I is for Incredible India, letter A

Batman (7) is starting to read a lot of books about India, mostly fun mythology books, and epics (the condensed versions) and has lots of questions.It was his idea to come up with an A-Z book about India.

It's mostly aimed at the 7+ crowd (Batman's age).

Every week (or two), I will post about one letter. When the entire series is complete, I will put the whole thing in a pdf file. Till then, feel free to print out the images.


This might be a fun addition to your continent box for Asia. 

India just celebrated it's 65th Republic Day (anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution) on 26th January with President Obama as an honored guest. I thought it was a good time to start the series!!

This week's post is about letter A. 
But first, a quick introduction to India!

 

India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with more than 1.2 billion people, and the the largest democracy in the world, with a civilization that is more than 5000 years old! 

Spanning an area of 3,287,263 square kilometers, it is a vast country and includes dry desert areas, evergreen forests, snowy Himalayas, a long coast, and fertile plains. It also hosts a unique eco-system rich with vegetation, wildlife, rare herbs, and a large variety of birds.

Virtually every major religion of the world like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam and Christianity are found here. The Sikhs, the Zoroastrians, the Jews (living in India since 600 B.C.), the people of Bahai faith, all are found in India in substantial numbers.

There is no such thing as the Indian language. There are over 200 languages in India (almost 1600, if you include dialects), with about twenty of them being very prominent ones. The Indian currency is printed in 15 languages.

Then there is diversity in clothing and attire, food habits, culture and customs to name a few.

It is such a complex nation, it is referred to as a sub-continent.

But the main theme of this culture is the unity which absorbs all the diversities. India is a perfect example of Unity in Diversity. Indians are bound by common cultural heritage and share basic human values. The rich and varied heritage happens to be one of the many sources of pride of the nation.

 

 

Print one or all three images for letter A! I had a hard time restricting myself to one, so I posted all three!


All images are from Wikipedia unless specified otherwise.

Leave me a comment if you want to read about something specific for a letter. 
And I would love to read if you have something similar for a country!!

You might also like this post, which talks about a tradition in which we celebrate baby's first taste of rice...

The First Grain of Rice

How do you celebrate the "milestone" of baby’s first initiation into solid food? 
After all, it is a big deal, something for the first time to wash down all that milk with :)

In India, this milestone is celebrated with a ceremony called Annaprashan, a Sanskrit term which means “grain initiation”. In West Bengal, this tradition is called Mukhe Bhaat.

 The baby gets dolled up as a mini bride and groom for this special occasion. 

A seven course meal fit for royalty is prepared... 

Sounds interesting?

Please head on over here to read more!

World Culture: Mukhe Bhaat Ceremony in West Bengal, India

Thanks to +MaryAnne Mamasmilesblog for hosting this wonderful series.

Now it's your turn. What special traditions do you have associated with the first year of baby's life? Would love to hear about it!

Asian Inspired Montessori Pouring and Transferring

It's Raining, It's Pouring....

The super-heroes love new presentations of the same concept, but then, who doesn't? So we added an Asian flavor to our Montessori Pouring and Transferring.  

It was a big hit. If you are doing the rounds of the continents, or visiting certain countries, this could be a great activity for a tie-in.

We started  with India, with water beads in the stainless steel Karahi (Indian version of a wok), and two small steel bowls with lentils/beans. The wobbly water beads require concentration, the beans, not so much.

Indian flavored transferring activity with Karahi and bowls

For pouring, we gathered some ceramic sets. 

Japanese flavored pouring using Sake cups and pot

We had the Sake pot, called tokkuri, and Sake cups from Japan. This is an extension activity, so a good one for kids who have already mastered the basics. We added some blue food coloring for fun. Batman had no spills, and neither did Spiderman. The notch in the Sake cup has to be aligned just so when pouring.

Next was a tea service in a traditional Chinese motif, with tea-pot and the cups being just the right size for small hands. Pouring from the tea pot needs extra care, as you have to place a finger on the lid to keep it in place, making it a bit more challenging. There were quite a few drips with Spider-man, although no spills. Batman did a perfect job.

We finished it with some play food from Japan and China, and chopsticks.

Transferring with Dimsums and Chopsticks

Montessori Transferring with a chopstick

The play foods gave Batman ideas! So we also served pizza and transferred nachos...

We are global citizens after all.

Montessori Transferring with pizza slices and nachos

For this and other great ideas, visit: