The Flower Drawn in Flour
Last year, a few days before Deepavali, my daughter came in from the lift lobby and announced that someone had drawn a flower on the corridor floor "with sugar".
It was not sugar. It was rice flour, and the someone was Aunty Kamala from two doors down, who draws a kolam outside her flat every festive season and has done so, she told us, since she was smaller than my daughter. It was a grid of tiny dots with one long line looping around them, never crossing in the wrong place.
My daughter, who was in P3 then and is in P4 now, stood and stared at it for a long time. Aunty Kamala saw her through the gate, came out with a little tin of flour, and asked if she wanted to try one corner. It went wrong immediately. The line wobbled, the dots smudged, and aunty laughed and said everyone's first kolam looks like that, including hers.
We are a Chinese family, and Deepavali is not a festival we celebrate at home. But that evening my six-year-old son asked why aunty had put little lamps by her door, and I realised I could not give him a good answer. So we spent the next week learning, gently, and with a lot of help from the corridor. This post is what came out of it: a handful of things to make, test, talk about and share, which work for families who celebrate Deepavali and for families who are simply the neighbours.
Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November this year, and for most working adults the Monday after is the day off in lieu. That long weekend is just the right size for this.
One honest note: I am writing as a learner, not an authority. Friends and neighbours who celebrate are far better teachers than any blog post.
What Deepavali Means, in Words a Child Can Hold
Deepavali, called Diwali in many parts of the world, is widely known as the festival of lights. It is celebrated by Hindu families in Singapore and around the world, and the meaning most people share is the victory of light over darkness, of good over evil, and of knowledge over ignorance. Homes are cleaned and decorated, lamps are lit, new clothes come out, families visit one another, and there is a great deal of food.
For younger children, I found it helped to start with one sentence and leave space for questions. The one we used was: "Deepavali is a festival of lights, and people light small lamps to remember that light is stronger than darkness, and good is stronger than bad."
Then a question that brings it close to home: "When has a little bit of light helped you?" My son talked about his night light. My daughter remembered the evening the power tripped during a thunderstorm and we found our way around the flat with a phone torch. Then she added, unprompted, that when a friend is kind to you on a bad day, "that's a bit like a light too."
There are traditional stories behind the festival, and they are told in different ways in different regions and families. Rather than retell them secondhand, we asked. Aunty Kamala told my children the story her own grandmother used to tell her, with a great deal of drama and many hand movements, and my son retold it at dinner with even more drama. Your library's children's section is also likely to have picture books about Deepavali, which are a good starting point before you ask a friend about their family's version.
One guideline we kept to: say "many families do this" rather than making sweeping statements, because practices vary from home to home. And if a classmate celebrates, "What does your family do at Deepavali?" is a lovely question for your child to ask.
Kolam Maths: Dots, Loops and Symmetry
A kolam is a pattern drawn at the entrance of a home, traditionally with rice flour, often on a grid of dots with lines looping around them. It is a daily practice for many families in South India and a festive one for many families here. Rangoli is a related tradition, often made with coloured powders, rice or flower petals, and in Singapore you will see both, frequently in bright colours. One widely told meaning of the rice flour is generosity: the pattern welcomes guests, and the flour also feeds ants and small birds.
What struck me, watching aunty, was how much maths was sitting on that corridor floor. Here is how we brought it inside.
Start with a dot grid. Draw a small square of dots, three by three, on paper. The challenge: draw one continuous line that loops around every dot without lifting the pencil. It is harder than it sounds, and the first attempts will be scribbles. That is fine. Try a diamond of dots next: one dot, then three, then five, then three, then one. How many dots altogether?
Count the growing pattern. For P3 and P4, this is where it gets interesting. Make dot squares of one by one, then three by three, then five by five. Count the dots each time: 1, 9, 25. Ask what comes next and why. A child who notices these are square numbers has found a pattern rule without anyone telling them. For the diamonds, the rows are odd numbers going up and coming down, which is a lovely thing to discover on a Sunday afternoon.
Fold for line symmetry. Draw half a kolam on folded paper, open it, and complete the other half so it mirrors the first. Then test with a small mirror held along the fold: does the reflection match the drawing? Ask how many lines of symmetry the finished pattern has. Some kolam patterns have one, some have two, some have four.
For K1 and K2. Skip the rules. Give them a tray of uncooked rice and a few dried lentils or beans in different colours, and let them copy a simple repeating pattern: red, yellow, red, yellow. Then ask them to make one for you to copy. Pattern-making is early maths, and pouring rice is deeply satisfying at five.
A respectful word about real kolams. If you see one at a neighbour's door, admire it from where you are, walk around rather than over it, and ask before photographing someone's doorway.
Light Science for P3 and P4 (and Curious Younger Ones)
If your child is in middle primary, the idea of light and shadows will probably feel familiar from Science lessons. Deepavali is a natural reason to play with it at home, and every experiment below uses a torch, which is the safest light source there is.
A safety rule first: real oil lamps are for adults to light and look after. For children's experiments, use a torch or battery tea lights.
Four small experiments, each taking about ten minutes:
- Light travels in straight lines. Punch a hole in the same spot on three index cards and stand them up in a row, each held by a lump of plasticine. Shine a torch through all three holes onto the wall. Now slide the middle card a little to one side. Where did the light go? Ask your child to explain it before you do.
- Shadow sizes. In a dark room, hold a toy between the torch and the wall. Move the toy closer to the torch, then closer to the wall. Ask for a prediction first: will the shadow get bigger or smaller? Then test. My daughter got this one wrong, which taught her more than any worksheet.
- What lets light through? Collect a few household things: cling wrap, baking paper, a plastic file, a piece of cardboard, a steel spoon. Shine the torch through each and sort them into "lets all the light through", "lets some through" and "blocks it". Then attach the words transparent, translucent and opaque.
- The climbing wick. A lamp's flame keeps going because the wick draws oil upwards. You can see the same idea safely: dip the end of a strip of kitchen towel into a cup of coloured water and watch the colour climb. Scientists call this capillary action. Your child can call it the climbing trick.
Little India in the Festive Season, Visited as Guests
In the weeks around Deepavali, the streets around Serangoon Road are usually decorated with festive lights, and the shops fill with flowers, garlands, sweets, clothes and lamps. Walking through as a family can be a wonderful evening. It helps to go in the spirit of visiting someone else's celebration.
- Remember it is a busy shopping time. Many families are there to prepare for the festival, not to sightsee. Keep small children close, be patient in crowds, and give way to people carrying shopping.
- Check official sources before you go for any event details or crowd advice.
- Places of worship are places of worship. If you would like to visit a temple, go quietly and follow the posted guidance, or simply admire from outside. Ask before photographing people.
- Bring the maths and language with you. Spot symmetry in the street decorations, and look at signs in English and Tamil side by side. Your child does not need to read Tamil to notice a different script and wonder about it.
Sweets, Sharing and the Neighbours
Food is at the heart of many celebrations in Singapore, and Deepavali is no exception. Many families make or buy sweets and savoury snacks such as murukku, a crunchy spiral snack, and share them with relatives, friends and neighbours.
Last year Aunty Kamala brought over a container of murukku on the morning of Deepavali. My mother, who was visiting, immediately explained the unwritten Singapore rule about containers: you never return one empty. So the children baked almond cookies with me that afternoon, which became its own maths lesson.
- Sharing fairly. We had 30 cookies and wanted to share them equally between four households: three neighbours and us. How many each? What do we do with the ones left over? Remainders are more interesting edible.
- Measuring. Younger children can scoop and level the flour; older ones can read the kitchen scale and the measuring jug.
- Writing a card. A short greeting card with a drawing of a lamp is good writing practice at any age. If you would like to write the greeting in your neighbour's language, ask them how they say "Happy Deepavali" at home, and let your child practise saying it. Being taught a greeting by the person you are greeting is part of the gift.
If Your Family Celebrates
Everything above was written from the corridor, but a few words for families who celebrate, because your children are the experts here, and that is a learning opportunity too.
Festival weeks are busy, and the last thing anyone needs is a worksheet. The learning is already happening: a child drawing a kolam beside a grandmother is doing pattern work; a child helping to count out sweets for relatives is dividing; a child explaining to a classmate why the family lights lamps is practising exactly the kind of clear, confident speaking that oral exams look for later. If anything, give your child a chance to teach. Explaining your own traditions to someone who does not know them is a real skill, and a lovely one to be proud of.
The Light Across the Corridor
This year my daughter has prepared her own dot grid, practised on paper for two weeks, and asked Aunty Kamala, very formally, whether she may help with one corner of the kolam. Aunty said yes, on the condition that she also helps to finish the murukku.
That, in the end, is what I would most like my children to take from Deepavali as neighbours: that light is something you can share across a corridor. A pattern drawn at a door, a container that comes back full, a question asked kindly. Happy Deepavali to every family who celebrates, and to everyone learning alongside them.