In November we spent a week finding out about the Hindu festival of Diwali. We used books and videos to find out how to prepare for Diwali and what happens during thecelebration. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita so that we knew why Hindus celebrate Diwali.
During this week we made our own Diva lamps by shaping clay with our hands and then using creative materials to decorate it. We talked about how the clay felt and we tried hard to use controlled fine motor movements to sprinkle the glitter on.
We decorated the ground outside the nursery doors using chalk to make Rangoli patterns and used creative materials inside nursery to make Rangoli patterns on paper.
At the end of our Diwali topic we had a Diwali celebration day during which, we lit our candles, made and ate our special sweets, danced and watched a video of some Diwali fireworks. The cooking activity provided an opportunity to talk about measures and to use some big stirring movements to promote upper body strength. Dancing also helped us to develop our muscles and gross motor movements as well as giving us the opportunity to move rhythmically.
While watching the fireworks we talked about likes and dislikes and about feeling scared as well as talking about loud and quiet sounds.
