Kwanzaa Principles

Kwanzaa is a celebration of principles and African heritage. Sometimes it's hard to explain to a middle school student what words like unity, self-determination and responsibility really mean. Use this vocabulary activity to really help your child understand the principles of Kwanzaa.

What You Need:

• Paper
• Pen
• Colored pencils

What You Do:

1. On the sheet of paper, make three columns: Principle, Definition, and Picture.
2. In the Principle column, write each of the seven principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).
3. In the next column, have your child define each of the principles. She can look up the definition in the dictionary or find Kwanzaa-specific definitions on the Internet. But encourage her to write the definition in her own words.
4. In the final column, use the colored pencils to draw a picture about each of the words. So, for Imani (Faith), she could draw a picture of praying hands. For Kuumba (creativity), she can draw a picture of dancing or music notes. Each picture should be her idea of what that principle means.
5. Once she's all done, display her work on the refrigerator or near your kinara.