Hama bead crafts for Diwali

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I love using my Hama beads to craft for seasonal occasions, and with Diwali approaching I thought I'd share a few Diwali crafts that I've shared on the blog using one of my favourite craft materials - Hama beads!

Hama bead rangoli

Rangoli are decorative floor patterns which are created during Hindu festivals such as Diwali. The designs can be shaped as flowers or petals, or geometric designs can also be used. Rangoli are traditionally created using sand, petals or coloured rice, and welcome the goddess Lakshmi into the home. I used Hama beads to create some geometric rangoli designs using both the smaller and the larger circular Hama bead pegboards. You can find the patterns for these designs by following the links to the original blog post.

The Large Hama bead rangoli designs are very detailed, and use lots of beads. As well as making pretty Diwali decorations they could also be used as coasters for small bowls or plates.

The Small Hama bead rangoli designs use the smallest circular Hama bead pegboard and are the perfect size to use as coasters for small glasses. They would also make great bunting, or could be stuck to walls or windows as Diwali decor.

Hama bead diwa lamps

During Diwali, small lamps called diwa lamps are lit to symbolise the triumph of light over dark or good over evil. My Hama bead diwa lamps use a very simple pattern on the basic square Hama bead pegboard, and can be customised in all sorts of different colours and patterns depending on which beads you have available in your stash. You can find the pattern by following the link to the original blog post above.

I made some simple stands for my lamps so that they can be stood upright. 

If you are looking for more Diwali crafts then you might like this post - Simple Diwali crafts for children.

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

Hama bead diwas for Diwali, with stands

Today I'm sharing a simple Diwali craft using one of my craft materials - Hama beads! Diwa are small oil lamps which are traditionally lit during the festival of Diwali. They symbolise the triumph of light over dark and good over evil. My Hama bead lamps are all made using the same simple template but can be customised using different colours and patterns.

Here is the pattern that I used for my lamps:

And here are the finished Hama bead pieces. They are made on the square Hama bead pegboard, and can be displayed facing in either direction. If you are new to crafting with Hama beads then you might find this post helpful - Ironing tips for Hama beads. 

I decided that my Hama bead diwas would look best if they were standing up for display. You can buy simple Hama bead stands, and I've put a link to some at the bottom of the post. I have a few around that I've collected as part of various sets, but they are quite expensive, and it's very easy to make your own simple stands using Hama beads. 

The pattern for a Hama bead stand is below. You can use beads in colours which co-ordinate with your projects. Smaller designs may stand up with just the one stand if you are careful, but generally you'll want two stands per item.

This photograph shows my two homemade stands at the top, compared with one of the Hama branded stands underneath. My stands work just as well as the official ones, but the items will stand slightly higher off the ground. I don't think it's noticeable though, and the homemade stands are also easier to use when it comes to sliding in the beaded projects.

Here are my finished Hama bead diwa lamps! They will look lovely on the mantelpiece this Diwali alongside our simple salt dough diwa lamps.

If you are looking for more Diwali craft ideas then you might enjoy this post - Simple Diwali crafts for young children.

Crafting for Diwali with Twinkl Resources

In 2018, Diwali will be celebrated on the 7th November. I always like to remind my children of the Diwali story as the time approaches, and we celebrate with family as well as doing some themed crafts and activities. Today I'm sharing some Diwali themed printables from Twinkl Resources that you can use at home with your children to help them learn about the Diwali story and to decorate your home.

When it comes to telling the Diwali story, a great place to start is the Diwali Story PowerPoint (Premium resource). The Diwali story is told in simple language with engaging illustrations, and finishes by explaining briefly why Diwali is celebrated today. You can bring the story to life with these Diwali Story Puppets (Premium resource) or put together this Diwali Paper Toy Character Set (Premium resource) to make some fun Diwali toys. They make great decorations too! If you are looking for a free resource, you could make your own puppets using these Diwali Colouring Sheets.

Decorating for Diwali is lots of fun, and Twinkl have plenty of resources to help. I like to decorate the mantelpiece in our living room for special occasions, so I started with some Diwali Bunting (Premium resource). The bunting is bright and colourful, featuring characters from the story and Diwali symbols like lanterns and diwa lamps.

At each end I added a Simple 3D Diwali Decoration (Premium resource) that you can either print already coloured, or in black and white so that it can be coloured yourself.

There are plenty more of decorations to print, including these Diwali Themed Paper Chains (Premium resource) as well as lots of craft ideas in this Diwali Craft Activity Pack (Premium resource) which would make great decorations.

When it comes to making Diwali cards, Twinkl also has plenty of different options. If you are looking for a free resource, I really like these Diwali Card Templates which are lovely and bright. You could also use the free Diwali Colouring Sheets that I mentioned above, perhaps by printing to different sizes, colouring them in, and using them to decorate blank cards.

There are also some lovely Happy Diwali Card Templates (Premium resource) that children can colour themselves, and my favourite cards are the Diwali Pop Up Cards (Premium resource), we'll definitely be sending some of these this year!

As you can see, Twinkl have plenty of Diwali themed crafts to keep you and your little ones entertained and to bring some colour into your home!

If you are looking for ideas for more Diwali crafts to do with your children you might like my other Diwali craft posts:

Large Hama bead Rangoli
Diwali salt dough divas
Diwali dyed rice Rangoli
Simple Diwali cards
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

I'm a Twinkl blogger and have been provided with a subscription in exchange for sharing the resources on my blog and social media.

Different Rangoli to make with children for Diwali

Rangoli are beautiful, artistic designs that originate in India. They are created on the floor, either indoors or outdoors, and are usually formed with natural materials such as dyed sand, rice or flour. They can be very simple or incredibly complex and usually feature geometric designs and patterns. They are made to welcome the Hindu deities, they act as decoration and are thought to bring good luck. Rangoli are often created for Diwali, the Festival of Lights.

Designing and creating Rangoli is a great activity for children of all ages, because you can tailor them to the age and ability of the child. There are many different ways that you can make Rangoli with children, and this post contains some of the ways that we've created Rangoli together.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know how much we all love Hama beads in this house. The Hama bead circular pegboards and the huge range of coloured Hama beads available makes them perfect for making Rangoli designs that can be used as coasters, place mats or decorations for a Diwali celebration.

I began with a series of designs for small Hama bead Rangoli. These designs use the small circle template and are very simple, easy for young children to copy or use as a base for their own ideas.

Then I moved onto creating large Hama bead Rangoli designs. These designs use a lot of beads as the large Hama bead circle template is quite big, but the final designs really are vibrant and eye catching. I love that the pegboard is so versatile, there are so many different ways that you can place the beads on the pegs!

Dyed rice is a very popular choice of material when making Rangoli. Rice is very cheap and it's easy to dye using food colouring. For these dyed rice Rangoli I drew the basic design onto painted cardboard and filled the outlines with glue before the children spooned the dyed rice into the different shapes.

Salt is another great natural material that is easily dyed with food colouring. Our recent dyed salt Rangoli designs were really easy for the children to make using clear contact paper and they also make lovely window decorations.

I have rounded up all my other Diwali crafts and activities into one post which you can find here - Simple Diwali crafts for young children.

Simple Diwali crafts for young children - round up post

Diwali is also known as the Festival of Light, and it is celebrated all over the world as one of the largest and most important festivals for Hindus.

I've come up with several Diwali crafts and activities for my children over the last few years, so I'm grouping them all together in this Diwali round up post so that they are all easy to find. Many of these crafts are particularly suitable for younger children.

My most popular craft is my Salt Dough Diwas. One year they were even featured in "Yours" magazine, which I was very excited about! They are really easy to make, and when they are painted and decorated with sequins they are so bright and cheerful. Ours come out now year after year and are still looking as good as the day that we made them.

I first discovered Hama beads around Diwali one year, and now of course they are a regular feature on my blog! I used the large and small circle pegboards to come up with a variety of different Rangoli designs. The small Hama bead Rangoli designs make lovely coasters for a Diwali celebration, or as simple decorations stuck or strung around the room.

The large Hama bead Rangoli designs were also a lot of fun to make, and make nice table mats or standalone decorations. The circle Hama bead pegboard is really versatile, and with the larger board you can make some really complex designs. They look fab in the centre of the table for a Diwali meal.

We've also made some simple Rangoli using dyed rice.These were a bit more fiddly, but looked good and the children had a lot of fun making them. Colouring the rice is really easy and it's fun for the children to get involved.

I also tried a different way of making Rangoli, this time Rangoli using dyed salt for a finer texture, and using my Cricut mini to cut out templates for the different areas. I ran them through the laminator to make them nice and sturdy, and they look great stuck on the window.

We have also put together some really simple Diwali cards which worked very well using some printable colouring pages, and I'll be using this idea again this year. There are lots of different pictures to colour out there and many of them come from the Diwali story so are a great starting point for telling the story.

Finally there are all sorts of sweet treats that you can bake for Diwali. We tried our hand at some Burfi sweets which are very easy to make and use just three ingredients.

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

We have several years yet of Diwali crafting ahead of us, and so I'll be updating this post with all our new ideas. I also have a huge Pinterest board filled with wonderful Diwali crafts and activities from around the web, do pop over and visit!

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

Dyed Salt Rangoli for Diwali using the Cricut Mini

Rangoli are designs that are created on the floor, either indoors or outdoors, usually using natural materials like dyed sand, dyed rice, coloured powders or flower petals. The designs can be simple or intricate, and are often based around geometric shapes and patterns. Rangoli are often seen at Diwali as decoration and to encourage the goddess Lakshmi to enter homes. They are a fun activity to do with children because there are so many different ways that you can design and make them.

This year we've made Rangoli using dyed salt in a cardboard template placed on sticky clear contact paper. I used a Cricut Mini to make our templates but you can easily cut them by hand

You need:

Salt and food colouring
Template shapes - mine were cut using a Cricut Mini
Clear contact paper (sticky backed plastic)
Tape to hold in position on the table
(Laminator if required)

Instructions:

This activity does require some preparation, and it's a lot easier to do if it's all set up beforehand!

First you need to dye the salt. I used cheap supermarket salt and liquid food colouring. Pour the salt into a bowl and mix in a generous amount (at least a teaspoon) of food colouring. Stir well, then leave somewhere warm to dry out. I prepared my dyed salt a few days in advance.

Then you need to prepare the Rangoli template. I used a Cricut Mini to cut out my shapes. A limitation of the Cricut Mini is that you can only cut shapes that you have in your library - I'm too mean to purchase additional cartridges, but I find that the basic shapes included in the Craft Room are very good. I used a selection of designs including circles, ovals and leaf shapes, and tweaked them a bit to get the shapes that I wanted.

If you are cutting the shapes out by hand I'd recommend using a craft knife and cutting mat. There are lots of designs online that you can use for inspiration, it's best to look for a simple one like this basic Rangoli pattern. Cut the design from thin cardboard in a contrasting colour.

Lay your clear contact paper out on the table sticky side up and secure the corners with tape. Lay your design out and make sure that it is stuck down firmly to the sticky paper. 

Then you can let the children loose! Use fingers to sprinkle the salt and press down onto the paper. It doesn't matter if you put down too much salt as you can carefully shake off the excess salt over a bin. Seal the design with a second sheet of clear contact paper stuck down over the top. 

The finished Rangoli were fine as a temporary craft, but I wasn't sure if they would last well if I hung them up. So I ran them through the laminator to make them a little sturdier and to be sure that no salt would escape.

The dyed salt can also be used to make a temporary Rangoli design outdoors or on the floor with older children. Simply draw out a design on the floor using chalk and fill in with the coloured salt.

I've made several different types of Rangoli with the children. We have made Rangoli using dyed rice, and I've also designed Rangoli using Hama beads. We've made large Rangoli Hama bead patterns and small Rangoli Hama bead designs.

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

You can also find all sorts of different Diwali crafts and activities on my popular Diwali Pinterest board.

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

Diwali recipe - Simple Burfi sweets

I've done plenty of Diwali crafting with the children, but until now we had never yet attempted to make any kind of Diwali treat to eat. Many of the recipes that I found online used unfamiliar ingredients, and I wasn't entirely sure what I would end up with.

But in the library the other week I found a great book - Festivals of the World - India - and in it was a really easy recipe for Burfi - a simple Indian treat. It's a basic recipe which can be changed around and adapted by using different types of nuts and flours. Because it's so simple it's really easy for children to help with.

Ingredients:

500g raw cashew nuts
240ml sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon flour

Method:

Put the cashew nuts into a frying pan and cook them over a low heat until they are a golden brown.

Grind the roasted cashews using a blender, or simply crush them with a rolling pin.

Mix together half the ground cashew nuts, the condensed milk and the flour in a saucepan. Cook for a few minutes until it is almost solid.

Grease a baking tray and press in the cashew mixture. Pour the remaining ground cashew nuts over the top and press them down, then cool in the fridge before cutting into squares.

If you are looking for things to do with young children to help them learn about and celebrate Diwali, you might enjoy some of my other Diwali craft and activity posts.

Small Hama bead Rangoli
Diwali salt dough divas
Diwali dyed rice Rangoli
Simple Diwali cards
Large Hama bead Rangoli

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

Large Diwali Hama Bead Rangoli designs

The other day I blogged about some small Hama bead Rangoli designs that I had created as a Diwali craft for the children. I'm afraid that my growing Hama bead obsession wouldn't let me leave it there, and so I have also made some bigger Hama bead Rangoli patterns, using the larger circular template (221). These are a lot more complex and so are probably better suited to older children or adults who have more dexterity and patience. I found it easiest to assemble them by working from the centre outwards.

As well as being pretty Diwali decorations they would also look good on a Diwali table, either as a centrepiece or as coasters for drinks or plates of food.

These larger Hama bead designs can take quite a while to make, and you need to be a bit more careful when ironing to make sure that all the beads have melted properly. After taking the photographs I ironed them on the top side too, to make them a bit sturdier. I stuck to the same colours for them both, but it would be easy enough to use different colours, keeping to a bright and cheerful colour scheme. I'm really pleased with them!

If you are looking for ideas for Diwali crafts to do with your children you might also like my other Diwali craft posts:

Small Hama bead Rangoli
Diwali salt dough divas
Diwali dyed rice Rangoli
Simple Diwali cards
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.
My Hama bead patterns were created using this free online Hama bead designer.

Creating Hama bead Rangoli patterns for Diwali

Last year I started doing some Diwali crafts with the children as an introduction to the festival, and I'll be continuing that this year. Last year we made some Rangoli using dyed rice, which were very successful, and this year we tried out some Hama Bead Rangoli for Diwali.

Rangoli are decorative floor patterns which are created during Hindu festivals such as Diwali. They can be geometric, or shaped to represent flowers and petals, and are traditionally created using coloured rice, sand or petals. They are created to welcome the goddess Lakshmi into the home.

These Hama bead designs are small, and would be perfect to use as decorations during your Diwali celebration. You could hang them up, use them to create colourful bunting, or use them as coasters underneath drinks and bowls of food.

If you want to create these for yourself I have reproduced the patterns below. They are all made on the small Hama bead circle base (222) using red, yellow, orange and purple Hama beads. I kept to the same palette of colours for all four, but they would look lovely in any bright colours. I found that the patterns were simple enough for my son to copy with a little bit of help, and we had fun making them together.

If you are looking for ideas for Diwali crafts to do with your children you might also like my other Diwali craft posts:

Large Hama bead Rangoli
Diwali salt dough divas
Diwali dyed rice Rangoli
Simple Diwali cards
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

Homemade Diwali cards craft

In 2017 Diwali will be celebrated on the 19th October.

Also known as the Festival of Lights, Diwali (also known as Divali or Deepavali) is one of the largest and most important festivals of the year for Hindus. Lamps are lit to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and families exchange gifts and cards.

This year we made some simple Diwali cards to send to family. First we looked at some commercial cards, and talked about the images and how they relate to the Diwali story.

Then I found some printable Diwali colouring cards with a selection of lovely images. I let Harry choose his favourite and we printed it off to colour. We decorated with glitter glue and sequins, then mounted the picture onto some brightly coloured card.

This is the first year that I've started teaching Harry about Diwali, as I think that he's old enough now to learn a little bit about his culture and heritage. I'll let you know how we get on!

If you are looking for some more Diwali crafts, then you might like these pages:

How to make a salt dough diwa
How to make Rangoli using dyed rice
Large Hama bead Rangoli
Small Hama bead Rangoli
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.

Diwali craft - Making a Rangoli using dyed rice

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links

After making our salt dough divas for Diwali, we turned our attention to Diwali Rangoli. Rangoli are decorative patterns created on the floor during Hindu festivals such as Diwali. They can be geometric patterns or flower and petal shapes, and are traditionally created using coloured rice, sand or flower petals. At Diwali they are created to encourage the goddess Lakshmi to enter homes. I made our Rangoli using dyed rice.

For the base I used some sturdy cardboard. I drew some freehand patterns using a thick black pen, taking some inspiration from pictures that I found online. To dye the rice I followed the very simple instructions from The Imagination Tree - you basically just mix a handful or so of cheap rice with about half a teaspoon of food colouring, and you can squirt in some alcohol hand gel to help it dry quicker. I found that yellow and red dye worked brilliantly, but the green not so well.

We painted our cardboard designs first with poster paint in bold colours. I thought this would give a good solid background, instead of having to cover the whole design in rice. Then we worked with one colour of rice at a time. I applied the glue thickly to the areas required, then we piled on the rice and pressed it down. I found that it dried quickly and we were able to shake of the excess before moving on to the next colour. A little bit of rice went a long way, I had lots left over!

I was really pleased with how well our Rangoli turned out, and it wasn't nearly as messy or unpredictable a craft as I had worried it would be! We are looking forward to putting them on display when we celebrate Diwali.

If you are looking for some more Diwali crafts, then you might like these pages:

How to make a salt dough diwa
Homemade Diwali cards
Large Hama bead Rangoli
Small Hama bead Rangoli
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.
I'm linking up with Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum and Kid's Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.