Use colored chalk on sandpaper to make authentic Rangoli designs in the Hindu Tradition. Learn about Diwali and the Hindu culture.

• 1.

  Diwali is called the festival of lights in India. On the third day of Diwali, the festival that marks the end of the Hindu year, Lakshmi is honored. Lakshmi represents good fortune and wealth.

• 2.

  The Rangoli is a sign of welcome. These drawings may be geometric patterns, drawings of Diwa lights (single-flamed lamps), or pictures of symbols. For example, lotus flowers symbolize purity and perfection.

• 3.

  Research authentic Hindu designs and symbols. These designs traditionally are made with one's fingers using flour, colored sand or chalk, or grains of rice.

• 4.

  Use Crayola® Colored Art Chalk to outline your Rangoli design on sandpaper. The sandpaper's texture will make your drawing seem like it is on the ground.

• 5.

  Color your Rangoli design. Display it at the entrance of your classroom, room, or home.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• MATH: Understand that attributes belonging to a category of two-dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category.
• MATH: Classify two-dimensional figures in a hierarchy based on properties.
• SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.
• SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
• VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Rangoli: Discovering the Art of Indian Decoration by Anuradha Ananth; Romina's Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar; Lighting a Lamp: A Diwali Story by Jonny Zucker
• Students work in pairs to create an original Rangoli design. Students collaborate to sketch the design initially on the coordinate plane. Once they are both satisfied with the plan, one student draws with the chalk while the other holds the sandpaper in place. Display the finished product in the classroom.
• Students research other aspects of the Hindu culture, including Hindu symbols. Students brainstorm where else they may have seen these same designs. What do these same symbols mean in other cultures?