Explore Cultural Holidays With Kwanzaa Activities

With winter break just around the corner, the end of the calendar year is a great time to add engaging, relevant holiday activities to your lesson plans. Your students likely celebrate various winter holidays at home, so ensure each one is represented by creating interesting Kwanzaa activities for your classroom:

• What is the history and Significance of Kwanzaa?
• Can you create fun holiday experiments for Kwanzaa?
• How can you build background knowledge about Kwanzaa celebrations in social studies?

[What is the history and significance of Kwanzaa?](id-ela)

Help your students get in the spirit of the season with lessons and activities that explore the history and significance of Kwanzaa in your ELA classes:

How much do your students know about Kwanzaa?

Whether students are experts or new to learning about the holiday, you can use this lesson to help them practice their summarizing skills using themed resources for research.

• As a whole class or in small groups, ask students to share what they already know about Kwanzaa and what they want to learn.
• Assign two articles that explore the significance of the holiday in Black culture and some fun facts to help answer students’ questions.
• Have students write a summary of one or both of the articles to highlight the key details they learned about Kwanzaa.

How is Kwanzaa different from other December holidays?

People observe so many different holidays during the winter—not just Kwanzaa! Assign articles to help students understand, compare, and contrast topics like:

• Little-known facts about Kwanzaa.
• The history of Christmas.
• The history of Hanukkah. 

How do people worldwide celebrate winter holidays?

Cultural customs and family traditions are hallmarks of celebrating Kwanzaa and other end-of-year holidays. Help students dive into where traditions come from and why they’re so important to celebrating holidays:

• Read an article about what family traditions are and why they matter.
• Explore how people around the world celebrate and party on special occasions.
• Explore traditions and customs associated with various holidays, like Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Lunar New Year.

[Can you create fun holiday experiments for Kwanzaa?](id-sci)

Candles are a staple in Kwanzaa traditions and decorations. But have your students ever heard of a candle that can drink water? Help them see the science behind this “magic trick” with the following lesson:

• Discuss the elements necessary to start a fire and how the chemical reaction of combustion keeps it burning.
• Explore the different types of pressures that exist in air and water.
• Do the drinking candle experiment to see firsthand what they learned about fire and pressure.

[How can you build background knowledge about Kwanzaa celebrations in social studies?](id-ss)

Students can learn more about how people celebrate Kwanzaa by using social studies content that explores:

• Facts your students might not know about the founding and celebration of Kwanzaa in the United States.
• The significance of celebrating Kwanzaa for Black Americans and how it helps them stay connected to their culture.
• Why students think it’s important to learn about the history and traditions of many cultures.

The best present: Year-round engaging content!

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