At SSVM Residential School Mettupalayam- a top-ranked CBSE school in Coimbatore, we look forward to engaging our school children with an exciting round-up of arts and crafts specific to the festival that’s around the corner. Ranked as the best school in Coimbatore, we integrate academics, sports and extracurricular activities with arts and this is probably why our school corridors are a riot of colours, hustle & bustle and activity all year round.
We’ve found that when we engage our school’s children with art and craft activities, they not only readily connect with the job at hand but also find inventive ways of making a creative idea work. Besides keeping them productively occupied, art and craft have also assisted our children in physical and social advancement and encouraged their fine motor abilities. As most art and craft activities involve dexterity in the use of the hands and fingers, we’ve discovered an improvement in the children’s agility and their general command over muscles.
A highly stimulating activity, art, and craft also work to lift children’s self-esteem as it creates a feeling of accomplishment and gives them a feeling of self-confidence. And as a parent, if you’re allowing your child to make something by themselves, it’s like you’re telling them they are in ‘charge’ and ‘responsible’ enough to handle it – Both are very valuable life lessons. Likewise, you, as a parent, will also appreciate the positive conduit that art and craft naturally give to bubbly children who are usually full of beans.
Art and craft are an extraordinary method to enable kids to communicate and draw out their innermost sentiments and feelings – Something we at SSVM Residential School Mettupalayam greatly encourage.
This Diwali, celebrate a new start with art and craft
When festivities such as Diwali come-a-calling, the house comes alive with a celebratory mood, rangoli, flower garlands, diyas, firecrackers, and delicious festive food. Diwali is also a time when school-going children are on a holiday break and looking for fun ways to liven up their holidays.
How about engaging them with a few DIY Diwali special art and craft projects that are easy-peasy, colorful and fun to create?
Without further ado, here goes-
Let there be light – Making a Candle Holder
This Diwali, when you light a candle in this bead encrusted candle jar, nobody will know that it is a reused glass container! So gather the children around, wipe the dust off a few pretty glass containers, bring out the beads and create a dazzling, colorful glass candle holder just for Diwali.
What material you will need:
Plastic beads
A few repurposed glass containers
Wire
How to go about it-
String the plastic beads into the wire and glue them, so they don’t move around.
Coil the wire firmly around the highest point of the glass container, making a semicircle with it right over the top. This will be the handle.
Secure the wire around the container’s edge and make another semi-circle.
Secure the two semi-circle handles together tightly so they don’t come loose or fall.
Next, get the kids to wind the beaded wire around the body of the glass container and when they have gone round over with the majority of the wire, get them to entwine the ends into the ‘wire handles’ around the edge to hold everything set up.
Presto! The candle jar is ready.
Craft they can eat
This is one activity that the entire household will enjoy- especially the children. And best of all, it’s simple-as-pie to put together. Parental supervision advised…
What material you will need:
Salted crackers, saltines or flat, baked biscuits that you can put some toppings on.
Cheese or soft, easy to spread cheddar cheese
Rosemary/ Thyme/ Oregano seasoning
Chilli sauce or dried chilli flakes
Vegetables (carrot/ cucumber/ zucchini/ tomato/ onion/ red and yellow peppers) cut into semi-circles and teardrops to resemble the shape of a Diya
How to go about it-
Apply generously the flavored cheese spread on the biscuits
Either help the children cut shapes out of the vegetables (as mentioned above) or give them pre-cut vegetables to use.
Let the kids arrange the vegetable pieces on the biscuits in the shape of diyas (semi-circles for the diya and teardrops for the flame)
Sprinkle some Rosemary/ Thyme/ Oregano seasoning on top
Enjoy.