Early years activity for Holi: colourful hands

Published March 10, 2025 Written by [email protected]

Early years activity: Holi – the festival of colours

Holi is a vibrant Hindu festival that marks the arrival of spring and celebrates love and new beginnings. It is also known as the Festival of Colours.

This Holi early years activity encourages children to celebrate colours and have fun with friends.

Learning aims

There are many different learning outcomes of this activity. To encourage appreciation of different cultures, traditions and celebrations. It will encourage children to throw accurately, improving hand-eye coordination. It will help understand the beginnings of colour mixing and encourage creativity. Children will be able to practise fine motor and gross motor skills.

Resources you’ll need

For this activity, you’ll need large sheets of paper, a water spray bottle, a roller/paintbrush, powder paints in a variety of bright colours with the activity taking place in an open space (ideally outside, as this could get messy!).

Holi – the festival of colours activity guide

While some families observe Holi with religious rituals, for many, it is a joyful occasion filled with fun. The festival is famous for its bright colours, featuring lively dancing, singing, and the playful throwing of coloured powders and water.

Gather the children and explain that this is a special time of year for Hindus. They come together to celebrate the beginning of spring and have lots of fun with their friends and families using colours
Explain that the children are going to use colours to have fun with their friends
Dampen a large piece of paper using the spray bottle and water, then hang it up at child height
Invite the children to take small handfuls of powder paint and throw it at the paper (the water will help the paint stick)
As a group, decide when your masterpiece is finished. Hang it up for all to see- perhaps you could use it as backing paper for a display

How can you extend this activity?

You could offer children the opportunity to create their own individual powder colour pictures using smaller piece of paper.

Looking for more Holi activity support?

Develop children’s artistic and cultural awareness to support their imagination and creativity with Expressive Arts & Design nursery face to face training for early years practitioners.

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Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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