We had a lovely Ayyam-i-Ha celebration with our friends. It happened on the last day of this Festival and it also happened to be our friend daughter’s birthday. We had some absolutely delicious food and our hosts prepared a great game for children to play.
I would like to share with the instructions of this game, originally created by Anisa Skuce-Newell, an art major and a mom of a 5 year old, our dearest friend. Anisa is one of program directors at the Eaglearts Academy Summer Arts Camp.
Things you need for this game:
A CD with some Baha’i children music
Few purses (depending on how many children participate)
Few sets of cards of people from different countries (Anisa had special card sets but you can make your own!). Variation: cut out little people out of the paper.
A glass table, light table or just a big sheet of paper
A round tray
Markers
A treasure box with few bottles filled with various beans, seeds and pasta (all uncooked)
Few tea candles
Instructions:
Prepare: place a CD with children’s music somewhere in the house, purses , cards and the treasure box in other places.
Age group: 3+ years old
– Start by asking the children if they know what special day is today (you can make your own story or choose a story from a Baha’i book). Tell them a brief story about a Man who came many years ago to bring about Unity on Earth – Baha’u’llah. Tell the children their first task is to go to {a place} to find a CD. When they come back, play a song for them to dance with (e.g. Red Grammer‘s “Teaching Peace”).
Tell the children their next task is to find purses.
Once the purses are found, tell the children now they need to go to {a place} and each find a set of cards for themselves. When they come back, talk about Unity in Diversity and how we have many different countries and people around the world.
Invite the children to the glass/light table or toward the sheet of paper. Bring out the big round tray, place it on the table. Show the children the picture of the globe (or the actual globe) and ask them if they know what it is. Ask them what shape it is and what shape the tray is.
Invite the children to trace the tray on the table/sheet of paper.
Ask the children if they know any countries of the world. Suggest them to draw circles inside the big circle to indicate different countries.
Once they are done, ask them to go to {a place} and by helping each other bring the treasure box. Explain that cooperation in bringing this big box will make it easier for everyone to carry it.
Open the box and bring out the jars with different beans and paste. Ask the children to fill the “countries” with them.
When the children are done with that task, ask them to bring out their purses, take out the picture cards and place them around the globe they drew, so it looks like all of them are holding hands together.
If you are using the glass table, lighten few tea candles and put them under the table. If you are using light table, lighten it. If you are using a sheet of paper – place the candle around the display.
Tell the children we will turn off the light and see how beautiful our world is! We sang together “Joy to the world” from Family Learning House CD. It is also a good chance to introduce the quotation: “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole world” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1983), p. 288.)
After the game we had a yummy cake to celebrate the festival and Ahdi’s birthday!
This game can be used for any Baha’i holiday. And of course can be adapted to a non-religious holiday as well since it talks about Unity, Unity in Diversity and Peace in the World!
How did you spend your Ayyam-i-Ha? What activities did you do with your children?
