Republic Day activities you can enjoy with your kids

After talking about Republic Day in the previous article, let us have a look at some of the activities you can do with your little ones to help them appreciate this landmark day. 

1. Watch the parade: A definite thing to do is to watch the Republic Day parade on your television. Make it exciting for your children to wake up early that day so as not to miss out on the live telecast. The parade is one of the best shows put up in India and definitely a must-see for all children. It will help them witness the diverse cultures of India and understand the contribution of the armed forces in keeping the country safe. 

2. Make an India book: Look through newspapers and magazines with your little one and cut out India related pictures. For example, the Indian flag, the national bird, the national animal, currency, father of the nation, first prime minister/president, important monuments, pictures of the armed forces etc. Now take a few A4 sheets of paper and cut them into half. Staple them together to form a book. Ask your child to stick the cut-out pictures on to the book and give a heading to each picture. Label the book as ‘My India Book’. 

3. Read a book on India: Talking about books, reading is the best form of learning. So read out a book about India to your little one. ‘A Children’s History of India’ by Subhadra Sengupta is a good one for slightly older children. For young ones, you can pick a nice picture book. 

4. Make the Indian Flag: Engage your kids in making a tricolour flag. You could simply give them a drawing sheet and some paint and ask them to paint one. Or try this creative way which will also give practice to their motor skills. Take a rectangular piece of cardboard and make lines with a pencil to draw the outline of the flag. Give your little one some masoor dal for saffron, rice for white, green moon dal for green and rajma or lobia for the pole. Take a little blue food colour and add it to some of the rice to get Indigo colour. Let your kid apply glue with a glue stick on the flag and stick the pulses to make the tricolour flag. 

5. Tricolour sandwiches: My son’s school usually has a Republic Day special on the 25th of January. Tricolour sandwiches are a must in his tiffin for that day. He enjoys sharing them with his friends. Involve your child in spreading the chutneys and sauces. Take 4 slices of bread and cut the corners. Ask your child to apply butter on each of the slices. Give him green chutney, shredded paneer or cheese cubes for white and tomato chutney for saffron. Let him spread the green chutney first. Then top it with a slice of bread. Add cheese. Top it with another slice of bread. Add tomato chutney. Close with the 4th slice of bread. Cut the sandwich into triangles to reveal beautiful looking tricolour sandwiches! 

6. Tricolour buntings: Cut out several leaf-shaped pieces from orange, green and white chart paper. I used leaf shapes, you can choose to make anything of your choice, say flowers, circles, triangles, stars etc. Take a long enough string or ribbon. Get your child to staple the shapes on to the ribbon in orange, white, green pattern to form a bunting. Hang it at the entrance of your house. 

7. Ice-cream stick art: Take 12 ice cream sticks and ask your child to paint 3 each in saffron, white and green colours. Stick them together using Fevicol to form the Indian flag. Paint the Ashok Chakra in the white centre using Indigo paint. To make it sturdy enough, stick 2-3 ice cream sticks vertically at the back.

Hope you enjoy doing these activities with your kid this Republic Day.

Stay Tuned! Stay Happy!