Archive for the ‘crafts’ Category

Looking for an Indian-inspired holiday craft to do with your kids?  Celebrate the gorgeous blue hues of winter with these easy-and-beautiful peacock ornaments.

Simply download our template here, cut onto colored cardstock and decorate.  We used jewel stickers, but you can use stamps, markers, colored pasta – or whatever you have in the house.  Group together for a whole peacock family!

The peacock isn’t just famous for its pretty plumage - it is also India’s National Bird – chosen perhaps for its beauty and its connection to the folklore and history of the country.  Here are some interesting facts to share with your kids:

1.  “Peacock” referes to the male bird.  Females are called “peahens” and babies are called “peachicks.”  The term “peafowl” is used when talking about birds of either gender.
2.  A group of peafowls is called a “pride” or a “party.”
3.  The peafowl is omnivorous.  Its diet consists mainly of  flower petals, seeds, plants, insects, reptiles and amphibians.
4.  The peacock’s tail (called a “train”) contains more than 200 feathers.  Because of its large train, the peacock is one of the largest flying birds on the planet!
5.  Peahens lay ivory-colored eggs that are about 3 times the size of a regular chicken egg.  The eggs incubate for about 28 days.
6.  There are 3 general types of peafowls:  the blue peafowl indigenous to India and Sri Lanka, the green peafowl from Java and Myanmar and the lesser-known Congo peafowl which lives in African rainforests.
7.  Peafowl can be very moody – they don’t mix very well with other birds.
8.  Some people in India consider the eyespots on a peacock’s train as “eyes of God.”
9.  You can’t hunt peacocks in India – they were put under the Indian Wildlife Act in 1972 and are fully proctected by the Indian parliament.
10.  The peacock is the vahana of Lord Murugan – Ganesha’s brother!

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Well, 2 parties actually. 

The first was an impromptu one we threw last Sunday at our house – a combination Diwali and Halloween Craft Party.  If anything, it forced us to hang up all our Diwali lights and decorations (and stockpile more from what we made at the party).  It was a very simple and stress-free party really – we laid out 2 huge tarps in our backyard, plopped down all our art supplies (paints, brushes, stamps, marker, glue, craft punces, etc.) and had the kids do their messy thing (and WOW, did it get messy!).  I made some chaat and chutney and catered the rest from our favourite Thai restaurant.  We played tag and Duck-Duck-Goose.  I don’t know about the kids, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time!

The second was this past Wednesday in my daughter’s class.  We decorated sheets of cardstock and made kandils (paper lanterns) in preparation for a big United Nation’s Day celebration at my kids’ Montessori school on Monday (which conveniently corresponds with HAF’s designated National Teach Diwali in School Day – so my kids get to come to school dressed in their Indian clothes and take part in multicultural food and presentations.  Yours truly will be making Mini Moon Momos (from The Chota Chef) and teaching garba and dandiya steps.).

I’m also in love with these glitter pumpkins thought up by Designwali – a perfect blend of Halloween and Diwali sparkle.  These are on my list for next year’s parties!

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I try to watch Gandhi at least once a year.  This year, I thought the kids should join me.  We have a framed picture of him amongst our bookshelves, and we talk about him now and then – e.g. how Gandhi stopped the British from taking the Indian people’s things.  So this year, in addition to our annual Gandhi Birthday Party (now a tradition in our home), it was something extra special to have Gandhi come to life.  And really, the kids couldn’t tell the difference between Gandhi-ji in our living room and Sir Ben.

We’re watching in parts – my 5-year-old is quite interested (though my younger one not as much) and I use the “slow parts” (namely old white guys talking in a room) to do a lot of explaining.  We haven’t gotten to the part about the Salt Satyagraha, but I thought it would be fun weekend activity to bring back a few gallons of salt water from our local California beaches and make our own salt.

This will have to wait until after the Diwali holidays, but if you are so inclined, I found this great step-by-step How To Make Salt Tutorial by Sunset Magazine.  If you don’t live near an ocean, I suppose you can mix powdered sea salt from the grocery store into water.

We will probably look like a family of bandits while filling empty milk jugs with ocean water (I’m thinking 10 gallons should do it) and we probably won’t eat the salt, but I’m excited about this experiment.

 Images:  Mahatma Gandhi Doll by deridolls (sold); SALT image via Google Images

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Click, Print and Party!  If you vie to put on a perfectly-coordinated party, but don’t have the budget to hire a personal party planner, then check-out Bird’s Party – our next Sponsor of our Navratri Giveaway.

Bird’s Party offers print-it-yourself party supplies – where you can print everything from invitations, cupcake toppers and wrappers, bunting, napkin rings, buffet labels, signs and anything else you can think of – right on your home computer and as many times as you want!

Browse their inspiration gallery, peruse the themes in the shoppe and read about the Bird’s Party Magazine.  Bird also runs a blog and features DIY party and craft tutorials.  Bird’s designs have appeared in homes all around the world!

ENTER HERE to win a $50 Gift Certificate.  This Giveaway is open to fans worldwide.

AND make sure to join their Facebook Page.

(or if you don’t have a Facebook account, Email us at blog{at}gnaana{dot}com and tell us: Who is your female role model?)

WINNER for this prize will be announced at midnight EST on Saturday, October 1st – so make sure to enter before then!

Here are few of our favorite themes – can you imagine putting on a party without printable fun?

Bollywood Bling (and more pictures here) – perfect for Diwali:

Tweet Baby Shower (and more pictures here):

Nautical Party (and more pictures here):

Honey Bee (and more pictures here):

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The idea for this post was submitted by my dear friend (and faithful Gnaana reader) Madhuri.  She pointed me to the book Monsoon Afternoon.

I haven’t read it, but it’s a story about a little boy who is bored on an Indian monsoon afternoon and starts folding paper boats with his Dadaji (grandfather).  They float the boats in a washtub and then take a walk together along the post-monsoon streets, chatting about seasons and change.

The book inspired her and her kids to make paper boats together (following this simple video tutorial) – which they sailed in makeshift puddles.  Sounds like a wonderful afternoon!

With all the hurricanes, floods and rains these past few weeks – I’d love to have this book on hand for a rainy day. 

Thanks Madhuri!

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Thinking back to one our very first posts – food flags of Indian and Pakistan – made with oranges, cheese cubes, spinach and avocado, and blueberries.  It’s a great hands-on visual exercise for children.

A celebratory snack you can prepare with your kids this Independence Day!

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What does Lord Krishna inspire in you?  Joy?  Complete devotion?  Or perhaps he is a supreme symbol of hope – the lifeblood of human existence?

Sri Krishna Janmashtami is on August 22nd this year – and it’s a time of colorful celebration and cheer throughout the world (check out our post last year on The Global Gopi).  Crafting diorama displays of Krishna’s life is a popular activity in homes and temples.  This month, we challenge you to create your own diorama with your kids!

Start by having the kids pick their favorite Krishna story and then a specific scene from that story (for inspiration, scroll down this gallery).  Then, gather supplies from your garage, playroom or from a visit to a craft store.  Get the kids involved as much as possible, although fine detailing may require adult hands.

The scene we picked was of Krishna stealing butter.  We used old boxes, paint, craft ribbon, wooden poles, sheer fabric and cardstock to create the basic alter.  We adorned the alter with moss, toy animals and a Krishna figurine.  We also made dolls from wooden pegs found at a craft store – and dressed them up in tissue paper “sarees” – a big hit with the kids!

Did we inspire you to make your own?  Start now and slowly build your diorama – so you can display it with pride throughout the month of August!

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You’ve probably heard of some of these Hindu prayer iPhone apps apps floating around:  iPuja (“Need to pray on the go?”) and iMantra (even keeps track of the number of mantras you’ve said).  I was meddling with them to see if any of them could help my 5-year-old remember the mantras I’ve been teaching him.  Not really – too complicated for him to find the few he knows – and why hand over custody of the phone to him?

My vision was quite simple:  since mantras are best learned by hearing them over and over (and over) again, I wanted to create a utility through which he could press a button to select among 5 or so images of Hindu deities, and the corresponding mantra would play.

So I’ve undertaken to DIY such a utility via my FLIP video recorder.  I focus the camcorder on an idol or image of a deity (Ganesh, Lakshmi, Vishnu, Krishna, etc.) and record the mantra in my own voice, along with a (very) brief explanation.  He can scroll through the images and listen to Mom reciting mantras for him.

Best part is he can listen even when I’m not there!

Image of Lakshmi Devi via ganesh.us

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Did you have a secret code when you were little?

You may not have ever seen or learned the numerals in your Indian language.  But they do exist – and we thought it important to include them in our Bindi Baby Numbers books.  Why?  On principle perhaps – to retain the true form of the Indian scripts.  And with all the new evidence on the benefits of bilingualism (e.g. how the regular use of at least 2 languages sharpens the mind and, as a recent New York Time’s article highlights, may even delay the onset of Alzheimer’s) – the simple task of  learning a new way to write numbers is a terrific brain exercise!

So this month we’re featuring Bilingual Clocks – a simple craft you can do at home with your kids to reinforce the content of our Bindi Numbers books.  Simply tape your own numbers to an existing clock – and the digits are sure to sink-in to everyone’s heads eventually.  As an alternative to Indian languages, you can also use Roman numerals.  Whatever you choose, it’s the exercise of alternative thinking that’s important.

And, of course, learning new ways to write numbers is a perfect way for kids to devise their own secret code!

Featured above is a Clock using Telugu numbers.

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We’ve never properly introduced Pankaj – our adorable lotus-character logo.  The story is we just found him floating around in our papers, so we decided to adopt him into our happy home.  We suspect he’s a distant great grand-nephew of Goddess Saraswati – the goddess of knowledge and learning.  Whatever his origins, he makes kids smile!

Why the lotus?  It was a rather obvious choice.  This beautiful flower is an important symbol in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism – representing Supreme Knowledge and total mental purity – ideals which we’d want to steer kids towards.

If you’ve been fortunate to receive a package from us, you know to expect that little orange envelope with a Paper Pankaj attached - our special gift of handmade whimsy that sets us apart from the average shop.

Paper Pankaj is very easy to make (and very fun for kids).  All you need is a square sheet of paper and a few minutes to view this video tutorial.

Happy folding!

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