Weekend Activities for Desi Kids in Cambridge

Cambridge, best known for its ancient university, punting on the River Cam, and cycling-friendly streets, is also home to a warm and quietly thriving South Asian community. Whether your children are born-and-bred Cantabrigians or your family has recently relocated to the city, you will find a richly rewarding calendar of Desi cultural activities designed to keep young minds engaged, rooted, and proud of their heritage. From award-winning classical dance schools to dedicated Hindu youth clubs, Cambridge has considerably more to offer Desi families than many newcomers expect.

Classical and Bollywood Dance Classes

For South Asian families seeking quality dance education, Sanskruti School of Dance is the centrepiece of Cambridge's Desi arts scene. Founded and led by the accomplished Bharatanatyam artist Krishna, Sanskruti offers weekly classes in Bharatanatyam, Bollywood, and Odissi dance styles for children of all ages. Beginner Bharatanatyam classes are held at Parkside Community Centre in Cambridge city centre on Friday evenings — perfect for families after the school week. Sanskruti has made Cambridge an ISTD exam centre, with over 100 students completing nationally recognised Bharatanatyam exams under Krishna's guidance, giving dedicated young dancers a qualification they can carry throughout their lives.

Bollywood dance classes run in a more relaxed, joyful format and have proved especially popular with children who love the energy of Hindi film music but also want to connect with Indian cultural expression. During the school holidays, Sanskruti runs dedicated Bollywood dance summer courses for kids — a brilliant way to spend a week in Cambridge's long summer evenings. The school also hosts the Cambridge Dance Festival, an annual outdoor event that brings the whole South Asian dance community together for performances and workshops.

This autumn, the festival calendar offers two beautiful opportunities for families to celebrate together. Raksha Bandhan (27 August) is a time when children across Cambridge tie rakhis and mark the bond between siblings with sweets and prayers, often gathering in community halls and at friends' homes. Just a few weeks later, Ganesh Chaturthi (14 September) brings families together to install Ganesha idols and offer modaks, singing devotional songs before the joyful visarjan. These occasions are as culturally rich as they are socially warm.

Hindu Cultural Life and the Dharma Club

The Cambridge Hindu Forum (CHF) is the city's primary Hindu community organisation, working to serve Hindu families across Cambridge. The forum organises monthly poojas and festival celebrations throughout the year, and — crucially for Desi families with children — runs the Dharma Club, a weekly programme designed specifically for young people. The Dharma Club offers a nurturing space for children to explore Hindu values, classic mythological stories, and the significance of festival rituals through storytelling, craft, and conversation. It sparks genuine curiosity in children raised between cultures, helping them understand why Diwali and Navratri matter not just as occasions to wear nice clothes, but as living expressions of a profound tradition.

CHF is also actively working to establish a dedicated Hindu temple and community centre in Cambridge — a project that will give the South Asian community a permanent spiritual home in the city and expand the range of cultural programmes available to families.

Hindu Samaj Northstowe: Weekly Clubs and Family Activities

Just north of Cambridge in the new town of Northstowe, Hindu Samaj Northstowe (HSN) is a registered charity dedicated to promoting Hindu culture, education and community wellbeing for families across South Cambridgeshire. HSN runs weekly clubs, learning circles, leadership programmes, and school interaction sessions — all family-friendly and thoughtfully designed to keep Desi children connected to their roots while thriving in a multicultural British environment.

HSN also holds public events around major festivals like Diwali, Holi and Navratri, meaning children not only celebrate within their community but also have opportunities to share their culture with British classmates and neighbours. For families moving from larger cities with more established South Asian communities, HSN offers a genuine sense of belonging close to home.

Cricket, Melas and Outdoor Community Life

Cambridge's South Asian community comes together around cricket in the summer months, with local parks hosting informal matches where families gather to cheer, eat and socialise. These events are often word-of-mouth, shared via community WhatsApp groups, and can turn into a full afternoon of desi camaraderie. Keep an eye on CHF and HSN social media pages for announcements as the season progresses.

India-themed melas occasionally appear in the Cambridge calendar during the late summer festival season, with stalls serving chaat, samosas and mithai alongside live music and dance. Cambridge University's India Society and the Cambridge University Hindu Cultural Society also organise student-led events — like the popular Navratri garba and Diwali dinners — that occasionally open their doors to the wider Cambridge community.

Practical Tips for Families

• Enrol early: Sanskruti classes fill up quickly for younger age groups. Contact the school in September for the new term schedule.
• Join community digital groups: CHF and HSN maintain active WhatsApp and Facebook communities where event announcements and class registrations are shared in real time.
• Attend open celebrations: Hindu festival events in Cambridge are typically open to anyone, not just community members. Attending as a family is free and enriching.
• Travel for bigger events: Leicester, London and Birmingham host large-scale melas and Diwali celebrations within easy train distance from Cambridge — worth a day trip with older children.

Cambridge may not yet have the large-scale South Asian festivals of Leicester or London's Southall, but it offers something equally valuable: a close-knit, welcoming community where your children will be known by name, where classical arts are taken seriously, and where the festivals of the Indian calendar feel as natural and as important as any British bank holiday.