Summer camp ideas in India rangoli

Rangolisansdots - obviously would suggest rangoli as one of the ideas for a summer art and craft camp or for that matter any summer camp.  I am sharing some simple and innovative methods of making rangoli .  The traditional method of making rangoli is with the use of fingers and kids may find it not easy to get the basic shapes rights.

 So with the use of simple tools that are readily available in our homes we can make beautiful rangoli designs through simple ideas.

The only important point here to be observed is the chance of allergy of rangoli colours particularly for kids , if available organic colours can be used.  Other wise it an easy and fun filled activity.

Arrange plastic spoons in a circular pattern as shown in the first image.

Draw contours of rose buds along the bowl of the spoons ,  I have used pink to match with the designs we can use white also.

After drawing the shapes using the bowls , place a dot at the centre to mark it for the purpose of symmetry and gently remove the spoons.

After removing all the spoons , the pattern looks like the one shown in the photo below.  Draw a simple spiral in white to denote rose buds.

Along the base of the rose buds place big green dots ( after all the calyx of a flower is green , through this method we can also give an idea of the parts of a flower to the kids.

The dot placed at the centre , I have used pink to match with the roses , we can use any other contrasting colour also, using cotton buds is extended on as many sides as possible.  or it  can be converted into a floral pattern also

At the base of the calyx , yellow dots are placed using yellow rangoli colours and then they are gently pressed or flattened with the index finger.  Yellow may be thought of to represent the pollen grains !
Using cotton buds the outline of the flower ( rose bud ) is redrawn to enhance the effect of the rangoli

Add lines connecting the spirals and the base of  rose buds , two at the bottom left are shown with these lines drawn.  This will give a more realistic appearance to the rose buds.

The rangoli after completion , I hope it  is a fun filled activity for summer holidays

This rangoli video has more than a million views on YouTube 

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Some of the comments for this video are "It is a good and short way to express our feelings on blank space with colours " , " awesome rangoli ideas " , "this is so cute and easy to make ", " your ideas are creative and easy to remember", "technique is so nice " , " semma creativity " and so on.  Obviously I am pleasantly surprised to receive lots of positive feedback for this simple idea !!

The next rangoli designs uses an old CD , rubber bands ( !) now that is probably unique , I never heart of anyone using rubber bands ,   

This qualifies both as an art and craft activity for summer camps we have for children.   I wanted to try something different and something easy.  

Actually all these ideas are based on feedback from viewers / readers - some of them find it difficult to draw curved lines and shapes using traditional method of drawing rangoli .  They are very much interested in drawing rangoli .  So we should try to give them some ideas for making rangoli.  This is particularly true in the case of kids. 

 Probably drawing rangoli as a fun filled activity may attract them towards this simple art form of India.  

As is quite common in Rangolisansdots a number of pics showing the step by step approach to draw this rangoli.

Place the rangoli colours in the holes in the centre of the CD

Fill the gaps with blue colours .  After completion gently remove the CDs

Rubber bands of almost similar shape that resemble the petals of a flower are used at the centre as shown in the image below,  the inside of the rubber band is filled with colours.

Gently remove the rubber bands so that the rangoli colours do not get smudged.

 Now place four petals on  four sides of the yellow dots to form floral designs, again using rubber bands as shown in the photo below

Remove the rubber bands gently after filling colours

Using cotton buds form patterns on the petals

The rangoli after completion , of course after forming the basic design other decorations are left to one's own imagination.

We can also try some traditional rangoli or kolam designs.  It is preferable to start with the most basic designs .  Probably one of the smallest dot grid is the 3 dot grid .  I have shared some designs using3 dots at the centre and two dots on either side . These can be independently drawn as a dotted rangoli  or as the centre design of a bigger dotted rangoli.  It can also be drawn as a combination of kolam with dots and free hand kolam i.e one of these dotted designs can be drawn around which we can have matching free hand pattern.

For us , when we were young , summer holidays meant sitting with sisters and our mother and creating rangoli designs mostly traditional.  Each of us would have a pencil and note book and create free hand or dotted rangoli designs.  It was actually a sort of mini competition among us. 

There were no winners all  of us were winners .  Big rangoli designs would be explained by our mother and eldest sister.  Probably these activities that we had during our childhood has come in handy in Rangolisansdots because I still find that my imagination is good enough to create many rangoli designs through various methods.  

 The name Rangolisansdots suggests that it is Rangoli without dots ,  I have a weakness for free hand designs and drawing.  For a collection of rangoli designs to be  complete we should have different types of rangoli including dotted ones ( of course the percentage of distribution may vary but they should all be there ).  Consequently if you browse through the blog you will find that there are quite a few dotted rangoli also.