Kwanzaa Activities, Books & Videos For Kids and Teachers

As our holidays around the world series continues, this post celebrates Kwanzaa! I’ll share Kwanza activities, lesson ideas, books, videos and a kinara craft for students to learn about:

🌽 The 7 symbols of Kwanzaa
🌽 The origin of Kwanzaa
🌽 Kwanza greeting
🌽 Lighting the kinara
🌽 The meaning behind Kwanzaa colors

Lesson ideas and activities to celebrate Kwanzaa

What is Kwanzaa?

Kwanzaa is the celebration of African-American history and culture that is primarily celebrated in the United States. Both the name and celebration were created in 1966 by an American professor, Dr. Maulana Karenga. Kwanzaa is a celebration of peace and unity.

Facts About Kwanzaa

The word Kwanzaa means “first fruits”.
Many people of African heritage in Canada also celebrate Kwanzaa.
Each of the kinara candles represents a different principle.
The Kwanzaa greeting is “Habari gani” which means “What’s the news?”

How is Kwanzaa celebrated?

The 7 Symbols of Kwanzaa

There are seven symbols that people gather for Kwanzaa ceremonies.

A unity cup
The kinara
The seven candles
Ears of corm
Fruits, nuts, and vegetables
Gifts
A mat to set the symbolic items on

To prepare for Kwanzaa, families set a special place setting with the seven symbolic items. Each item is placed on a special mat called a mkeka.

Watch a video about Kwanza

What Is Kwanzaa? | How is Kwanzaa celebrated? Learn about Kwanzaa in this fun holiday video for kids

Kwanzaa is an African-inspired holiday | CBC Kids News

Lighting the Kinara

Each night of Kwanzaa, families gather around the mkeka. In the middle is a special candle holder called a kinara. It holds seven candles.

The seven days and candles represent the seven principles of Kwanzaa. The candles are red, black, and green, and always put in a special order. The black candle is in the middle with red candles to the left and green candles to the right.

Kwanzaa Classroom Activities

Kwanzaa PowerPoint

Take your students on a virtual field trip to learn more about Kwanzaa and its principles. This ready-to-use teaching PowerPoint is the one I use to teach during our holidays around the world unit. Filled with captivating photos from real celebrations that will excite your students as they learn about Kwanzaa and its meaningful traditions.

PowerPoint source here or on TPT

Make A Kinara Craft

Have your students make a kinara postcard craft!

This kinara postcard craft and the templates are part of the Kwanzaa activities we do during our holidays around the world unit. Our students travel to different classrooms to learn about the unique customs and holiday traditions in countries around the world.

Holidays around the world postcard crafts from different countries.

Students make postcard crafts for each country before stamping their passport and departing! See more of how we do it in my classroom and all the magical ways to teach holidays around the world.

Kwanzaa Lesson Plans

Learn much more about Kwanzaa traditions with an entire week of activities that include teaching slides, a fun suitcase folder, short exit ticket quizzes, and a travel passport in these Holidays Around the World lesson plans!

I’ve created a complete unit for teaching holiday traditions in 18 countries. Each country has detailed, scripted lesson plans with related books and videos, boarding passes, a teaching PowerPoint with actual photos of the countries, and even a short quiz as an exit ticket before students depart! (they make it super easy to take a quick grade!)

This unique holidays around the world unit is available here in the Around The Kampfire Shop and also in my TPT shop.

Kwanzaa Reading Passages

Add comprehension practice with leveled reading passages about Kwanzaa. These passages also include a digital version that you can project on your whiteboard and use during a lesson or make it a partner activity during your literacy center time.