Diwali is the perfect time of year to celebrate with family craft activities. Several religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Newar Buddhism, celebrate the five-day festival and it takes place around the world every October or November. The date changes each year, as the Hindu calendar is based on the moon. This year, it's taking place from 18 – 23 October, with the third day being the main day of celebrations.
The festival is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and symbolises the power of light over darkness and good over evil. People fill their homes with lights and open their doors to guide Lakshmi inside. It's also a festival that coincides with harvest and is a time of celebrating new beginnings.
The word Diwali means "rows of lighted lamps" and is rooted in the Sanskrit word "deepavali". The event sees homes, streets and public areas decked out with oil lamps (called diyas), while family members visit each other and come together for celebratory feasts. Fireworks are lit and sweets are handed out, which are popular with children. With so many vibrant and bright traditions, Diwali is the perfect time of year to celebrate with kids crafts.
Keep reading to explore our selection of Diwali crafts and activities and let your little ones' creativity shine this year.
Easy Diwali crafts and activities for kids
1. Colour in rangoli Diwali patterns
We're big fans of Twinkl for kids craft resources, and they have a great set of Rangoli printables that you can download and decorate at home.
- Get the Diwali Rangoli pattern templates from Twinkl.
2. Simple-make marigold flower garland
We absolutely love Grateful Art's method for making tissue paper flowers and stringing them into a glorious garland. Give it a go today and add wow-factor to your Diwali decorations.
- Find the marigold paper flower garland tutorial on Grateful Art's YouTube channel.
3. Make your own Happy Diwali cards
Diwali is such a visual festival, filled with rich and colourful symbolism, and DIY Diwali cards are a great kids Diwali craft which you can get really creative with to reflect this. We love this simple firecracker card tutorial from Shruti Acharya over at Artsy Craftsy Mom.
4. Make a paper diya Diwali garland
The chance to decorate your home with bright colours and light-inspired decorations is one of our favourite things about Diwali festivities. This cute paper diya Diwali garland is super easy to make and perfect for a range of ages.
Older children will love discovering the art of quilling and creating different shapes by rolling up coloured paper. The paper diyas could also be made individually to make Diwali cards.
- Find out how to make this beautiful paper diya Diwali garland over at Red Ted Art.
Kids crafts for every occasion!
Looking for more children's craft ideas to make all year round? Check out our round-up of easy crafts for kids for every season and holiday.
5. Play dough Diwali rangoli mandalas
Get kids of all ages involved with making play dough rangoli mandalas. It's a wonderful sensory play activity and you can decorate your mandalas and shapes with everyday household objects. Dig out items from your kitchen, like seeds, lentils and pearl barley. Or why not add some glitter and sparkle with sequins and beads from your craft stash.
If you don't have any play dough to hand, head to our recipe here on Gathered and whip up some playdough with just a few kitchen cupboard staples.
- Find the play dough mandalas tutorial on NutureStore.
6. Decorate your own Diwali candles – punched tealight holder
The Champa Tree has some brilliant articles about celebrating Diwali. We love their round-up of 20 simple Diwali decoration ideas, which includes this stunning punched tealight holder. Head to their website to find out how to make it today.
- Get the tutorial for this punched tealight holder on The Champa Tree.
7. DIY clay table decorations
A wonderful Diwali table decoration idea that kids will love helping you make is these sweet DIY diya tealight holders from Little Passports. Sculpt them from clay and let little ones decorate them with patterns, jewels, gems or stickers.
If you've never used air dry clay before, we have a guide here on Gathered. Check out our article on how to use air dry clay and swot up on the basics.
- Find the DIY diya tealight holders tutorial on Little Passports.
8. Stitch fireworks for your walls and table
Embroidery and stitching is a great craft activity that older children in particular will enjoy. Make your own embroidered fireworks with our free fireworks embroidery design here on Gathered.
9. Make Diwali candles from paper and thread
We love these DIY Diwali cards from Handmade with Love. Younger children will find the paper pleats super fun to make, and grown-ups will enjoy getting creative embroidering the details.
10. Make colourful paper Diwali lanterns
One of our favourite Diwali crafts is making paper lanterns with apertures covered in tissue paper. You can also hang them in your window and use them as sun catchers.
Angela Jose has created a fantastic tutorial for The Keybunch. She uses coloured vellum in the windows, but you can also use coloured acetate, tissue paper or even sweet wrappers. We've tried making them with Quality Street wrappers and found the purple and yellow ones work especially well!
- Get the DIY paper lantern tutorial on The Keybunch.
11. Q-tip painted henna handprint craft
Celebrate the beautiful art form of henna with this easy Diwali craft from Happy Toddler Playtime. In some cultures, people wear henna during the festival of Diwali, so why not honour this tradition and encourage little ones to print henna designs onto coloured paper?
Go to Happy Toddler Playtime's step-by-step tutorial for this fun craft activity and help tiny tots develop their fine motor skills.
12. Sparkler firework craft
It's not a celebration without some sparklers, especially for Diwali – the Festival of Lights! Plus, these paper sparklers are far safer for little ones than the real thing.
Create these fun sparklers in no time with Little Ladoo's easy-to-follow tutorial. This craft only requires a few items – all you need are some skewers, coloured paper and glue. Then enjoy cutting, sticking, and waving your finished sparkler in the air!
Celebrate Diwali through craft
We wish everyone reading this a happy Diwali and hope you enjoy making the projects in our round-up. These Diwali crafts are the perfect way to celebrate this special festival while bonding with the little ones in your life. Whether you fancy sculpting teaholders from clay together, or want to support young children as they develop their motor skills, there's something for everyone.
Spread joy with balloon animals
There's nothing like a balloon animal to bring a smile to a child's face! Head over to our how to make balloon animals for beginners guide here on Gathered and learn how to make them today.
Main image © Yevhenii Khil
