DIY Little Passports: India

Namaste! In celebration of the Festival of Colors happening at our local Lotus Krishna Temple this month, our little explorer is adventuring to India! Our DIY Little Passports project shares the wonder of new places with our kiddo every month.

In this package

• Typewritten letter
• Small envelope with India stickers and stamps for passport
• Postcard of Taj Mahal
• Ticket for a Tour to our local Hindu Temple
• Henna Craft w/ Hand cutouts to decorate
• Lotus Craft w/ Cupcake wrappers
• Tiger mask craft
• Peacock hand craft
• Souvenir: Vase made in India, peacock feathers​

Additional resources

• Children’s books: Festival of Colors, Grandfather Gandhi, My Dadima Wears a Sari, The Story of Little Babaji, The Fish that Talked, The Jungle Book, A World of Recipes India, Countries We Come From India
• Movie: The Little Princess

This package had a lot more books and an oddly shaped and fragile souvenir, so a Manila envelope wouldn’t work. I found a Ramen box that was the perfect size for a handful of items. I put the letter as the very first thing in the box in the hopes that my Little Explorer would open it first.I had my husband stop by our local Hindu Temple which happens to have a gift shop, and that’s where he purchased the souvenirs. I wrapped them in colorful tissue paper and backed the feathers with cardboard so they wouldn’t get bent.Since our library did not have a pre-made India kit, I found some picture books and put them into a carrying bag to make our own. The letter explained that the World Explorers Club worked with our local library to send the kit to us. This explanation also saved me from having to wrap a box full of books, and now I can just keep them together in the bag and reuse it for another month.

The Letter

Things mentioned in the letter:

• The second largest country in the world
• Hinduism
• Hindu temple in our area
• The Festival of Colors (Holi)
• Cows are sacred
• Vegetarian dishes and mango lassi
• Henna art
• The Taj Mahal
• Peacocks, tigers, elephants
• “Namaste”

Cost breakdown

• Postcard & Stamps: part of initial cost
• Craft activities: FREE
• Peacock feathers: $4
• Indian vase: $3
• Library books and movies: FREE

Total cost for this Month’s Kit: $7

How it’s going

She poured through all of her books! We watched The Little Princess together as a family before bed, and then she announced her plans to do the tiger mask craft first thing in the morning.
​We plan to visit the Hindu Temple and maybe eat lunch there or schedule a tour to feed the llamas and see the grounds once we learn a little about it in her books.

I’m sure she will get a kick out of the craft activities. We also plan to get a package of frozen mango so we can make some mango lassi together.

The Festival of Colors is coming up and we might attend.

Check out all the other places we’ve explored in this DIY Little Passports project here!