Celebrating Diwali!!

On Tuesday 25th October we celebrated Diwali at Uxbridge. This was such a culturally rich experience for us all. 

We were lucky to have Riya’s Mum, Shruti in to help us with her expertise in cooking, dance and art. We feel so lucky and our children’s programme today was so enriched because she gave up her day to teach us. 

First up was samosa’s that we had for lunch! It was a social time to converse around the table and share stories of our own cooking with families, exploring what we know about cooking concepts and exploring the term “a half”. We put all our playdough rolling practise into place as we rolled circles of dough flat. Before cutting and filling with potato and pea mixture. The teachers were surprised and very lucky to have a beautifully cooked curry to enjoy too. Delicious!! 

At Mat time, Shruti performed a beautiful dance that we all loved. She showed us some typical dance moves and even balanced candles as she danced on her palms and her forehead, ever so delicately she swirled around with her dress creating a rainbow behind her. We all had a go at copying these moves and some of our children danced into the afternoon practising these. What was equally as impressive as Shruti’s dance was Rita’s gigantic smile as she exuded the pride she felt having her Mum up the front of the class. So very special. 💗

Our hands were adorned with henna patterns that we can continue to enjoy over the next week as it lasts a long time. The children picked their pattern and practised waiting patiently for their turn and also for the henna to dry. We were very impressed with the tamariki as they sat and listened to stories and chatted to one another to pass the time while they waited. 

After that it was time for Rangoli chalk art, this is a typical thing to do to celebrate Diwali , with powder, sand , chalk in bright colours outside the home. 

We also made clay 🪔 diya and paper craft diya- traditionally lamps are lit to celebrate and triumph light of darkness, good over evil. Children enjoyed moulding their own clay and selecting special beads to decorate their clay diya and they looked beautiful. 

From the bottom of our hearts Shruti, thank you for always putting up your hand to help not only the children to learn and celebrate your culture but also the teachers. Xx