Celebrating the joy of Holi with your kids!Photo courtesy Shake it Off Westchester

What is Holi?

The Holi Festival of Colors is a two-day festival celebrated across India with diverse traditions unique to each region. Holi marks the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil.

Holi is associated with various legends, including the legend of Prahlad and Holika. Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, was saved from his evil aunt Holika, who perished in fire. This symbolizes the victory of devotion and righteousness over arrogance and evil. Holi also celebrates the divine love of Lord Krishna and Radha, where Krishna playfully applied colors to Radha’s face, starting the tradition of playing with colors.

Traditionally, on the night before Holi (Holika Dahan, or Chhoti Holi), bonfires are lit to symbolize the burning of evil spirits. People throw wood, branches, and dried leaves into the flames.

The next day, during the Holi festival of colors, communities throw colored powder into the air and onto each other. They also splash water, sometimes with squirt guns and sometimes with colored water-filled balloons. It is traditional to wear white, so the splashed colors show up even better! Family and friends gather for festive meals and exchange sweets in the evening.

Holi is also celebrated in the Sikh religion as Hola Mohalla, a tradition established by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, in 1701. This festival is celebrated on the first day of the lunar month of Chet, typically in March, following the Hindu Holi festival.

When is Holi 2025?

Holi follows the Hindu lunar calendar and falls on the full moon day (Purnima) of the month of Phalguna, usually in March. The exact date varies each year. While Holi 2025 falls on March 14, in colder locations, the celebrations are often held later in the year since they are mostly outdoors.

India's Holi festivities are an amazing reason to get colorful and have fun. Photo by the author

How to Celebrate Holi with Kids

1. Throw a Color Party

The simplest way to celebrate the Holi festival with kids is to have a color party. Encourage everyone to wear white so that the colors pop, and make sure to wear things you don't mind getting dirty (washable colors are available, but just in case). Then break out the water guns, sprinklers, and bubbles and let the colors fly! Play Bollywood music for a real festive experience.

2. Make Exploding Paint Bombs

This fun and messy experiment requires just a few ingredients you may already have around the house. Pour water-based paint into film canisters and add half an Alka-Seltzer tablet to each. Put the lids on the canisters and shake them up. Then place them face-down onto watercolor paper and wait for them to explode! You'll have a unique work of art that you can keep for display.

3. Make Color-Filled Balloon Art

Kids will love making balloons that explode with color. Just mix different watercolors in buckets to fill the balloons. Then spread out a large piece of craft paper or an old bedsheet and let the kids throw the balloons at it to make incredible splatter art.

4. Make Your Own Color Powder

Making your own colors is a fun activity for crafty kids. Children can get creative and mix the colors to make their own shades—a good opportunity to learn about primary and secondary colors. You can make our own colors at home using this recipe from Care.com that requires just cornstarch, liquid food color, water, and a baking tray.

If you are really crafty and want to use all-natural color sources, My Little Puppet has some great recipes for making your own colors out of natural plant products, as well as information on the symbolism of each color.

If you decide to buy your colors, just make sure they are non-toxic and non-staining. I didn't do this the first time I ordered colors and ended up with permanently stained clothes!

For Holi, each color has a special meaning. Photo courtesy Shake it Off Westchester

5. Join a Local Holi Celebration

Most US cities have Indian cultural centers that host Holi celebrations, usually outdoors with music, dancing, and delicious food. While in India the holiday is celebrated in March, in colder areas, celebrations happen in April or May. Check your local Mommy Poppins Activity Calendar for Holi events near you!

6. Do a Colorful Craft

Holi is the perfect holiday for crafts using an array of beautiful colors. Try one of our 21 rainbow crafts for kids, which include colorful salt paintings, a walking water rainbow, and more. There are also some great guided crafts in this YouTube video.

7. Explore a New Cuisine

Try out a local Indian restaurant. Many offer buffets so that you can sample many things and see what you like. Alternatively, try one of these easy Indian recipes at home. Some kid favorites include naan, butter chicken, mango lassi, and the delicious dessert gulab jamun.

8. Watch a Bollywood Movie

Bollywood movies are a great way to teach kids about Indian culture and let them hear the Hindi language (or opt for the dubbed version if they have trouble reading subtitles). Check out this list of kid-friendly Bollywood movies and have a unique movie night.

9. Learn an Indian Dance

Many dance studios offer Bollywood or traditional Indian dance classes for all ages. Alternatively you can learn with step-by-step videos on YouTube. Try Dance with Riya and Twinkle Kids TV.

10. Have a Holi Countdown

Count down the days to Holi by doing one of the activities above or reading one of the books below each day until Holi 2025. A Holi countdown spreads out the celebration and gets kids excited for the Holi festival!

Great Children's Books About Holi

Books are a great way to teach kids about other cultures during daily storytimes. Here are some great kids' books about Holi for babies and older kids that teach about the story behind the Holi festival, Holi food and drinks, and ways Holi is celebrated in different regions.

Holi Colors, by Rina Singh

This board book for ages 2 and under includes vibrant photos and playful rhymes.

Celebrate Holi with Me!, by Shoumi Sen

Part of "From The Toddler Diaries", a series of children's books about Indian culture and mythology, this picture book for ages 1-3 follows a little girl named Riya and her friends as they celebrate the Holi festival.

Happy Holi!: Celebrating the Festival of Colors, by Chitra Soundar

This gorgeous picture book follows two siblings as they enjoy all the wonderful traditions and treats Holi has to offer—baking and bonfires, stories and sweets and, of course, the Festival of Colors.

Let's Celebrate: Happy Holi, by Joyce Bentley

Geared towards grades K-2, this non-fiction book shows children how people around the world celebrate the Holi festival and what it means to them.

Let's Celebrate Holi!, by Ajanta Chakraborty

Book three of "Maya & Neel's India Adventure Series," Let's Celebrate Holi! follows Maya, Neel and their cute little partner, Chintu the squirrel, as they learn all about the Holi Festival of Colors.

Festival of Colors, by Surishtha Sehgal and Kabir Sehgal

Learn all about Holi in this gorgeous picture book from a bestselling mother/son duo.

Amma, Tell Me About Holi!, by Bhakti Mathur

From the bestselling author of the "Amma, Tell Me" series, this beautiful children's picture book is written in rhyme with captivating illustrations for ages 2-8.

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