Holi Lesson Plan: Free Worksheets and Coloring Pages for Parents and Teachers

Teaching children about…

Holi, The Festival of Colors

Overall Goal: Children will learn how, when, and why Indian-American families celebrate Holi, The Festival of Colors.

Materials/Resources:

1. Children’s Book: It’s Time for Holi! (provided)
2. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcHYjM7_mc
3. Signs of Spring Worksheet (provided)
4. Cycles of the Moon Worksheet (provided)
5. Indian Folktale: Krishna and Radha (provided)
6. Reader’s Theatre script (provided)
7. It’s Time for Holi! Coloring Pages (provided)

To Do:

1. Show children the It’s Time for Holi! Book Trailer. Ask children what they know about Holi (Festival of Colors), India, or the Asian Indian culture. Ask them to predict what they think will happen in the story.
2. Read the Book: It’s Time for Holi!
3. Discuss how you know it is time for Holi by going outside and looking for signs of spring. Have children draw what they see in the Signs of Spring worksheet.
4. Discuss when it is time for Holi by learning about the cycles of the moon. Have children draw in their Cycles of the Moon worksheet. Help them figure out the exact date by looking at the March Lunar Calendar online to figure out the date of the full moon.
5. Read the Indian Folktale: Krishna and Radha with children to extend their understanding of why Indian-American families celebrate Holi.
6. Perform It’s Time for Holi! with older children using the Readers Theatre Script.
7. Have children pick a coloring page from the It’s Time for Holi! coloring pages (click on a page below to download it) and write a description below about how, why, and/or when Indian families celebrate Holi.