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!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Thumbprint Art




Click on image to view enlarged.

A very simple, yet charming and engaging project to do with your young child. All you need is a pen, an inkpad, a piece of paper and your thumb. (You can also cut a sponge into a oval shape to resemble the size of the child's thumb.)

Materials
Inkpad (or washable tempera paints)
Paper
Pen (for drawing lines)

Directions
Have your child place their thumb (or the sponge) into the inkpad and make prints onto a piece of paper. Then take a pen and draw lines to resemble a Shiva Lingam, an animal, flower, car, or anything you can imagine! These little doodles look very sweet when turned into greeting cards.