On Monday we celebrated Diwali, the Indian “Festival of Lights” which celebrates the triumph of light over dark and the blessings of freedom, victory and enlightenment.

Diwali consists of five days in India, where the first day is spent cleaning their homes and creating rangoli, an Indian art form. 

At OSHC, the children had the opportunity to create their own rangoli designs. Traditionally, rangoli is created using dry rice, flour, coloured sand, flower petals, red ochre, etc. We used food colouring and salt, to create different colours and a grain like texture. We then added glue to our mixture as we designed our rangoli on paper, using simple geometric shapes as well as flower and petal shapes.

This inclusive activity was interactive and assisted children in the development of their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The children enjoyed mixing colours and converting their ideas into three-dimensional artworks.