Holi

Draw an outline of a hand on some coloured card. Carefully cut this out, ready to decorate (some children may need a little assistance with this).

Use Blu Tack to secure the handprint to a piece of unfolded newspaper, or any surface that can get messy!

Top tip: make sure that the handprint has a good contrast against the surface so that your child can easily see or feel it.

Decorate your Holi Hand. You can make creative patterns and details using scented or brightly coloured markers, glitter glue or puffy paint.

Think of the different ways to decorate your Holi Hand.

Perhaps you could blow paint using a straw, flick paint with a paint brush, spatula or with your hands or even try fingerpainting.

For very young children, or those who don’t like the sensation of touching paint, pop your Holi Hand into a zip lock bag with a few splodges of paint. Encourage your child to squeeze or roll the bag around to decorate their Holi Hand!

Talking about colour to a child who is blind or partially sighted can be daunting, but did you know that colour can be expressed and interpreted through more senses than sight alone?

You could go on a sensory adventure with your family and try and match colour names to familiar items with a particular taste, smell, texture or sound. For example:

• Red = the taste of strawberries.
• Yellow = the feeling of warmth.
• Pink = the feeling of love.
• Green = the smell of fresh cut grass.
• Purple = the taste of blackcurrant juice.
• Orange = the smell of a freshly peeled orange or the crackling sound of a fire.
• Blue = the sound of crashing waves or the feeling of being immersed in water.

It is important to remember that children perceive colours differently and that there is no right or wrong way to experience this.

There are many books which explore colour – both from the perspective of someone who is visually impaired and from the perspective of someone who is not. Here are some examples to get you started:

• The Black Book of Colours by Menena Cottin and illustrated by Rosana Faria
• Festival of Colours by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal. Illustrated by Vashti Harrison
• Let's Celebrate Holi! (Maya and Neel's India Adventure Series, Book 3): Volume 3 by Ajanta Chakraborty, Vivek Kumar