One advantage of living in the Bay area is that your children have a chance to meet people from many different cultures. You can help your child learn about other nationalities and people by doing the following 3 activities that celebrate multi-cultural holidays:
Chinese New Year
In 2016, the year of the goat, Chinese New Year will be celebrated on Monday, February 8. To celebrate, decorate your house with paper lanterns. Follow any of the easy directions for Chinese Lantern Crafts at Activity Village. Put your lanterns on the dining room table or around the house. Light them up with small flashlights or LED candles. You might want to get Chinese take-out, and after eating, use the chopsticks to try to pick up mini-marshmallows.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish victory over the Syrian ruler who would not let them worship their own God. This Jewish "Festival of Lights" will be December 6-14 in 2015. Jews celebrate the miracle of a lamp which remained lit for 8 days by lighting a new candle on the menorah for each day. Make a mini-menorah with your children using air-drying clay and birthday candles following these directions. Light the candles and eat a traditional Hanukkah food, jelly donuts, also called Chanukah Donuts; or if you are really brave, you can try making your own using this recipe.
Kwanzaa
Celebrating the heritage of the African-American culture, Kwanzaa starts on December 26 and ends on January 1. Kwanzaa is Swahili for "First Fruits of the Harvest" and commemorates harvest celebrations held in Africa. Each day of the holiday is used to recognize principles important to the African-American community like work, cooperation, creativity and faith. Start by reading books like "K is for Kwanzaa" with your child. Like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa also lights a candle every day on a 7-candle kinara. Make an easy paper plate kinara with your child following this video. Use Kwanzaa colors of black, red, green and yellow to make a paper place mat representing straw place mats used in Africa. Eat Kwanzaa foods like peanuts, black-eyed peas, fruit salad or coconut pie.