Free printable Holi Festival of Colors activities, Hindu Indian crafts, lesson plans

Holi is the Hindu Festival of Colors and is celebrated on March 24 in 2016. People in Indian celebrate by tossing colored powder or spraying each other with colored liquid. Holi iscelebrated on the full moon, called Phalgun Purnima or Pooranmash. Holi begins with the Holika Dahan--ceremonial bonfires which purge evil spirits, which are lit one day before Holi. Holi comes in the Hindu calendar month of Phalgun. Holi falls in late March to early April in the western calendar. Here are free printable Holi Indian crafts, greeting cards and lessons to help kids understand the Indian Holi Festival of Colors. Teachers, use these free printable Holi activities for social studies lessons. Homeschool parents, why not explore Holi Festival of Colors with kids?

Got Free Cards has free printable Holi greeting cards and Indian crafts. Holi is a happy holiday, so sending cards would be appropriate. It celebrates the triumph of Prahlada (with the help of Lord Vishnu) over Prahlada's jealous father Hiranyakashipu, king of the demons. The Rig Veda--the oldest of the four Hindu Vedic texts--tells how Prahlada loved Lord Vishnu and was made to sit with his demon sister Holika. Holika was consumed and Prahlada was saved. So bonfires are built at Holi to ward of Holika's wrath.

Craftionary has free printable Holi greeting cards in bright colors. They show images of fireworks, colored chalks and powders and other Holi images. These cheerful messages help spread the Holi Festival of Colors joy. Click "black and white" or "black ink cartridge" or "print in grayscale" on your printer preferences menu. Then children can use cards as coloring pages, too. The Color has free printable Hindu Holi coloring pages, featuring bonfires, people spraying each other, as well as Indian Holi foods like balushahi, Printable Colouring Pages has challenging free printable Holi festival of colors Indian crafts andcoloring pages. Several could be used as Holi greeting cards, place mats or party decorations.

The University of Texas has a free printable Holi lessons and Inidan crafts unit with vocabulary, history, Indian crafts, geography, literature and social studies extensions. Mr. Donn has free printable Holi lessons, worksheets, book connections, Indian crafts and kids activities to help children celebrate the Holi Festival of Colors. This website is always a good place to get well-researched, child-friendly age-appropriate content, especially for world holidays. BBC has free printable Holi activities, materials, lessons, worksheets and discussions on Holi. Perfect for history and world religions teachers. Use for units on Hinduism. There are Hindu Diwali materials to explore another popular Indian holiday.

To make your own Holi spray, mix food coloring and water or dissolved gelatin and water. This way it won't stain. To wish someone a good Holi, say "Holi Hai!" But watch out for the colored spritzer!

Free printable coloring pages on The Little Prince, Le Petit Prince lesson plans

Mark Osborne's cartoon feature "The Little Prince" is turning heads in much the same way Le Petit Prince book, by Antione de Saint-Exupery did in 1943. The Little Prince cartoon leads the list at the New York International Children's Film Festival. The modern world may not be as jaded as WWII France. But perhaps the same need exists for the simple truth and beauty in this story.

It's a book about children, but it's for adults who would be as wise as children. There are many lesson plans for grownups in the story. It's good to see this charming tale translated from French and brought to the screen. Time was when every literate kid had a copy of Le Petit Prince or The Little Prince on her bookshelf (both if she was lucky). But the story was all but forgotten in children's literature lesson plans.

Here are free printable cartoon coloring pages from The Little Prince book and movie. Characters are not named but are referred to as a child would, by their characteristics--The Mother, Mr. Prince, the Aviator, the Snake, the Conceited Man, the Drunkard, the King, the Rose and of course, The Little Prince and his friend the Fox. Each of the grownups peoples his own asteroid. Some represent different adult foibles or character flaws. Others Le Petit Prince respects, like the Lamplighter who is simple. It's an allegorical parable and should be required reading in high school literature lesson plans

Hello Kids has some more free printable coloring pages from Le Petie Prince illustrations. This website has a few more free printable coloring pages from The Little Prince. Coloriages, a French site has free printable Le Petit Prince coloring pages from the book. The movie is a 3D stop-motion animated film does some nice things with animation. To show the passage of time, it uses modern cartoon styles for the present and de Saint-Exupery illustrations from Le Petit Prince in flashbacks. This technique could be emphasized in films in literature lesson plans. Here are lesson plans from Spark Notes on The Little Prince.