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Explore the Festival of Colors With Holi Activities
Christy Walters
February 4, 2026
Holi—also known as the Festival of Colors—is a Hindu celebration that marks the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil. Teaching Holi customs and traditions gives you an opportunity to introduce students to global culture while strengthening reading, writing, and historical understanding through meaningful classroom activities.
These Holi activities help you bring cultural learning into your ELA and social studies lessons using age-appropriate texts, videos, and skill-building resources. With Newsela ELA and Newsela Social Studies content, you can support students as they analyze informational texts, explore symbolism, and build background knowledge about religious traditions and cultural celebrations around the world.
[ELA Holi activities for reading, writing, and research](id-ela)
Key takeaways:
Holi activities support close reading and central idea skills using authentic cultural texts.
Students can analyze symbolism by examining how colors convey meaning across traditions.
ELA lessons let you integrate reading, discussion, and writing to deepen comprehension and cultural awareness.
Holi provides a cultural context to strengthen reading comprehension, analysis, and writing in ELA classes. By pairing informational texts and multimedia resources with focused skills practice, you can help students build cultural understanding while engaging with central ideas and symbolism.
Why is symbolism central to understanding Holi and other holidays?
Holi’s identity as the Festival of Colors makes it an easy access point for teaching symbolism. Exploring how colors represent emotions, values, and traditions helps students move beyond literal meaning and interpret deeper messages in texts.
Students can build symbolism skills by engaging with:
A lesson extension that asks students to write an analysis of meaningful colors in their own lives, like their school colors.
How can Holi texts help students identify the central idea?
Informational texts about Holi allow students to practice identifying central ideas while learning about the holiday’s origins, traditions, and seasonal significance. These texts encourage students to distinguish key details from supporting information and synthesize ideas across a passage.
Use Holi-focused texts and activities to help students:
Compare notetakers to see whether they included the same important information, and discuss how they can combine their differences to most accurately reflect the article’s central idea.
These strategies reinforce reading comprehension, collaboration, and evidence-based reasoning while grounding skills in meaningful cultural content.
[Holi history, traditions, and cultural significance in social studies](id-ss)
Key takeaways:
Holi activities can build cultural and religious literacy through historical context and traditions.
Students can explore how myths, rituals, and symbols shape cultural celebrations.
Social studies lessons let you connect global traditions to shared human values like renewal and justice.
Understanding Holi’s origins and traditions helps students appreciate the culture and religious significance of holidays celebrated around the world. In social studies classes, Holi gives meaningful context to help students explore belief systems, historical narratives, and global traditions.
Why is background knowledge important for understanding Holi?
For students who have never experienced Holi, background knowledge is essential for meaningful learning. Understanding the holiday’s religious roots, cultural practices, and historical narratives allows students to engage respectfully and thoughtfully with the celebration.
Use Newsela Social Studies resources to help students:
How is Holi traditionally celebrated around the world?
Holi is celebrated through vibrant rituals that symbolize renewal, joy, and the victory of good over evil. These traditions vary by region but share common themes rooted in Hindu mythology.
Cover all the major spring holidays in your classroom
Holi is one of many religious and cultural holidays celebrated during the spring, making it a natural fit for broader instruction around global traditions, belief systems, and cultural practices. Teaching Holi alongside other spring holidays helps students compare traditions, recognize shared values, and develop a deeper understanding of how religion and culture shape societies.
With Newsela’s suite of subject products, you can access news articles, primary sources, literature selections, and interactive videos that support instruction across ELA and social studies. These resources make it easier to teach holidays in context to build background knowledge, analyze texts, and engage in discussions.
To extend learning even further, explore our new Comparative Religions: Social Studies Elective Course. This curated collection includes content on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Students can examine religious history, holidays, core beliefs, and contemporary issues.
Not a Newsela customer yet? Sign up for Newsela Lite for free and start your 45-day trial. You’ll get access to our premium content and activities for everything you need to teach about every holiday this spring—all in one place.
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