Printable Kwanzaa Worksheets and Puzzles
Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st. The celebration includes a feast, gift exchanges, candle lighting, and other ceremonies. Kwanzaa celebrates black heritage and culture. It is meant for inspiration and unity. Here are a number of worksheets for you to print.
- Bingo Cards Version 1
- Bingo Cards Version 2
- Bingo Cards Version 3
- Bingo Cards Version 4
- Bingo Cards Version 5
- Kwanzaa Crossword Puzzle
- Crossword Puzzle Answer Key
- Matching Vocabulary Quiz
- Matching Quiz Answer Key
- Vocabulary Fill Puzzle
- Vocabulary Fill Puzzle Answer Key
- Vocabulary List and Definitions
- Spelling Challenge Worksheet
- Spelling Challenge Answer Key
- Spiral Puzzle Worksheet
- Spiral Puzzle Answer Key
- Word Search
- Word Search Answer Key
Kwanzaa Classroom Activities for Teachers
Many families in the United States celebrate Kwanzaa. It's a festival celebrated by North Africans to honor their culture and traditions. Kwanzaa was first celebrated by Dr. Maulana Karenga in the 1960s, who wanted African Americans to remember their heritage. He thought they deserved a holiday too, like Christmas and Hannukah. It's loosely based on harvest celebrations in Africa. Every day of Kwanzaa celebrates a different principle associated with it. Kwanzaa helps people from Africa feel closer to their homes. They mostly celebrate it by singing songs, lighting candles, and exchanging gifts. But there are many ways to celebrate it in the classroom too.
Principles of Kwanzaa
There are seven principles of Kwanzaa. Each principle is supposed to celebrate a different part of African culture.
Principle of Umoji (Unity)
The principle of unity is meant to show the importance of time spent with your community- family or people of the same race. People use this time to talk about their struggles with each other and feel peace from shared experiences.
Since Umoji is mainly about reflecting on the past, a simple and fun activity with your students would be to print out the symbols representing all 7 principles and their names. Place these upsides down and try to get the students to pair each principle with its symbol.
Principle of Ujima (The Power of Collective Effort)
This principle focuses on sharing responsibility in the community and solving problems together. Many feasts are held during this festival because preparing a feast takes a collective effort. You can't lay out a banquet, but you can always go for mac-n-cheese with students.
Principle of Kujichagulia (Encouraging Self-Determination)
A colorful candelabra is an essential symbol of Kwanzaa, so it must be part of Kwanzaa classroom activities. It's known as a kinara- with each candle representing a different symbol of Kwanzaa. Together, all these candles are known as the Mishumaa Saba.
An easy and fun way to teach students about the seven principles of Kwanzaa would be to have them make a kinara. All need for this activity are paper, glue, crayons, and scissors. After folding strips of paper in the shape of a candle, they could write down one of the seven principles on each.
Principle of Imani (Reinforcing Faith)
Faith is an integral part of Kwanzaa. It calls for trusting the family and the community to have your back. This principle is celebrated with gift-giving. Older members of the family usually give gifts to kids who are celebrating the holiday. You can help students make 'Joyous Kwanzaa' cards to take home for their families to honor this part of the holiday.
Card-making is easy to carry out. All they have to do is fold a paper in half and cover it with drawings on the front and the back. They can also make a booklet full of printed photos of their families.
Principle of Nia (Giving Everyone a Purpose)
This principle is all about growing the community. Corn is another important symbol of Kwanzaa. A simple Kwanzaa classroom activity could involve making popcorn in class and having them count the number of kernels before and after microwaving them. This will have the twofold effect of teaching them a Kwanzaa principle and reinforcing their counting skills.
Principle of Ujamaa (Businesses)
This principle teaches students the importance of supporting family-owned businesses in their community and encouraging the economic growth of their community. To practice this principle, students can make their mkeka, the Kwanzaa mat on which all the other symbols are added. Weaving construction paper through a single black sheet should give the effect of a mat. The design needs to form a square-shaped pattern resembling a chess board.
Principle of Kuumba (Celebrating Creativity)
This principle highlights the importance of helping the community grow by nurturing it with creativity. This is typically celebrated through a unity cup. The colors of Kwanzaa are red, green, and black. Decorate a plastic cup with these colors and then turn it into a makeshift pot to plant in. This emphasizes the principle of growth through nurturing the plant. Students can watch how the plant grows over time and eventually plant it in their garden.
Customized gifts, also known as Zawadi, are often exchanged during Kwanzaa. Having students make bracelets or necklaces with red, black, and green beads will allow them to celebrate by sharing thoughtful gifts. This is one of the Kwanzaa classroom activities that can be carried out conveniently without hassle. After making their necklaces, students can help put these necklaces on their friends to express their care towards each other.
Many classroom activities printables are available online, please check out above, with games that test student knowledge of Kwanzaa. Even just having them color in the symbols will familiarize them with the holiday and its various elements. You can teach students to name the principles in Swahili, a native African language. This will help form a stronger connection to African culture and heritage. Kwanzaa worksheets also include activities that reinforce classroom concepts like teaching them ‘skip counting' by asking them to spot the 6th candle in a printed row of candles.
Kwanzaa classroom activities will help students from North Africa feel like their culture is valued and they have a place in the classroom. It also helps these students connect to their culture and heritage. You can easily implement many Kwanzaa classroom activity ideas in your classroom. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy; just the gesture of showing students that their identity is valued is enough.