AFRICAN-AMERICAN
CELEBRATIONS
KWANZAA
Who? African Americans
When? December 26 through January 1
Why?
Kwanzaa is a time when African American families
get together and celebrate being African American
and celebrate being proud that mommies, daddies, boys and girls from long ago
came to America from beautiful Africa (show where Africa is located on your classroom
globe).
How?
During Kwanzaa, a candle is lit each day for seven days. This
group of candles is called a "Kinara" (pronounced
key-nar-ah in the Swahili language). There is a black candle
in the middle, 3 red candles on the right of the black candle and 3 green candles
on the left of the black candle. The colors of Kwanzaa are red, black,
and green. Black means the beautiful color of black skin, green means
the beautiful color of the land of Africa, and red means remembering African Americans
who have died. A bowl of fresh fruit is placed near the Kinara (Kwanzaa
means fresh fruit) along with an ear of corn for each child in the family. Families
dress in African clothing, eat lots of yummy foods, and on the last day, children
open gifts -- in Swahili, gifts are called "zawadi" (pronounced
zah-wah-dee).
Each day that a candle
is lit, the family talks about something special (one of the seven principles
of Kwanzaa below):
Day 1: Unity:
We must do things together and get along with each other
Day
2: Self-Determination: When we want to do something that takes
lots of hard work, we must keep at it ("I know I can, I know I can!")
Day 3: Responsibility: We must do
what we say we will do and keep our promises to others
Day
4: Cooperative Economics: Mommies and daddies must work to make
money for the family so they can have food, clothing, house, etc
Day
5: Purpose: We must be proud of who we are! ("I
am proud to be ME!")
Day
6: Creativity: We can all do something that no one else can
do
Day 7: Faith: We must believe
that good things will happen if we trust in God. (Depending on the religion
of the group you teach, this can be related to going to their church, mosque,
temple, etc with Mommy and Daddy.)
In conjunction with the "seven principles" above,
if you light a candle each day in the classroom, they should be lit in a particular
order:
Day 1: The black candle
Day 2: The black
candle and the innermost red candle
Day
3: Same as day 2 + the innermost green candle
Day
4: Same as day 3 + the middle red candle
Day
5: Same as day 4 + the middle green candle
Day
6: Same as day 5 + the outer red candle
Day
7: Same as day 6 + the outer green candle
This
is a great memory exercise as children remember which candles were lit the day
before.
Activities:
Created
by Stormie:
Kinara: Children can create a simple Kinara
with strips of paper as candles (3 red strips, 3 green strips, and one longer
black strip). They can line them up (and glue them) on a posterboard strip
in the proper order according to a real Kinara. A tiny piece of white
yarn can be glued to the top of each candle as a wick.
Variation:
Children can paint 3 craft sticks red and 3 of them green, and paint a tongue
depressor black, then poke their "candles" into a Styrofoam base (in
the proper order).
Fine Motor:
Ear of Corn: Children glue tiny yellow squares (kernels) onto a paper corn-on-the-cob
shape.
Bowl of Fruit Collage: Provide each child with a large
bowl-shaped paper cut-out. Also provide lots of magazine pictures of
fresh fruits in the center of the table for everyone to choose from and glue onto
their bowls.
Cards for classroom friends who celebrate Kwanzaa or
for parents/grandparents of those children who celebrate it:
Provide
lots of collage materials in colors of red, black, and green and allow children
to collage the outside of a Kwanzaa card (construction paper folded in half).
By the way, Kwanzaa could be a wonderful character education unit. :-)
More
activities are coming when I can find time to create them or as I receive them
from you:
From
my website friend Fredrika, in Vermont, who celebrates Kwanzaa:
1. Sweet Potato Dessert: Stormie, children
must make this at least one day before it is to be eaten: Blend together
2 cups of cooked sweet potatoes, 2 cups of cottage cheese, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon,
4 eggs, and 1/3 cup of honey. Pour this into an 8x8" baking dish. Set
the dish into a pan of boiling water and bake it for one hour at 325°. Serve
it chilled with a dollop of Cool Whip on top.
2.
Musical Shakers: We helped the children make little pretend musical instruments
to shake while we played our "African Lullaby" CD: Over time, we had
collected small boxes (check boxes). Each child was given one of these
boxes to fill with corn kernels (left over from all our October/November projects). We
then helped the children tape their boxes closed and cover them with a piece of
black construction paper. They then decorated their "instruments"
with red and green collage materials.
From Laurie Aravich, in Manasquan, New Jersey:
Two ways to make dining placemats:
1. I
have the children "tear" red and green paper and then glue the pieces
onto a piece of black construction paper. We then laminate them and the
children can use them for their Kwanzaa holiday meals.
2. Another
option is to cut strips of red and green construction paper in advance and then
have the children "weave" the strips through black paper that has slits
cut into it (but not all the way to the end of the paper, if that makes sense).
Laminate.
Suggested
Books:
From
Stormie:
*Kwanzaa
Celebration, by Nancy Williams; Robert Sabuda & Nancy Williams, Illustrators:
This is a pop-up book so there are lots of visuals
*My
First Kwanzaa Book, by Deborah M. Newton Chocolate; Cal Massey, Illustrator
More African-American celebrations are coming
when I have time to do the research.
Please
share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com
----------------
Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.