Advent is the period of time in the Christian calendar set aside for waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ. An advent reef has four candles on it, three purple and one pink. One month before the day of the birth of Jesus, Christians light one candle a week. First a purple candle is lit, then another purple, then the pink and then the final purple. To teach preschool children about this aspect of the Christian religion cut out the shape of a reef from green construction paper for each of the children. Then, provide the children with small purple and pink construction paper rectangles to glue around the reef. As you explain the significance of waiting for Jesus to be born, let the children glue yellow teardrop shapes you have cut out to represent the flames on the candles. Remind the children to glue the yellow cut outs on two purple candles first, then on the pink candle, and leave the other purple for last.
Ramadan is a period of fasting, lasting for about a month in the Islamic religion. During this time Muslims do not eat any food after the sun has risen or before the sun has set. But, after the sun has set Muslims have an Iftar meal with their families. This meal is a sort of celebration. Provide each child with a paper plate and either a pile of pictures of food cut out of magazines or some crayons. Allow the kids choose what type of foods they would have at their Iftar plate and let them either paste the magazine cut outs onto their paper plates or draw the types of food they would like to eat with the crayons.
Diwali is the celebration of the return of the Lord Rama. It is a five day festival of lights. Hindi people make Diyas which are earthen oil lamps that are lit to celebrate the deities of the religion or ancestors of the people celebrating. Children can be provided with a ball of air drying clay and a small tea light candle. Tell the children to press the candle into the ball of clay so that it stays in place and the bottom of the ball of clay is flat. Allow the clay to dry and then the children can paint their Diyas using acrylic paint.
Meditation is part of the Buddhist way of life. Buddhists seek to become more at one with their body and spirit and they use meditation to accomplish this. One way to meditate is to do yoga poses. The children should be asked to bring a towel to class to serve as the yoga mat. The children should lay the yoga mats out in a circle so they can all see the teacher. Explain to the children that the purpose of the activity is to quiet the minds, so the children need to try not to make noise. The children can do easy poses, like "The Leaf." In "The Leaf," sit with the back straight and the soles of the feet together and hands on the ankles. A child then rounds the spine forward slowly then returns to the straight position. Another position is "The Flower". For this pose, like for "The Leaf," a child sits with the soles of the feet together, back straight and hands on the feet. Then, a child gently bounces the knees up and down slowly.