Month: August 2019

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In India, we have festivals and celebrations for every occasion. The festivals of India are closely linked with the seasons, agricultural activities, familial relationships, and our belief systems.

We celebrate the start of the spring season with Holi festival and the end of the harvest season with Makara Shankaranti. The death of the cruel demon Narakasura is celebrated as Diwali.

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Raksha Bandhan celebrates the bond between a brother and a sister. While many of the festivals are celebrated nationwide, there are also many festivals that are ethnic to the region or state.

In this “Festivals of India” essay, we shall explore the diverse culture of our nation as we talk about the national festivals of India (state-wise).

1. Andhra Pradesh – Brahmotsavam

national festivals of india

Every year, thousands of devotees travel from all parts of the country to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh for the Brahmotsavam festival. The “Brahma’s Utsavam” is a 9-day festival that usually happens in October. It is based on the legend that Lord Brahma worshiped Lord Vishnu for protecting mankind. The rituals that are conducted during these celebrations thank the Lord and pray for fertility, abundance, and prosperity.

2. Arunachal Pradesh – Dree Festival

National Festivals of India

The dree festival is celebrated by the Apatani tribe in Arunachal Pradesh. This harvest festival is celebrated on the 5th of July every year. During this festival, people pray to the five deities – Tamu, Metii, Medvr, Mepi, Danyi to ward off pests, epidemics, and other factors that could damage their agriculture and pray for healthy crops. The tribals perform their traditional dance and feast on tangy rice and millet bear.

3. Assam – Bohag Bihu

national festivals of india

Bohag Bihu is a 7-day festival that is usually celebrated in April. It marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year and is associated with agricultural harvest. The festival is also called Rongali Bihu. During this week-long celebration, cattle are decorated, dance performances are held, deities are worshiped and feasts are held.

4. Bihar – Chhath Puja

National Festivals of India

During the Chhath Pooja, people worship the Sun God and his consort, Usha, who are the source of all powers. Prayers are made for prosperity and well being. This pooja usually falls in October – November. Devotees fast during this period and stand in water or sunlight for hours.

5. Chattisgarh – Bastar Dussehra

national festivals of india

A festival unique to Chattisgarh, Bastar Dussehra is celebrated for 75 days. It begins on the no-moon day of the Indian month of Shravan (July-August) and ends on the full moon day of the Ashwin month (September – October). This 500-year old festival celebrates tribal gods and goddesses.

6. Goa – Carnival

national festivals of india

The Indian version of the famous “Mardi Gras” happens in Goa every February and is called Rio Carnival. Originally a Catholic festival, it has now turned into a huge event that brings in thousands of visitors from all over the world. The highlight of the carnival is the parade that has elaborate floats, bullock carts, horse-drawn carriages, dancing troupes and more.

7. Gujarat – Janmashtami

national festivals of india

Janmashtami is a festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Though this festival is celebrated all over India, it has special significance in Dwarka in Gujarat. Dwarka is believed to be Krishna’s kingdom. During this festival, people visit temples, share sweets with friends and family, sing bhajans and perform folk dances.

8. Himachal Pradesh – Mandi Shivaratri

national festivals of india

In Himachal Pradesh, Mandi Shivaratri Fair starts on the day of Shivaratri. Mahashivaratri is a holy occasion for Saivaites all over the country. During this festival, 200 Gods and Goddesses from across Himachal Pradesh are brought to Mandi, which is known as the Varanasi of the Hills. This festival happens during February/March.

9. Jharkhand – Hal Punhya

national festivals of india

Hal Punhya is one of the tribal festivals celebrated in Jharkhand. It happens in January – February and marks the start of the harvest season. This agricultural festival signifies the start of ploughing to sow seeds

10. Karnataka – Ugadi

national festivals of india

Ugadi is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year. This festival is celebrated by the people in Karnataka, Andhra and Telengana and generally falls in March – April. The specialty of this festival is a dish made of jaggery and neem flower buds. It signifies that life is a mix of both sweetness and bitterness, and we should accept both ups and downs in life.

11. Kerala – Onam

national festivals of india

Onam is a 10-day harvest festival celebrated in Kerala. This festival is celebrated by Malayalis all over the world, irrespective of the faith they follow. During Onam, huge rangolis with flowers are created. Boat races, tug of war, music and dance performances, martial art performances and other events are conducted in more than 30 locations in different parts of the state. Onam sadhya (feast) is an important part of the celebrations.  It is a 9-course meal that is prepared using local and seasonal vegetables.

12. Ladakh – Hemis

national festivals of india

Hemis is a Tibetan Buddhism festival that celebrates the birth of Guru Rimpoche (Lord Padmasambhava). This festival happens in Hemis Monastery, Ladakh. During the festival, dancers wearing masks dance to the music of the drums, cymbals and trumpets. The festival happens in July.

13. Maharashtra – Diwali

national festivals of india

The festival of lights is celebrated all over India. Each state has different traditions and customs for this festival. In Maharashtra, it is a 5-day festival that begins with Dhanteras. People pray to Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity. After the rituals, crackers are burst and a feast is served.

14. Manipur – Lui-Ngai-Ni

national festivals of india

The Lui-Ngai-Ni festival signifies the start of a New Year for the Naga tribes in Manipur. This seed-sowing festival is celebrated in February. Dances, music performances and cultural programs are held during the celebrations.

15. Meghalaya – Nongkrem dance festival

This 5-day thanksgiving festival of the Khasi tribe is usually held in November. The highlight of this festival is the folk dance of the men and women in their traditional costumes. Sacrifices and offerings are made to God and ancestors during this festival.

16. Nagaland – Hornbill Festival

The Hornbill festival held from the first to the tenth of December brings together the numerous Naga tribes in the state. The festivities include performances by all the tribes, flower shows, Naga wrestling, games and more. The festival was started to preserve the ethnicity and culture of the Naga tribes and promote tourism in Nagaland.

17. Orissa – Raja Parba

Also known as Mithuna Sankranti, it is a 3-day festival that celebrates womanhood and menstruation. It usually falls in June. As per legend, it is believed that Goddess Earth menstruates during these three days. So, no sowing or agricultural work is done. Women follow rituals that are done during the menstrual period on the first day and the remaining two days, celebrate with feasts and games.

18. Punjab – Baisakhi

Baisakhi is a Sikh festival celebrated in Punjab. It generally falls in April – May. It is a harvest festival of the farming community and also the day when the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh created the Panth Khalsa-the Order of the Pure Ones. The festivities include cultural programs and feasts.

19. Rajasthan – Gangaur

This Rajasthan festival celebrates womanhood and marriage. It is an 18-day festival that begins right after the festival of colours, Holi. During this festival, unmarried women pray for a good marriage and the married women pray for the well-being of their husbands. Processions and cultural programs are held during this period.

20. Sikkim – Saga Dawa

It is a Tibetan festival celebrated during the fourth month of the Tibetan year, which is May – June in the English calendar. During the month, people practice meritorious deeds, avoid killing animals and spread positive thoughts. The highlight of this festival is performing the holy Kora around the Kailash Mountain.

21. Tamilnadu – Pongal

Pongal is a 4-day festival celebrated in January in Tamilnadu. This harvest festival begins with Bhogi, a day when all old things and agricultural waste are burnt and homes cleaned for the new beginning. The second day is Pongal, when people prepare the dish “Pongal” using newly-harvested rice in new pots. Prayers are given to the Sun God.  The third day is the “Mattu Pongal” when cows and bulls are bathed and decorated. The famous “Jallikattu” or bull fight happens on this day. On the fourth day, people visit their relatives and share the sweets prepared for the festival.

22. Telangana – Bonalu

People worship Goddess Mahakali during this annual festival that usually falls in July. The women prepare a traditional meal with rice, jaggery and milk and carry it to the temple in earthen pots and offer it to the Goddess. It’s celebrations galore in Golconda Fort during Bonalu.

23. Tripura – Kharchi Pooja

This week-long festival happens during July at Old Agartala. During the festival, the 14 Gods of Tripura are worshipped with offerings and animal sacrifices. Cultural programs and fairs are held during the festival time.

24. West Bengal – Durga Pooja

Durga pooja or Navratri is celebrated all over the country but is of special significance in West Bengal. Huge statues of Goddess Durga slaying the demon Mahishasura are created from clay before the festival. The statues are placed in pandals where people visit and worship. On the last day of the celebration, the idols are immersed in the River Ganges.

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Conclusion

While there are uncountable more festivals in different parts of India, these are the 24 most popular national festivals of India state-wise.

Diversity of the country is reflected in the different ways in which these celebrations take place. If we have missed any important festival, do let us know.

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Children love bedtime stories. They are a good option to strengthen the bond between parents and kids while cultivating healthy imagination prowess.

What better than interesting Princess Stories for Kids to stay engaged? These stories have an old-world charm and interesting elements such as magic, witches, princes and more. It is in fact no wonder that even teachers find these stories worth sharing with their students in the classroom.

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Here we share a few among the most interesting short princess stories for kids and they are sure to crave for more.

1. The Princess and the Faithful Knight

Once upon a time there lived a princess who was too beautiful and kind to her subjects.

The poets and artists were all in praise of her beauty and their works were inspired by her. Once a charming prince from another kingdom came to meet the princess and soon they became friends and slowly they fell in love.

Once he took her to woods to show her the most beautiful rose in the world but as soon as she touched that rose she went into a deep sleep.

The prince cheated her and took away all her riches and ran away. The king sent his people in search of her daughter and finally found the sleeping daughter.

The advisors told that princess will be awake only after the course of the poisonous rose ends. King was deeply worried about her fate.

He announced that any charming prince who wishes to marry her has to come up to kingdom and wait for her to wake up.

Many came to the kingdom to fetch the golden opportunity but as days and months passed, they all went back. But a knight waited for her for 2 years when she woke up.

He told her the entire story and she broke into tears to see his love for her. Princess was in full spirits again and they got married soon and lived happily thereafter.

2. Princess Naomy

Once there lived a beautiful girl named Naomy who was always troubled by her stepmother and two stepsisters. The royal ball was coming and the prince decided to choose a princess from his kingdom.

On the day, stepmother went to the place with her two daughters wishing he would marry one of them.

Naomi wished to go but she had to do a lot of chores assigned by her stepmother. She hurriedly completed the chores but later realized that she don’t have any beautiful dress or accessories to wear.

Suddenly a fairy Godmother appeared before her who granted her wishes of a beautiful dress, a pair of crystal heels and accessories.

She went to the ball and prince fell in love with her as soon as he saw her. He decided that princess Naomy will be his better half for the life.

3. Three Little Princesses

There lived 3 little princesses Kimmy, Katie, and Kristen with their parents in a manor.

There were butlers, maids, cooks, and lots of people to serve them. But both parents and kids were very humble and were really kind to all of them.

Once parents had to leave to their grandmother’s place because she was ill.

Parents arranged their uncle to take care of the kids until they come back. The uncle was a terror and was very rude to everyone. He treated the cook, maid, and butler very badly and shouted at them for no reasons.

Kids were sad about seeing this and decided to teach him a lesson. They did some cooking in the kitchen, helped butler with his chores and maid in cleaning.

Seeing what the princesses were doing, uncle was ashamed of himself. He realized his mistake and behaved well and kind to others thereafter.

4. The Princess and the Bricklayer

Once there lived a princess called Maggie who fell in love with a bricklayer, Kevin. She was tall, beautiful and kind and he was dark, tall and was never angry.

She fell in love with his attitude and announced her love to the whole kingdom except her father who will be very angry.

Kevin also loved her but didn’t have the courage to tell his love to her as he thought that he was unfit for her.

One day, the princess invited Kevin to the palace and told her love for him in front of her father and they kissed each other.

He was very angry at them and screamed at them. Later, the princess explained her love for him and told him that everyone is equal. King later realized their love for each other and let them live together.

5. The Princess and the Pea

Once there lived a prince who was in search of the real princess to marry. He traveled across seven seas to many kingdoms in search of the real princess but came back disappointed.

The queen was worried about his son and she also started looking for a real princess.

One rainy day, a young lady came to them all drenched and dirty and her hair was not put up well but she claimed to be a princess. The queen was curious to find out if she was a real princess.

She put a pea on the bed and then laid twenty mattresses on top of it, then a lot of feathers and again twenty eider-down beds on top of it.

Queen invited her to sleep on it for the night. Next day morning when asked about the sleep, she complained about a hard substance that made her uncomfortable in bed.

Soon they realized that she is a real princess as she is too delicate to feel a peanut under all these comforts. Both queen and prince were happy to find her and the prince got married to her soon.

6. The Enchanted Princess

There was a very pretty princess who wanted to meet her prince for life. She dreamt about him and drew his pictures. She lived with her friend’s deer, birds, squirrel, and turtles. She always sang beautiful songs.

Everybody was fond of her but the evil queen was jealous of her. The queen thought to destroy her and freed an ogre to eat her.

The ogre went chasing her and the animals warned her about the danger. She was very afraid and climbed up a tree. There was a squirrel there to support her.

However, she was about to fall from the tree and there came a prince on a horse and saved her from fall. She realized that he was the man of her dreams and they soon became friends and later got married.

7. The Princess Dragon

Once there lived a princess who never liked to dress up, comb the hair and wore jewels like normal princesses. Instead, she spent her time in playing mean tricks to trouble the knight and fellow people. She was such a bad example of a princess.

Once a witch came near the kingdom and lived in a nearby cave. She thought the dragon can be a good choice in her mean tricks and went to the cave to ask for help. She asked the dragon to capture the knight to trouble her.

To the surprise, the dragon was gentle, calm and played the piano. Soon they realized that they are opposite in nature. They exchanged the places and lived happily for the rest of the years. That was the best decision they made in their life.

8. Princess Rose and the Golden Bird

Once there lived a beautiful princess in a faraway land who had lovely red hair and she loved roses very much. She used to sing in her balcony every night when a golden bird will join her and sit on her shoulder. This will put everyone in the kingdom to a good and peaceful sleep.

One day a witch got jealous of her and cast spells to turn her hair black. That day when she sang in the balcony, everybody got nightmares and all were unhappy.

The golden bird told her to wash her hair in rose water and everything will be well soon. She washed her hair in rose water and her hair turned red again and she sang in the balcony and kingdom slept well.

The witch repeated it again and the princess used rose water to bring back all harmony on the advice of the golden bird. The witch soon realizes their secret and used the power to take away all roses from the kingdom. So this time the princess was helpless and the golden bird advised to wait for a rose that comes to her by surprise one day and flew away.

Days and months passed and one fine day a handsome prince came from another kingdom and gifted a beautiful rose and her wait got over.

She used the rose water and washed her hair and sang in the balcony when the bird joined her and the whole kingdom was in harmony again.

9. Princess Poppy

There was a princess called poppy who lived on an island where all the people were poor. She lived in a castle and had a luxury life with good food, toys, and clothes.

One day an old man came up to her to ask for food as he was hungry. She teased him and shouted at him and sends him off without giving food.

In the night, her feet got swollen and turned like a tomato. Next day also the old man came asking for food and this time she chased him away. This time her feet got swollen even more. She was worried thinking about her fate.

One day, a witch came to visit her and she exclaimed about her condition. The witch told her that this happened because she was over-ambitious and didn’t share anything with others.

This made her think deeper about her deeds and she realized her mistake. From then she shared everything with others and the people in the island were not poor anymore and they lived together happily thereafter.

10. Mermaid’s Picnic

There lived two princesses Kaitlyn and Kara in a big castle. They went out for a picnic one day and came across a beautiful lake with a waterfall.

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They stopped there for a while when they heard some beautiful songs. They later figured out that it was from three mermaids who were swimming in the lake.

They all met at the lakeside and mermaids invited them to play along in the lake. Princesses told that they don’t know swimming but mermaids told about the magical power of the lake. Anyone who jumps into the lake will turn into mermaids and they can swim like them.

Princesses were excited and they jumped into the lake and they became mermaids all of a sudden. They had a good play time swimming and playing hide and seek underwater.

Once they were all tired, they got back to the lakeside when they became princesses again. They invited mermaids also to join the picnic and had lunch together and played all day.

11. The Princess and the Horse

A pretty princess lived in a castle in Leyland and her company was a hairy horse who was the king of all horses. She was married to a handsome prince whose company was a beautiful mare who wore dresses, heels, and jewels.

The horse fell in love with the mare and they exchanged lovely gifts and chocolates.

The princess came to know about their love story and she was angry at the horse. She beat him and send him away from her company. The mare got worried and started crying every day and fell ill.

The princess felt sad for her and went in search of her horse. At last, she found him but he was all tired, skinny and having saggy eyes.

She felt bad for her evil deeds and apologized for her mistake. She then fed him with good food and let him to live happily with the mare thereafter.

12. A Pirate’s Treasure

Once there lived two princesses, Regina, and Ruby who loved each other a lot. They have a good treehouse where they play and there are a lot of creative ideas for both sisters like a bucket tied to a string to carry things up and down the house.

Also Read: General Knowledge For Kids (105 Q & A)

One day while playing in the house, they heard a strange voice and took their binoculars to see that there is a big pirate ship with a flag and a pirate.

They soon became friends and he invited them for an adventurous sea journey. They also turned into two pirates when they entered the ship. They had a wonderful journey where the pirate shared his stories.

Finally, when they came back, the pirate gifted them a bag full of treasure and a flag. Once they stepped out of the ship, they were princesses again.

They kept all treasure in their treehouse and placed the flag on top of the treehouse. They played happily hoping for another day when they see the pirate again.

13. Princess Chocolate

Once there lived a princess called Chocolate with her parents in a castle. They were really happy for each other and all the people of the kingdom lived in harmony.

But the life changed for the family and the kingdom on her 15th They organized a grand party for all their loved ones and a witch was really jealous of all these and kidnapped the princess. King went to a witch to save his daughter but all his efforts went in vain.

Finally, the king made an announcement inviting the prince of neighbor kingdoms to take up the challenge of saving his daughter. If anyone is brave enough to save her, he can marry the princess and become the next king.

One smart prince took up the challenge and attacked the witch and saved the princess wisely. They both got married shortly and the entire kingdom was happy again.

14. Princess and the Magical Ring

In the Kingdom of Norfolk, the princess and her father were walking through their palace’s garden when she found a ring. The king explained that it is a magical ring and it has five powers which can be used in need but only one power can be chosen.

The powers include making fire without flint, having sound sleep, growing crop of her choice, shower rains in the sky, and sing like an enchanted siren to bring prosperity to the kingdom.

Once a witch’s spell jinxed the kingdom and everything including the rain and crops were destroyed. The princess was saddened with the fate of her kingdom and soon she remembered about her magical powers.

She chose the fifth power of singing like an enchanted siren. She sang for all days and nights even without leaving a moment for food and sleep.

Even when the king and queen got worried and asked her to take a break, she was not ready for it. After months of singing, the prosperity came back to the kingdom and everything was normalized.

But the princess was ill by then and she passed away. The whole kingdom still remembers her sacrifices for the happiness they are enjoying today.

15. Princess Jasmine

Once there lived a beautiful princess Jasmine in the Kingdom of North and the king was ready to announce the marriage of his daughter.

However, she insisted that she want to marry her true love of her choice and not somebody which her father found for her.

She ran away from home one day in search of her soul mate. She met Aladdin on the way and she was impressed by his attitude and they soon became friends. But the mean minister used tricks to put Aladdin in jail. However, he found a magic lamp and carpet.

Minister again used tricks to take it away from him but he got it again with the help of a monkey. The genie in the lamp helped him to escape and made him a prince. Soon the princess Jasmine fell in love with him and got married shortly.

16. The Lonely Princess

Princess Isabella was the youngest of the daughters in the kingdom of Gloria. She had two beautiful sisters who always tease her of the way she dresses up and her childish character of playing with dolls.

Her sisters didn’t spend time with her and she felt all lonely but happy. She was in the company of her dolls. She named all of them and talked with them all along.

The king was worried about how lonely she was and tried to spend time with her. One day a handsome prince Geoffrey came to the kingdom and both sisters were eager to impress him.

The first sister started talking about her beauty and how she maintained it and soon the prince got bored. Then the second sister started talking about how she helps the king in the duties and the famous personalities in their kingdom and the prince got bored.

Next, he came to Isabella who was silent but welcomed him with a sweet smile. Her sisters teased her about her childish character and how she played with her dolls. But the prince laughed out loud and introduced Jane from his pocket which was his pet doll.

Geoffrey and Isabella soon identified their similar interests and she introduced him to her doll friends and they became good friends soon.

17. Everland Princess

Once there lived a princess who wished to marry her dream prince. she decides to secretly travel to Everland to meet the prince. A witch named Evelyn was looking to capture the kingdom and came to know about her secret travel.

The witch uses her power to switch places with the princess. The princess looks like a witch now and went to Everland to see that the witch in disguise was already with her man.

She tried to explain everything to a prince but he didn’t believe her. The prince was all set to marry the witch who looked like a princess.

Just before the day of the wedding, the prince saw the witch casting spells. He realized the truth and decided to send her to exile but witch used the power to bewitch him.

The princess was all sad seeing his destiny and cried deep heartedly when her tears fell on him. He woke up to realize her love for him and used all his power and wisdom to escape from the witch. The prince then married the princess and they lived happily thereafter.

18. The Princess Who Never Smiled

Once there lived a beautiful princess who never smiled. The king was really upset with her and tried all possible ways like clowns, jugglers, and performers but for no use.

A simple and honest man, Jack and his mother lived nearby the kingdom and the son used to work hard for a living.

The princess used to always spend some time looking out of the window during the evening when Jack comes back from work. The first day he got egg as the payment for his work and he carried it in his hands.

The eggs fell down and all were broken and the princess saw this but didn’t smile.

His mother advised to carry it in his hat next time to avoid falling down. Next day he got piglet as payment and he put that in his hat. It managed to escape from a hat and flew away and princess didn’t laugh seeing this.

His mother advised to tie it using a rope next time. He got a kit of fish this time and he tied it in a rope and cats ate it on the way and princess didn’t smile.

This time mother advised to carry it in the head. Next day he got a cow as payment and he tried hard to carry it. This time princess laughed out loud and loud.

The king was really happy and invited Jack to the kingdom. He asked him to marry his daughter so that she can laugh all day.

19. The Paper Bag Princess

Princess Elizabeth was rich with beautiful clothes, shoes, and all treasures. Everybody in the kingdom praised her beauty and kindness.

A handsome prince from another kingdom Charles got attracted to her treasures and proposed her. The princess got engaged to Charles soon and they were happy in the relationship.

One day a witch cast spells and burned the whole castle including the clothes and every treasure and the prince was tied up in another cave.

The princess was wise and used some left out papers as the dress and attacked the witch to save the prince.

The prince was angry with the way the princess got dressed and asked her to come well dressed. The princess was shocked with his attitude and realized that he loved her for treasure only. She called off the marriage.

20. Princess and the Magic Dragon

In the kingdom of Spain, the king and the queen deeply wished for a daughter. Even after months and years of flawless prayers, their wish was not fulfilled. The advisors came up with many ideas like having sweets, taking pills and so on but for no use.

One day the queen was weeping at the garden thinking about her fate. The gardener saw her and advised her to go to a cave where there is a dragon.

All that she wants to do is take a treasure for the dragon and draw the picture of what they wish on the cave wall and sleep one night. The queen went to the cave next day taking all treasure for the dragon and drew pictures of a baby and slept there.

Next day morning, the dragon appeared before her and gave her a baby. She was really happy and ran into tears. She thanked the dragon and came back to the kingdom to announce the good news. The whole kingdom was happy and the king gave a gold coin to the gardener as a token of love.

21. The Princess and the Magic Feather

Once upon a time, there lived a princess, Evelyn in a castle with her parents and sisters. She loved to play with dolls and have pillow fights with her sisters.

One day while they were having a pillow fight, parents got really angry. They took her two sisters to a different place and allowed to come back only after 1 month.

Princess was really sad that she had nobody to play with her. But a new neighbor and family came and they had a daughter called Jasmine.

Also Read: Top 12 Motivational stories For students to Work hard

They became friends shortly and one day they were playing pillow fight. They saw a blue feather coming out of pillow which seemed to be a magic feather.

They took it near a withered flower and soon the flower rose to become a beautiful flower they have ever seen. They told the entire story when her sisters came back and they all become friends.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the randomly picked short princess stories for kids from a large repository of stories. There is no better way than stories to help kids, learn more about the morals and values they have to keep in life.

And that is one important reason why most schools have a library period session at least once in a week so that kids can have a good time reading their favorite stories.

Story reading is a better way to invoke their reading habits right from their early days. This can help them to improve their vocabulary and language as they move to higher classes.

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Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India, is an inspiration for students. Born in the small town of Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu, he rose to the position of the first citizen of the nation through hard work, perseverance, and determination.

Dr. Kalam was a key person both in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Missile Man passed away on 27 July 2015, but he still lives with us through his writings. His books take us through his life, his learning and also his expectations from the future generation of Indians.

A P J Abdul Kalam Books for students are a treasure trove of information, inspiration, and imagination.

Students look up to the “People’s President” and understand that goal setting and dedication are the key factors to success in life.

In this blog, let’s take a look at a few of A P J Abdul Kalam books.

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1. Wings of Fire

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

One of the most popular A P J Abdul Kalam books is Wings of Fire. Titled Agni Siragugal in Tamil, this book is considered as an autobiography of Dr. Kalam.

As you read the book, you travel with Dr. Kalam in his journey of life from the humble beginnings as a boat owner’s son to a missile scientist.

In this book, he says, “We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness.” These words motivate every student to dream and desire a better future for the self and the nation.

2. India 2020 – A Vision For The New Millennium

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

Dr. Kalam talks about his dreams and vision for the nation in this book – India 2020. He gives a strong action plan for India to become a developed nation by 2020. This 300-page book can be a blueprint for the current generation to work towards building a stronger and more developed India.

3. Indomitable Spirit

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

As the name implies, this book brings out Dr. Kalam’s thoughts and ideas for a new nation.

This book has 14 chapters and talks about the importance of education in India, women empowerment, creativity, science and spirituality, creativity, inspiration and building a knowledgeable world.

It is one of A P J Abdul Kalam Books in English that has been translated to numerous Indian and international languages.

4. Turning Points

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

At each point in life, we face challenges. The ways in which we overcome these challenges mark significant turning points in one’s life.

Thought to be a sequel to Wings of Fire, this book follows Dr. Kalam’s life through the latter part of his career and his presidency tenure.

In this book, he tells students, “I would like to ask you, what would you like to be remembered for? You should write it down. It could be an important contribution, whether it is an invention, an innovation or a change that you bring about in a society that the nation will remember you for.”

5. A Manifesto for Change

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

A sequel to 2020 – A Vision For The New Millennium, this book talks how to make the dream of India 2020 come true.

Dr. Kalam, in his book, hopes to have a united Parliament that rises above petty politics and focuses on building the nation.

He also talks about using the power of students to make changes at grass root levels that will help build a stronger developed nation.

6. Envisioning an Empowered Nation

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

First published in 2004, this book is based on Dr. Kalam’s interactions with students all over the country.

The book includes two case studies – Design of Satellite Launch Vehicles Recollection of SLV-3 Experience and Integrated Design Approach for Advanced Aerospace Vehicles – A Guided Missile Experience.

7. Ignited Minds

“Dream, Dream, Dream Dreams transform into thoughts And thoughts result in action.”

This book is a logical continuation of India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium.

The book has Dr Kalam’s messages for future generations. In this book, Dr Kalam gives inspirational messages and also talks about how students can learn from saints and seers, role models and society.

8. Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology

It is one of A P J Abdul Kalam books for students of space technology and fluid mechanics. The first volume dedicated to Professor Dhawan is a collection of research papers on fluid dynamics.  The second volume talks about the development of space technology in India during the period 1972-1984.

9. Inspiring Thoughts

This book contains inspiring thoughts of Dr. Kalam that motivate students. In this book, Dr. Kalam uses a very simple language that even young students can easily read. It also has personal quotations from the Missile Man and questions that he asks students.

10. Mission of India: A Vision of Indian Youth

In this book, Dr. Kalam delves into the current education system and explains how the youth of the nation can use top technologies to build the nation’s economic prowess.

Also Read: 21 Motivational Books For High School Students

The intent of the book is to challenge India’s youth to make India one of the top economic powers of the globe.

11. The Scientific Indian: A Twenty-First Century Guide To The World Around Us

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

It is one of Dr. Kalam’s fiction books where he takes readers into the princely state of Bhanupur. This fast-paced story revolves around Maharaja Amar Singh II and explores India during the British reign.

Students can find out about the scientific technology that our ancestors used and how we can still revive the great era to make India a developed country.

12. You Are Born To Blossom

A P J Abdul Kalam Books

In this book, Dr. Kalam talks about his dream for Indian schools in 2020. He compares a school to a tree that yields fruits, flowers, bark and lots more.

Dr. Kalam dreams of having schools that encourage students to be creative and innovative. He advocates the inclusion of moral and ethical values in the education system.

If all schools adopt Dr. Kalam’s vision, then they can become instrumental in creating the next generation of innovative and creative Indians.

Conclusion

Students can read A P J Abdul Kalam Books in English, Tamil, Marathi and other languages to get a glimpse into the life of this iconic scientist President.

There are many websites that also offer A P J Abdul Kalam Books for online reading or download. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam has left a treasure house of knowledge in his books.

It is the duty of parents, teachers and educational institutes to make the best use of A P J Abdul Kalam books on education to guide and mentor students to be great future citizens.

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Are you spending enough time with your kids during your free time? This not only keeps them happy but also improves your bonding with them. Playing games with them is the best way to be their good friends and parents can then use this as a platform to mold their character and grow them up as good individuals.

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This not only makes them exciting but improves overall family bonding. Here are a few games which you can try on your next playtime with your kids.

1. Make a Pass

This is an interesting game to play with your kids. Form two groups and draw two goal lines which should be like 100 feet apart. Members of each team should stand behind their goal line. They have to start by throwing Frisbee to the opposite team.

games to play with kids

If they manage to catch it, they can pass it on to their team member and move towards the opposite team’s line. Likewise, the first team that manages to reach the other team’s line and keep Frisbee on it wins.

2. Scavenger Hunt

This is an awesome game that helps you to explore each and every corner of your neighborhood park. In this game, parents can ask the kids to find certain items that are hidden at different parts of the park. You can give the list first and then take some time to hide these items at different points of the park.

games to play with kids

Then ask them to find these items and collect it in a bag and meet at a certain point. One who completes the list first and meet at the point wins.

3. Capture The Flag

This is a wonderful game that can be played by kids and parents in the park. They can form two teams and each team needs to place their ‘flag’ within their decided boundary. The role of the other team is to capture the flag and return to their area safe.

However, the other team members will try to catch the invaders by hiding near the ‘flag’ area. If you are caught, you will be put in their ‘jail’ or if you manage to bring the flag home, you win.

4. Tug of war

Form two teams of an equal number of members. Take a rope by hands and arrange your teams on both sides of ropes.

The weaker members should be closer to middle and stronger members should be towards the end for balance. You can mark a boundary on the ground which can be called your territory.

games to play with kids

The middle of the rope should be on the boundary line of two teams. When the captain says ‘start’ the team members have to use all their effort to pull the other team towards their territory. When the first person of the opposite team crosses your boundary line, you win.

5. Basketball

There is no need to explain the rules of the game as it is very popular among all age groups. If there is a basketball court area in your park, you can try this game for sure. If not, you can also buy one portable basketball stand and ball easily from retail or online stores.

games to play with kids

If there are multiple hoops, divide the team and play the game or else just play a friendly game of H-O-R-S-E just for fun.

6. Hopscotch

In this game, you have to draw columns 1 to 9 on the sidewalk of the park. Get a small stone or coin to play the game. First, you have to throw the coin to column 1. You can now hop over 1st column and move through columns 2 to 9 and then come back the same way.

games to play with kids

But you have to stop before column 1 and take the coin back by hand and hop over column 1 to starting position. Repeat it for column 2 and so on. The game ends when you throw the coin to the wrong column or out of the box.

7. Badminton

This is one of the most exciting and common games that is played at the park.

games to play with kids

Some parks will already have a badminton court or else you can simply set it up on the grassy area. It can be played by one member on each side or 2 members per side.

8. Follow the Leader

The randomly selected ‘leader’ will go first and everyone follows. The fun part is that everybody will imitate whatever you do on the journey.

Know More: 20 Smart Brain Games For Kids

Everybody sits if you sit; everybody runs if you run, everybody looks back if you look back and so on. This is just a friendly game and takes turns to be the ‘leader’.

9. Traffic Lights

This is an interesting game which enhances the awareness of the traffic rules too. A member ‘X’ will be selected randomly to become traffic light. He will be at one end and other members will stand at other ends. When ‘X’ shouts ‘Green’, the members should start moving from other ends.

games to play with kids

When he shouts ‘red’, they should freeze. Any member who wrongly responds to traffic lights has to go back to the initial position. The person who reaches the traffic light first wins the game.

10. Frozen Tag

This is a simple fun game which can make your evenings exciting. A person is chosen as ‘IT’. Others are asked to get scattered along the playing area. The ‘IT’ person has the choice to touch any person in the group and others can block the touch.

If they manage to touch anyone, they become frozen in the same position. Others in the team can save the frozen member by crawling through their legs. The game ends when every member on the ground gets frozen.

11. Outdoor Bowling

This is a simple replica of the original bowling game. Take some empty bottles from home and fill it with water or sand. You can use these as pins. So form a triangle with these bottles on the ground and mark the line.

Take turns among yourself to bowl on it and score if you correctly hit them. Fix a certain number of turns for the game. One who scores the most points after these turns win the game.

12. Balloon Toss

Form teams of 3 members each and stand about 3 to 5 feet apart. Keep a bucket at the final point. Make water balloons to play the game. During the game, the first member has to throw the balloon to the second member, then to third member and finally to the bucket.

If the balloon breaks or falls down on the way, you have to start off again. You will have three chances. If you successfully complete to pass it to the bucket, your team wins.

13. Hide and Seek

This is one of the most played traditional games in the parks. During the game, everyone should find a hiding position in the park except one who will be selected in random. That random player ‘X’ needs to count till 10 by keeping his eyes closed and facing towards a tree when others find their hiding places.

His role is to find the persons one by one and touch that tree which locks that person. The hiding members should manage to touch the tree before ‘X’ finds them out.

14. Hot and Cold

This is an exciting game that is played with a small pin, button or balls. A team member will be selected as random ‘X’. He has to hide this object while others close their eyes.

Then others have to find out this object. X can give hints like hot, warm and cold while they search for it. When he says hot, it means the member is very near to the object and he says ‘cold’ when he is far from it.

15. Captain of the Ship

This is a really interesting game in which a randomly selected member ‘X’ becomes the captain of the ship. He has the power to call out orders (a preset list of orders). The other members have to follow what he has ordered.

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If a person does a mistake while performing the task, he has to leave the game or become a shark that needs to catch other players. The common commands include ‘to the ship’ (run to the swings), ‘starboard’ (run to the right) or ‘to the port’ (run to the left).

Know More: 10 Outstanding Educational Games For Students

Most of these games need a lot of interaction and have exciting elements which make free time fun. This also encourages them to minimize their time of watching TV or video games and come out of the house to have a mix of fresh air and sunlight. In fact, it gives them the dose of exercise and that is why such games are becoming secret of family fitness.

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In 1956, Benjamin Bloom created Blooms Taxonomy. Since then, it is regarded as a comprehensive platform where the learning objectives and its outcomes are classified in a systematic way. This model is used effectively for teaching and learning purposes.

Blooms Taxonomy can be defined as a methodical classification of cognitive skills (as educational learning objectives) to help teachers teach and assess student capabilities better while helping students study well.

The reason for developing Blooms Taxonomy was to provide teachers a common language to converse and exchange learning and evaluation techniques. The ultimate goal of a teacher who uses Blooms taxonomy will be to promote higher-order thought among the learners by pushing up from lower-order cognitive skills.

Levels of Blooms Taxonomy

In a typical classroom setting, educators can apply the principles from different levels of taxonomy to get the best out of the possibilities of intellectual learning. Let’s have a look into the different levels of blooms taxonomy and the way teachers use it in a cognitive domain.

Knowledge (Remember): This is the bottom-most but highly relevant level in Blooms taxonomy. The level involves identifying or recalling facts, basic concepts, terms, or answers without essentially being aware of exactly what they mean. The characteristics may include terminology, specific facts, trends and sequences, principles and generalizations.

Example: Name four common Banana varieties

Comprehension (Understand): This level of Blooms taxonomy is in fact progression from the previous stage (Knowledge) in which information can be interpreted with more readiness. This stage is more about identifying the differences and similarities while making comparisons.

Example: Identify the distinguishing features of a Manzano banana in comparison with a Cavendish banana.

Application: The third but one of the important levels of Blooms Taxonomy is Application which needs a different sort of thinking from the learners. This stage demands learners to make use of the pre-learned information in a somewhat diverse way. This stage will be a success if they can apply the learning in a diverse range of novel circumstances and yield the expected outcome.

Example: Would bananas prevent cardiovascular disease and digestive problems?

Analysis: This is a key stage where learners have to fall back on what they learned in the first stage of blooms taxonomy and retrieve user information. The information in the repository needs to be broken down after having a deeper look at it. The characteristics include analysis of elements, relationships and organization.

Example: List three ways of preparing foods with bananas and provide details about which cuisine can have the best health benefits. Give references to justify your statements.

Synthesis: This stage is about using the information to go an extra step in the progression. This is to insist learners bring in some initiatives and apply novel ideas as a means to problem-solving. This stage demands good planning through which broken pieces of information are put together to get the best results.

Example: Alter an “unhealthy” recipe for the banana cream pie to a “healthy” one by swapping your pick of ingredients. Clarify the health benefits of the newly added ingredients vs. the original ones.

Also Read: 24 Best Classroom rules that will improve student’s behavior

Evaluation: The final phase of Blooms taxonomy is the evaluation of all the learning you had. This involves considering different people’s ideas, criticizing them and at the same time evaluating your personal perspectives.

Example: Which types of bananas are best for baking a banana cream pie, and why?

Creation: This level was added in the revised taxonomy that came out in 2001. It involves coming up with the solution for old problems by addressing the flaws or failures of the previous case.

What makes Blooms finding really special is the way it helps teachers to reflect their teaching and importantly on the consequent learning and understanding of the students. In addition, it could be applied to nearly everything in a learning scenario.

Teaching Strategies with Bloom’s Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy is a really influential tool to renovate the phases of teaching and learning. Teachers have to be well planned about how to make use of the possibilities of Blooms taxonomy to build strategies for the classroom. Unlike the basic instructions and content, this is more about the focus to cognitive events in the student’s mind.

Let us see some key teaching strategies that can be used in today’s classroom to get the best outcome of Blooms taxonomy.

  • Make Use of all Levels: There is a common misunderstanding that the bottom level that relates to memorization is given more importance than it deserves. However, the reality is that each of the level has its own significance and utilizing all of them through progression is the key.

In fact, memorization can minimize the cognitive load and they can easily progress to the next levels through quick recall and application.

  • Utilize Blooms Spiraling: This means to spend considerable time at each level before moving to the next level to get the exact benefit of real progression. This helps students to cope up with the demand for an increased level of thinking. This, in turn, helps to use it as an ultimate trail to lead the learning process.
  • Using Technology to Highlight Particular Levels: In Blooms revised taxonomy, the emphasis is shifted towards creativity and this demands students to think more innovatively.

Utilizing the possibilities of social media and digital technology can be a great approach in this context. It gives students a platform to learn at their own pace by bringing in a lot of thinking. They can simply observe and put in strategic input by taking into account their background knowledge, readiness, and relevant expertise.

  • Allowing Students to Lead: Giving students a chance to bring in their own thinking and ideas to the structure can make a lot of difference in the way they progress.

The resultant collection of information can be presented in a classroom showcase or student community to acknowledge the effort they have put in.

  • Plan Project-Related Learning Sequences: This can be a groundbreaking change in the way a student progresses in his learning. However, it is not something out of the box as anyone might think.
  • The initial level is defining, recalling and identifying key modules of a project and its challenges.
  • The second stage is evaluating the cause or effect of the modules and challenges.
  • The final stage enables them to formulate new strategies to solve the challenges and improve the situation.
  • Give credits for each level: It is important to give equal points or credits for students being involved in all levels as each level has its own significance. However, you can reduce points if it seems students are spending a longer time than expected at lower levels.

Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy in the Classroom

Blooms Taxonomy is an influential platform for learning and teaching that lets you shape almost anything that is part of your classroom. Here let us have a look at the number of ways a teacher can use this platform.

  • Design or enhance an assessment
  • Offer learning feedback
  • Visualize progress of student over the course
  • Direct research projects
  • Develop question stems
  • Differentiate instruction
  • Learning reflection journals
  • Frame a mini-lesson
  • Summarize a reading passage
  • Refine and enhance queries
  • Map curriculum
  • Assess the champ in a debate
  • Assist students to develop reading response prompts
  • Brainstorm ideas for project-based learning

These are a few among the thousands of ideas which show the power of Blooms Taxonomy. A wise teacher can make the best out of this comprehensive theory and cultivate highly valued qualities in his or her students.

Conclusion

Developing learning objectives is the key goal of using Blooms Taxonomy. It is explained in a simple way by telling how remembering a concept is the key before understanding it and how understanding it is the key before you can apply it.

Similarly, a thorough analysis is necessary before you can initiate an evaluation process and how a thorough evaluation is critical before you create an accurate conclusion.

The taxonomy from Benjamin was purely one-dimensional and the ultimate focus was particularly on the knowledge domain but it was way ahead of the time. The updated version sees it from a different angle that gives more significance to the powerful combo of knowledge content and cognitive processes.

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When kids are out of the school for the day, they seek for leisure activities to unwind until the dinnertime. But, what if their leisure activities are creative and quality imparting?

Well, being a parent, it becomes your responsibility to motivate kids to learn something new, socialize and stay creative.

In this age where kids have seen to be influenced by social media sites and fictional computer and mobile games, bringing a paradigm shift has become the utmost necessity.

So, take charge of your kids’ lives and push them to stay outdoors, playing with other kids, being creative and sharing ideas with each other.

This article would discuss 21 such fresh Middle School Activities to indulge your kids after school and make them play the real games apart from all those mobile games.

21 Fresh Middle School Activities to Indulge Your Middle School Kids

1. Object Recycling

As we are heading toward sustainability, teaching our kids to recycle and reuse would be a great help toward nature as well as toward their future.

So, after school, you can take kids to your junkyard, where you keep all waste household items and teach them the importance of recycling.

You can ask them to grab any waste material, apply their creativity and come up with something new that could be used further.

For instance, you might have cereal boxes stacked up to be thrown away. However, you can ask kids to apply their creative thinking and convert that cereal box into the mask, or a tissue holder, or anything new.

The activity of object recycling can be a significant step toward making your kids understand the value of the environment and its safekeeping.

2. Be the Scientist Game

When asked, kids sometimes express their desire to be a Nobel laureate or a Scientist. Well, you can make their wish come true by making them play ‘be the scientist game!’

Ask them to get a pen and diary and go outside. Spot animals, birds, squirrels, money or any other animal and pretend to be a scientist. And as a scientist would do in that situation, ask them to note down animal behavior, their physical appearance and social behavior.

This activity ‘be the scientist’ would develop their sense of questioning things and understanding the basic evolution of the organism.

3. Teach Them Gardening

Trees and plants are a vital part of our ecosystem and the only resource which are aiding to keep us alive. But as we humans have been brainwashed to build skyscrapers and develop concrete jungle around us, teach your kids about the essence of planting trees and keeping the earth green.

Indulging them in gardening would teach them about varieties of flower-bearing and non-flower bearing plants and how to keep them healthy and green.

4. Write a Comic Strip

Like elders have a funny bone that tickles their funny side out, kids also have the same. Ask your kids to show their creativity level by writing comic strips and inventing funny characters.

To guide them through, you can teach them to get inspired by different characters present around them and make their own funny character.

Writing a comic strip would not only enhance their analytical and comic skills, but it will also sharpen their drawing skills.

5. Write Poetry and Short Stories

There would be so many thoughts in their little brain which they would want to convey at their best. Well, you can teach them to express their feelings through poetic scenarios.

You can give them instances like Grandparents, My loving Pet or My Family to write small poetries and short stories.

If given a chance, they can prove no less than a budding Shakespeare in their shire!!

6. ‘Draw the Nature’ Game

If you have seen your kids taking an interest in sketching, then this game is going to be the perfect suite.

After school, when your kids have freshened up, gift them a new pair of brushes and colors to paint their heart out.

To bring their creativity aboard, take them out in any garden or park with their drawing board and give them real instances to sketch.

You can choose a nearby tree, house or melting of two horizons during the sunset.

For more fun, you can sit in front of them and see how well they play with pencil strokes.

7. Prepare Handmade Gifts

Yes, we have so many gift options online as well as in nearby marts but how about handmade gifts prepared by your kids?

Isn’t it an excellent idea?

So, when your kids are in their school for the day, you can collect the idea of handmade gifts and be prepared with all the required material to be used. As they come home, let them relax a bit and share your idea.

If there is any birthday or celebration around the corner, it could be a real treat. You can ask them to prepare a handmade basket, a photo frame, a collage of images, etc.

8. Clean the House

Making your kids understand the value of cleanliness could be a daunting task, but not impossible.

By fun ways, we can make them understand that keeping our surrounding is the need of the day.

You can impart this good habit by scheduling ‘clean the house day’ every week. You can distribute the responsibilities among the kids and let them do the teamwork.

With this activity, you would be imparting two important rules to them; 1) being a good team player and, 2) keeping our surrounding clean is only our responsibility.

9. Stage a Scavenger Hunt

Prepare a plot and let your kid’s search for different relatable items indoor and outdoor.

In this game, you can even call other kids of the society to participate in. You can small groups of 3-4 team members and provide clues to each group.

To fill them with enthusiasm, you can keep a prize for the winner.  As you are setting this scavenger hunt game for middle school kids, clues should be easy to understand.

10. Arrange Social Activity

There could be so many things around us to be a part of. Like, your neighbor might be having a bad day due to sickness, or there might be a small party in the nearby.

Well, in this scenario, you can teach kids to socialize and help each other. It could be more like serving the community but on a smaller level.

With such small community middle School Activities, you can impart moral values in kids and taught them to be helpful and generous to everybody.

11. Know Me If You Can

As the name suggests, this game could be an excellent way for relationship building with your kids.

For the game, all you need to do is – prepare some cards with questions written on it. The questions can be a general informative question about you and your preference.

Some examples are;

  • What’s your nickname?
  • What’s your favorite color?
  • What are your weaknesses?
  • What cartoon character you adore much?

Similarly, you can prepare the cards according to your likings. After school, when kids are home, distribute cards and get started.

This game will help you explore a lot about your kids’ choices and likings, vice versa.

12. Arrange a Cook and Bake Competition

This is undoubtedly like a hit mark for those students who have a keen interest in baking, cooking, or just getting messy with the food.

However, this activity requires some supervisors who can help kids to begin with cooking.

You can simply start with sandwiches, and go further up to their interest. You can also introduce them to different types of food techniques for making delicious food items at homes.

Also Read: 12 Interesting Independence day activites and games for school

13. Dress the Way You Like

It is more like a fancy dress competition where kids dress up according to their likings.

For example, you can bring costumes of animals, army, a police officer and certain superheroes like spider mad, captain marvel or even Disney Characters.

Ask your kids to choose and get ready. As they get ready, ask them to share the stage and say a few words.

Not only kids will be enjoying dressing up like something different, but they would also gain the confidence to speak in public for any such occasions in the future.

14. Play Dexter’s Laboratory

Kids love exciting games and experiments. One such after-school activity could be ‘PlayDexter’s Laboratory’ game.

In this game, you can search Google for kid-safe experiments like staining Kale leaves with different colors, doing practices to understand the concept of different types of solutions, etc.

The easiest is staining kale leaves with colors water. All you have to do is keep the apparatus ready with 5 different colors of water.

When your kids are ready to play the game, hand over kale and ask them to submerge its root in the colors water.

Leave the apparatus for a few hours and ask them to keep the track. To enhance their interest, bring them with laboratory coat and safety glasses. Your bundle of joy will definitely enjoy this activity cum game.

15. I am the Doctor Activity

As kids adore playing with doctor kit, turn their interest into a full-fledged activity.

Bring them a doctor’s kit and prepare some situations for them to handle. The situations could be basic medical treatment at home when someone gets a cut, a burn or a wound.

You can teach them first aid, CPR and other Middle School Activities like checking the fever, controlling bleeding, applying antiseptic, etc.

16. Making Natural Stamps

You might have seen postal stamps but have you wondered about making natural stamps?

Well, teach your kids to do it by collecting varieties of tree leaves and flowers. You can also give them a task to carve fruits and make a stamp out of them.

The basic items required to carry out the task are paint (oil paint for better effect), plain paper and mug full of water.

17. Slimy Alphabet

Out of different varieties of slims available in the market, bring home a few for the slimy alphabet activity.

In this activity, distribute a differently colored slime to each kid and read-aloud Alphabets.

The kid should come up with the right design of the alphabet to win the activity.

18. Make Crayon Gems

For this activity, collect all the broken and waste crayons from your kid’s pencil box and grade them according to similar colors.

Now melt all the graded crayon and pre-buy a candy mold having the shape of gems.

Under your guidance, ask your kids to pour melted crayons in the mold and after an hour or so, demold all the gems.

19. Organize Kid Theatre

This is an exciting activity where you can give your kids pseudo scenarios to act upon.

You can ask them to improvise any of their cartoon character or movie characters. For an after-school time, this could be a chillax activity.

20. Food Craving

These days, food carving has changed the way how you decorate food.

You can teach your kids food carving and help them decorate the cut vegetables in different ways. You can use zucchini, radish, eggplant or variety of fruits for carving.

Note: Do not leave alone with a knife; it could be dangerous.

21. Be an Athlete Activity

Out of all Middle School Activities, as mentioned above, this is unique and good for kids’ healthy regimen.

You can motivate your kids to perform running, jumping, racing, etc. Practicing these physical sports will develop their stamina and keep their metabolism healthy.

Conclusion

When your kids come back from the school, present them with one of the above-mentioned Middle School Activities to engage them differently.

Kids these days are often seen lingering with mobile and Laptop screen when they are supposed to run in the park and play outdoors.

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The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a comprehensive platform that is ideal for an unparalleled development for any childcare settings from birth to five years.

The first part has to be taken care at home whereas the Reception and nursery is the responsibility of schools.

According to experts, EYFS is a smart compilation of different stages that are very important for their growth as an individual.

The platform they set through EYFS can make a lasting impact for any kid in the way they grow up; their perspectives about life and of course their basic values.

That is why schools have to be very keen when they set up the EYFS curriculum for the next generation.

Are you planning to create the EYFS curriculum for your institution?

Here we are discussing the various stages of a comprehensive EYFS curriculum and the inevitable elements to incorporate in it to make an impact.

1. Communication and Language

This is the preliminary stage of an EYFS curriculum when they can learn the basics of communication and the relevance of a language.

This phase includes the activities to trigger their skills of listening and attention. Include activities to enable children to

  • Name and sound the letters of the alphabet
  • Listen and say sounds in words
  • Hold a pencil correctly
  • Understand a story has a beginning, middle, and end
  • Write their name
  • Begin to write simple sentences

2. Physical Development

This is the stage when a child is taught about the significance of moving and handling of objects around them. In a more detailed scenario, they can have a better awareness of health and self-care.

This stage is more about including activities that enable them to be active and interactive.

Moreover, this is meant to enhance their skills of control, coordination, manipulation, and movement.

This is also about teaching them the relevance of physical activity in daily life in addition to making healthy choices in food.

  • Develop skill and confidence in motor movements such as climbing, swinging, running, jumping, and hanging
  • Promote and develop their spatial awareness and coordination
  • Enable them to control the use of one-handed tools and equipment

3. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This is the stage when a child learns about making relationships and its importance in their lives.

With activities that trigger personal, social and emotional development, the child gets the medicine of self-confidence and self-awareness.

The ultimate end result of this stage will be their understanding of managing feelings and behavior.

Educators should include experiences and support to help them to

  • Develop a positive sense of themselves and of others
  • Improve social skills
  • Have respect for others
  • Build a positive disposition to learn

4. Literacy

Once you enter this stage, the focus will be shifted towards the basic activities for setting a platform for their reading and writing skills.

They can explore it through stories, songs, and poems using a wide range of media.

The phonics area is an inevitable element which encourages and supports kids to trigger their independent learning.

The activities in this phase enable kids to

  • Develop linking sounds to letters
  • Recognize print in their environment
  • Understand the significance of print for communication

5. Mathematics

This is one of the most interesting but challenging phases of an EYFS curriculum when kids are taught about the basics of mathematics.

The basics for the subject needs to be set right or else it might turn out to be one of the most dreadful subjects when they move up higher classes.

The basic phase includes activities to trigger recognition of numbers, shape, space, and measure.

The activities should include

  • Counting up to ten and beyond
  • Sharing objects into equal groups
  • Learn ‘addition’ means adding on, and ‘subtraction’ means taking away
  • Creating their own patterns
  • Building models and shapes

6. Understanding of the World

This area of learning is meant for kids to explore, learn more and find more about their environment.

Kids should be exposed to solve problems, make decisions, question, predict, experiment, and plan in diverse life scenarios.

This in fact is the science part of the curriculum where kids have practical experience of conducting and exploring experiments and using drawings and charts to showcase the findings.

The activities during the phase will train them to

  • Identify features of objects, living things, and events
  • Look at similarities, differences, and patterns
  • Use their senses

7. Expressive Arts

This phase is more about giving them opportunities to be imaginative and setting a platform for them to share their ideas, thoughts and feelings.

It is important to give them role-play activities and let them experience and explore the possibilities of design, art, and music; dance and technology right from their young days.

This phase is more about encouraging their curiosity, exploration and play. Give them the ultimate freedom to express themselves through various means.

  • They sing songs, make music and dance
  • Experiment with ways of changing and improving their creativity
  • Design and technology enables them to represent their thoughts and ideas
  • Schools may even provide specialist teaching in music or dance

In fact, kids are encouraged to lead their own learning and support is given in terms of person, space and materials to trigger this independence.

The ultimate result of a proper EYFS program is smart children who have their own ideas, think creatively and critically, easily make links between ideas and choose their ways to do things.

When a child has undergone effective learning, they have the next level of engagement when he played with what they know, find out and explore more, and shows a willingness to ‘have a go’.

The schools and respected authorities can take an extra step towards building an EYFS curriculum with the best possibilities to develop a generation of smart citizens for tomorrow.

They can help kids to best exploit the chance to develop their understanding and knowledge to secure a foundation for their life later.

Know More: 20 Best Education System in the World 

Modern schools are using the best of the options in the curriculum to give them a challenging education which is designed to unlock their potential.

This will enable children to give out their best which makes them fit for the world’s best universities.