat.
Overall, these two days marked the celebration of a cultural event that gave space to the arthlings to recreate a mythological God’s life events.
Skills Enhancement
Cultural Knowledge enhancement: Celebrating a cultural event can inform the toddlers about who they are and how they connect with others around them, thereby enhancing their sense of belongingness, Knowledge and leading to holistic development.
Creativity Upliftment: The toddlers engaged in numerous activities in the last two days that involved exploring different sensorial experiences, engaging with fine and gross motor skills and finally immersing in the free play around the theme that motivated them to use their personal agency and imaginative skills.
Socio-Emotional skills: The toddlers made colorful memories and many new friendships were formed. Krishay engaged in caressing Hriday’s head and Ratujit held Neyansh’s hand and they walked together. It is believed that celebrations can bring people together and induce many socialization skills in toddlers.