Festivals for kids
Festivals are the days people set aside to celebrate, remember and share. These guides explain Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and New Year traditions from around the world. They also cover Cinco de Mayo, Hispanic Heritage Month and Dominican Independence Day. Each guide tells the story behind the day, how it began and how people mark it now. You can compare how different countries welcome the new year. You can also find out where some Halloween customs first came from.
Play & learn in Festivals
Guides with games inside: put history in order, match the pairs, spot the myth, then take the final quiz.
5 activities
Hispanic Heritage Month Facts for Kids
- Timeline
- Matching ×2
- Fact or myth
- Quiz
7 activities
Day of the Dead Facts for Kids
- Timeline
- Matching ×2
- True or false
- Quiz ×3
All 13 guides, A to Z
Bonfire Night Facts for Kids
Bonfire Night facts for kids start with one night: 5 November 1605. Around midnight, Guy Fawkes was caught guarding 36 barrels of…
Christmas Facts for Kids
Christmas is held on 25 December and, for Christians, celebrates the birth of Jesus. The Bible gives no date; the earliest record…
Day of the Dead Facts for Kids
The Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a festival from Mexico held on 1 and 2 November. Families…
Diwali Facts for Kids
Diwali facts for kids: when Diwali 2026 is, the five days, what Hindus, Sikhs and Jains celebrate, and diyas, rangoli, sweets and…
Fun Facts About Cinco de Mayo for Kids
Cinco de Mayo (“fifth of May”) remembers the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862, when General Ignacio Zaragoza’s smaller Mexican army…
Halloween Facts for Kids
Halloween is celebrated every year on 31 October. Its name comes from All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before All Saints’ Day. It…
Halloween History for Kids
Halloween history goes back to Samhain, a festival of the Celts of ancient Ireland that marked the start of winter. It blended…
Hanukkah Facts for Kids
Hanukkah facts for kids: when Hanukkah 2026 starts, the Maccabees, the Talmud’s story of the oil, the hanukkiah, dreidel letters, latkes and…
Hispanic Heritage Month Facts for Kids
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from 15 September to 15 October in the United States. It celebrates the history, cultures and achievements…
New Year Traditions Around the World for Kids
New Year traditions differ around the world. Spanish families eat 12 grapes at midnight, Japanese temples ring bells 108 times, Scots go…
Thanksgiving Facts for Kids
Thanksgiving is a US holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. It looks back to a three-day harvest meal in autumn 1621,…
Why Is Dominican Independence Day Celebrated?
Dominican Independence Day is celebrated on 27 February because on that day in 1844, the Dominican Republic declared independence from Haiti, after…
Why We Celebrate Christmas
We celebrate Christmas on 25 December because it is the Christian festival marking the birth of Jesus. The Bible gives no date,…
