Republic Day 2022 - India themed activities and crafts for kids

Republic Day 2022 -  India themed activities and crafts for kids. 

Tri-color dress code or traditional wear - 

This allows children to  imbibe the different cultures of our country and brings in a feeling of unity. Dress up and learn the colors of the flag in a fun way. 

Draw / Color / Paint our national flag.

No matter what you have planned for this day. Allow your child / children to start the day by making our Indian flag. Give them colors/ paints / pom poms / colored paper and let them use their imagination and recreate the Indian flag. Show a demo of the colors of our flag and teach them the significance of each color.

saffron colour indicates the strength and courage of the country. 

White indicates peace and truth. 

Green represents the fertility, growth, and auspiciousness of our land. 

Sing the national anthem together after making the Indian flag 🇮🇳

Once they complete making their flag, remember to click their picture with them holding their flag.

Watching the Republic Day parade on television and having a pretend play the same way at home with family members. 

Eg - Doing the march past, learning to salute, playing toy drums, etc

Republic Day speech - For older kids let them allow a speech and present it in front of the entire family.

Learning the states and capitals of our country. To start with the basics we can teach that our country is divided into different that's ruled by capitals and teach the state we live in with the capital.

Eg- We live in the state of Maharashtra and the capital is Mumbai. 

Children are quick at grasping and can learn names faster than we think. 

Tricolour Food and Party at Home. kids will be overexcited to prepare  delicious tricoloured foods. Tricolor sandwiches with an orange chutney, green chutney and green cucumber, orange grated carrots. 

Make a tricolor salad,

Tricolor rice with green spinach. 

Children enjoy decorating the plate with food , so prepare the basic and allow them to decorate it in a plate. 

Learning regional dances 

Play some music and learn some basic dance steps of any region of our country, like Bharatnatyam , Kathakali . You can get the basic steps from utube when you search the internet.

Reading the Indian constitution and understanding it.

Being a teacher , I know the children have learnt to say the Constitution very well, however when I ask them what they understand from it, they are blank. Hence it's important to let them understand a few pointers from it. 

We also made a few basic rules for our classroom for better understanding.

You can make your child make a few basic rules to be followed at home. 

Eg- We made a few rules too. Eating our meals on the dining table, no television while eating. 

Making our bed in the morning when we wake up. Keeping our toys in place once we finish playing. 

Three simple rules. Keep it simple and let your child decide the rules this way they will be motivated to follow them. 

As said by Benjamin Franklin – “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” So there is no better way to teach our kids but to involve them.

Have a fun filled day.

Stay home , stay safe

New Year's Resolution - Parenting edition 🐰

New Year's Resolution 2022

Parenting edition

We all make resolutions for ourselves, but it's equally important to make resolutions for our children too. These little resolutions help us to be better parents and learn from the mistakes we made last year. So here is a list of my resolutions which I intend to keep and share with all my mommy friends to help them understand the importance of gentle, effective and understanding parenting. 

It's simple and easy, however patience and time is the key factor here. 

🐤Respecting their decision - Let them decide what they want and what they don't. 

Eg - Taking their opinion what they want to eat and not forcing them to eat what we want them to eat. Keeping in mind the healthy food options. 

🐰No shouting / No hitting

This is most important since our children need love, love and loads of love to be nurtured into good human beings. Refrain from punishments, beating n scolding. It's really not required. 

🍉Very little junk food - All our kids love junk food and it's difficult to keep them away from junk food specially being at home. So I take my bunny shopping and allow him to select his health food options. I avoid bringing home junk so he doesn't get to eat any junk food. It's okay to treat them once in a way. 

🍒Spending quality time together -  You can buy thousands of toys for your child and they will never play with them. Buy them one toy and play together and see the difference. I do that with books and we love reading together. 

🐣Answering their questions / If you don't know the answer,  park them for later. But remember they need an answer. I try to answer his questions, since every answer is a new learning for my child and me too. 

Eg - He asked me why does it rain? So I knew he is ready to understand the concept of the rain cycle and over the next few days I explained the rain cycle to him, we drew it, talked about rain, saw rhe dark clouds in the sky, saw the lightening, heard the thunder, went out in the rain with our rain equipment and learnt about the different foods available in the rain, made pakoras and tea at home and explored so much together about the rain. Till he popped the next question. 

🦄Reasoning instead of saying the harsh word NO - A child doesn't understand the harsh word NO and hates it, since everytime No is said, he has been denied something he wants, needs or wants to explore on his own. without knowing the reason why he is denied an opportunity to explore on his own, if the reason is given to him or an alternative is provided, he can and will understand better. 

Eg- Instead of saying No for an adult pair of scissors, he is given a safe, child friendly pair of scissors. It's a win- win situation for both. Let the learning continue in a healthy and positive way. 

Less screen time, more WE time -Yes, like all parents, I give him screen time everyday but that's restricted to a short span of time. A child learns better with activities and games and puzzles. 

🎀Storytelling before bedtimebedtime - The advantages of this simple activity. 

Builds a healthy relationship

Improves and increases the vocabulary

Gives your child sound and peaceful sleep

I remember my grandfather telling us the same bedtime story every night and we enjoyed listening to him. Remember children enjoy repeatition and it's okay to repeat stories.

🌈Saying I LOVE YOU daily and meaning it. We love our children and its absolutely necessary to show and feel our emotions. Saying these words when they need it the most does wonders. When they accidentally drop something or get hurt, all they need is a warm hug and the golden words, I Love you. 

Happy 2022 mommies, follow my blog 👣 for more parenting blogs.  Together we can make a huge difference for our children. 

What's your new year's resolution? What's your new year's resolution for your children? Mention in the comments below.