Dedicated to our Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

Dedicated to our Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

Hari OM!

This blog is designed to serve as a library of art and craft ideas for our balavihar children. We hope that you will find this site useful. Please feel free to use any (or all) of the projects you see posted here. We ask, however, that you refrain from publishing (in any form) these templates, instructions, and photographs, unless you receive written permission. These projects are being provided for your own personal use or use in the Balavihar classroom.


All art projects are categorized by 1) material, 2) use, and 3) type. For example a Diya greeting card would be under the labels "Paper" and "Cards," while a Lord Hanumaan puppet would be found under "Paper," "Toys and Puppets" and "Gods and Goddesses." Most materials for these projects can easily be purchased from any local craft store — and some projects involve materials you already have laying around the house.


We would love to hear your suggestions and ideas about any of the information you find on this site. And, if you have any projects that you would like to share with other seviks/sevikas, please send a picture of the finished piece, as well as instructions on how to make the project – so we can post it.


Happy Creating!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Scratch Art























© 2009 This project is dedicated to Gurudev.
For use in Balavihar classrooms (or personal use) only.
Click on picture to view enlarged.



This is a very fun project to do, especially with the younger kids — everyone loves scratch art! To make your own scratch art sheets you will need the following:

Materials
• Black Tempera Paint
• A few drops of dish detergent
• Picture of God or Goddess (Glossy photos work best)
• Q-tip (or paper towel*)
• Paintbrush
• Paint dish

* If the children are really ambitious "scratchers" then a paper towel might work better than a Q-tip. Too much pressure with the Q-tip can remove parts of the image.

Directions
1. Pour some tempera paint into your dish.
2. Add a few drops of dish detergent and mix well.
3. With your paintbrush, paint some broad and even strokes onto a glossy photograph. Cover completely.
4. Let Dry.
5. Take a Q-tip and let the children rub the photograph until the mystery picture is completely revealed.


Notes
If you want to make scratch art paper for the children to draw pictures with. You will need the following:

Materials
• Good card stock paper
• Wax crayons (colors and black*)
• Toothpick or wooden skewer
* can also use black tempera paint as outlined above.

Directions
1. Color the entire sheet of paper. (It's best if you use lots of bright colors.)
2. Once your sheet is completely colored, take a black crayon and cover the entire paper. It is important that no color shows. You also may have to rub a little harder with the black crayon to make an even, solid coating.
3. Take a toothpick and draw your picture. Have fun with the colors that emerge!