How to Celebrate Children's Day in Preschool

Celebrating in the Classroom

Select an arts project based on each child’s interests and personality. To celebrate the creativity of children, have each student create a work of art based on what makes them unique. Give each student a sheet of construction paper and some crayons, and let them create something that represents who they are. At the end, allow students to volunteer to share what they drew. Create a Children’s Day bulletin board and highlight the work that the students produced. Give it a fun border and some cool letters to make it stand out in your room. Since preschool students often draw in class, throw on some fun music and let students work wherever they want to make it feel special and unique.

Have students share what makes them special with their class. Create basic activity sheets with prompts asking about what makes each individual student special and unique. Pass the sheets out and read them over with the students. Then, in small groups or as a class, have each student say something positive about themselves. This will reinforce the core values of Children’s Day while boosting the self-esteem of your students.

Teach a lesson based on the theme of this year’s Children’s Day. In most countries, Children’s Day has a theme like playing outside, eating healthy, or being kind. To preface Children’s Day celebrations, teach a simple lesson about the importance of this year’s theme. This way, students will understand the meaning of the holiday while learning something new. Be sure to cover preliminary concepts for students that may not fully understand some of the foundational elements of the theme. For example, if this year’s theme is getting exercise, start by presenting information on what happens if you eat poorly, don’t exercise, or fail to take care of yourself.

Have students create and decorate crowns or tiaras. To reinforce the idea that Children’s Day is designed to celebrate children, announce that each student is a king or queen. Have them create their own crowns or tiaras by taking pre-cut sheets of construction paper and folding it into a crown. Each student can draw or write on their crown with markers, and students will be able to add glitter or fake jewels. Since your students are on the younger side, you’ll need to cut the shapes out ahead of time. Cut sheets of construction paper lengthwise and cut triangles into the tops of each strip to form the points for the crowns and tiaras. This is a great activity for sensory play and arts time.

Creating School-Wide Events

Host a talent show to showcase the individuality of the students. Start by explaining to students what a talent show is. For preschoolers, a talent show can include a song, story, or piece of work that the student has produced. Start by modelling an example. Have the class sing along with you to a song that you’ve taught them previously. Then, let students volunteer to share what makes them unique. Allow shy students to work in groups so that they can still take part without getting scared by being the center of attention.

Have students decorate their classrooms to prepare for festivities. Start by telling students that their classrooms reflect the work that they do in class, but that they need to look special for Children’s Day! Get balloons, ribbons, and blank sheets of poster paper and allow students to customize the classroom to look the way they want. To keep this tame, allow teachers to have the students decorate only one wall or one section of their classroom. This is also a great way for individual classrooms to develop and express their communal pride.

Host parties as a school or in the individual classrooms. To end the school day, host a Children’s Day party for students and parents. Set out child-friendly snacks and refreshments, and allow students and parents to mingle and play. Throw on some fun music in the background, and allow the children to socialize for 1-2 hours. If it’s nice out, consider doing this outside so that students can play on the playground.

Take a field trip to the zoo, museum, or park to give the school a break. A field trip is an excellent way to celebrate Children’s Day as a school. Select an educational site to visit as a class, and organize the trip so that parents can join if they’d like to partake in the festivities. The zoo, a children’s museum, or a park are all excellent options. If you end up selecting the park as the site of your trip, bring games, balls, and cones to set up some pick-up sports games.

Preparing for the Holiday as a Parent

Explain Children’s Day to your preschooler to get them excited. Your child likely understands Thanksgiving, Halloween, and religious holidays, but they may not know that there is a holiday designed specifically for them! A few weeks before the holiday, take a few minutes to explain Children’s Day is designed to honor children all over the world. This will get them excited about the upcoming holiday. Some parents and teachers give children the opportunity to choose how they want to celebrate Children’s Day. If you’re going to let your preschooler decide what to do, give them a few weeks to think about it so that they can pick something that they’ll enjoy.

Take the day off of work and spend it with your child. Look up the date for Children’s Day where you live. If Children’s Day isn’t a national holiday where you live, talk to your boss or manager ahead of time to let them know that you and your preschooler will be honoring the holiday together. This way, you’ll ensure that you’ll be able to spend the entire day with your child. Children’s Day is on a different day every year. Don’t assume that it’s on the same day that it was last year. Children’s Day is on a different day depending on where you live. For example, the holiday is in June if you live in China, but it’s in November if you live in India. Make sure that you look up the date for your country specifically! In some countries, Children’s Day takes place over the course of an entire weekend.

Coordinate with your school’s teacher and the other parents. If your preschooler has school on Children’s Day, the odds are that your child’s teacher has something planned for the day. Shoot your preschool teacher an email or give them a call to see what’s going on at school that day. If there’s a community party planned, find out what time you need to be there. Contact the other parents in your child’s class to see if they’re planning anything special together. Tip: Ask the teacher if they need help with anything. Children’s Day can be quite an affair at some schools, and the teacher will likely appreciate the help.

Schedule your activities ahead of time. Figure out what you want to do with your child ahead of time. That way, you can get your tickets for the museum, or make your restaurant reservations ahead of time. Child-centered activities and establishments are sure to fill up quickly on the holiday, so put your plans together ahead of time to avoid missing out.

Engaging with the Theme

Ask your child what they know about the theme. Every year, Children’s Day has a new theme designed around something related to the wellness of children. Past themes include staying healthy, expressing yourself, and promoting unity. Ask your child what they know about this year’s theme to gauge how much they know about the topic. Keep in mind, the theme changes based on where you live, so be sure to look it up ahead of time by searching online! Some countries choose to not emphasize a specific theme on Children’s Day. If you don’t have a theme where you live, you can come up with one or skip this component entirely.

Teach your child the importance of the theme. Have a conversation with them about the importance of the topic, and explain how your activities relate to this year’s theme. This way, you child will be able to make connections between what they’re doing for the holiday, and what the importance of the theme is. For preschoolers, it may be hard to remember what the point of Children’s Day is. Ask them, “What’s the point of Children’s Day again?” several times over the course of the holiday to reinforce the purpose and keep them engaged with the theme.

Select activities based on this year’s theme. The theme for Children’s Day is helpful when it comes to figuring out how you want to celebrate with your child. For example, if the theme for this year is healthy living, you could take your child to a park to play some games, or out to a farm to learn about how vegetables and crops are grown. If the theme is promoting unity, you could take your child to a public event or set up a party for their class. Tip: Selecting activities based around the theme will help your child understand the value of the holiday and its underlying purpose. There are no rules or requirements when it comes to celebrating Children’s Day. You can choose to celebrate however you’d like. You can even ignore the theme altogether if you want.

Picking Fun After-School Activities

Ask your child what they want to do to honor the spirit of the holiday. Many parents and teachers give children the opportunity to choose how to celebrate Children’s Day. If you want to give your child some control over festivities, have them choose how to celebrate. This will give your child some ownership in the festivities while honoring the meaning of Children’s day. If you aren’t comfortable giving your child total control over the holiday, ask them to help you brainstorm. Sit down with them and ask them to help you figure out how the two of you are going to celebrate.

Take your child to a museum or zoo to learn while having fun. One way to celebrate is to take your child somewhere fun and educational. An art museum, science museum, or aquarium can be a ton of fun for a preschool-aged child. The zoo is another great option if Children’s Day is on a warmer day of the year where you live. Once you’ve selected a museum where you want to take your child, contact them and look on their website to see if they have any unique events for the holiday. The aquarium, planetarium, or outdoor installations are also excellent options.

Have a picnic or potluck to share a meal together. Another option is to have a special meal with your child. If you want to hang out and spend some quality time together, have a picnic with your child in a nice, quiet part of a park. If you want to emphasize community, organize a potluck with other parents in your child’s preschool class. Have everyone bring something and hang out as a community.Tip: If you go with the potluck option, cook your contribution for the potluck with your child and talk about the ingredients, cooking process, and steps involved. Ask them to help you cook it by giving them a simple task to complete. This will make your preschooler feel like they cooked it too! This is a good choice if this year’s theme deals with health or clean living.

Pick a craft or art project to work on together to get creative. If your child really loves creating and drawing, spend the day making art together. Pick a simple craft, like finger painting plates to make masks, or doing origami together. Allow your child to create whatever they want to make to let them enjoy the holiday. This doesn’t need to be a massive event; you can simply let them spend a few hours drawing. Consider taking your child to a craft store and letting them pick out the materials for your art project.