Welcome to India! Some movies you can watch that will inspire you might be The Jungle Book, A Little Princess, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
It sure took us a long time to fly there. We had to take an airplane because there were no driving routes without going way off of our path.
Virtual Tours
Check out these virtual tours. This is what you would see if we were really there.
Fun India Destinations
Kolkata, West Bangla, India, Victoria Memorial Hall
Walking tour through Old Delhi
Indian Dance
Indian Music
Indian Art
Art Gallery Tour of National Museum of India
Art Gallery Tour of Indian Museum Kolkata
Art Gallery Tour of National Gallery of Modern Art
Animals of India
Languages of India
21 official languages are spoken in India…
There are about 60 languages spoken throughout the country, but only 21 of them are officially recognized.
- Assamese
- Bengali
- Bodo
- Dogri
- Gujarati
- Kannada
- Kashmiri
- Konkani
- Maithili
- Malayalam
- Manipuri
- Marathi
- Nepali
- Odia
- Punjabi
- Sanskrit
- Santali
- Sindhi
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Urdu
Cobra Project
India is a country known to have many Cobras.
 |
 |
 |
In honor of the cobras we have included the following snake project/science experiment. If you do not have a copy of the template, you can freehand draw the snake following the example below.
Materials
- Tissue paper
- Black marker
- Plastic ruler
Instructions
- Find your snake template in your envelope.
- Place the tissue paper over the template and draw the design on to the tissue paper.
- Cut out the snake following the lines you have traced onto the tissue paper. If you like, draw on a face and some wiggly lines with a felt tip pen.
- Rub the plastic ruler vigorously over the wool carpet or pullover, then hover the ruler over the snake’s head.
- The snake will begin to rise off the table!
Henna/Mehndi
Henna is a dye made from the Henna tree. Henna dye is used to create mehndi.
 |
 |
Mehndi is a form of body art originating in ancient India, in which decorative designs are created on a person’s body, using a paste, created from the powdered dry leaves of the henna plant. Dating back to ancient India, mehndi is still a popular form of body art among the women of the Indian subcontinent, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East. Henna is used to for luck, happiness, and a person’s greatest joy. It is often used in celebrations including birthdays and weddings.
In your envelope you will find a drawing of a hand. Try some of your own mehndi drawing on paper.
The henna dye can be quite messy if you aren’t used to using it. It helps to practice your drawings on paper.
In India, many women have henna motifs on their hands and feet on occasions like weddings and engagements. In Kerala, women and girls, especially brides, have their hands decorated with mehndi. In North Indian wedding ceremonies, there is one day solely dedicated for adorning the bride and groom in mehndi.
Make a Himalayan Mountain Range
The Himalayas are a huge mountain range in India. There are over 50 mountains including some of the highest in the world like Mount Everest which is in Nepal. Watch this video for history and facts about Mount Everest.
 |
 |
Materials
- Egg carton
- Brown paint
- White paint
- Cotton balls
 |
 |
 |
Instructions
- Paint the egg carton with brown paint. The more paint you use, the darker it will come out, so try to add depth to your mountains by doing multiple coats in some areas and single coats in other areas.
- Let dry
- Paint the tops of your mountains with white paint.
- While the white paint is still wet, put the cotton ball, or some of the cotton on the white paint and as the paint dries it will act as a glue to hold the cotton.
- If you want to further individualize your mountain range look around and see what else you could add. Maybe a mountain climber or some grasses? What else do you think could go on a mountain?
- Manipulate your cotton balls so they are not just balls of cotton on top of your maintains. See picture below.
Festival of Holi
Holi is known as the Festival of Spring, the Festival of Colors and the Festival of Love. It is celebrated in March. Holi celebrates the arrival of spring, the end of winter, the blossoming of love, and for many it’s a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships.
 |
 |
Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika Dahan where people gather, perform religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil be destroyed. The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi – a free-for-all festival of colors where people smear each other with colors and drench each other. Water guns and water-filled balloons are also used to play and color each other. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children, and elders. The frolic and fight with colors occurs in the open streets, parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and other musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes come together to throw colored powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks.
Included in you package this week are a few colors. We do not suggest you throw it at people unless that person has granted you permission. We made the powder from food coloring, corn starch and water so it is nontoxic. We included some paper plates that you can throw the colors at outside if you like.
Make a Candle Holder
Materials
- Clay
- Water
- Paint
- Gems, jewels, sequins and/or glitter
- Candle
Instructions:
- Knead your clay until it becomes pliable.
- Form your clay into a ball.
- Use the candle to create the space it will go by pressing it down into the clay and then lifting it off which will create the indentation.
- Place jewels, gems and glitter where you would like. You can paint with the watercolors from Italy.
- Let dry.
Make Clay Buttons
India was the first place buttons were made and used.
Materials
- Clay
- Toothpick
Instructions
- Take a small chunk of clay and shape it into a flat circle
- Using a toothpick poke 2 holes in the middle
- Use the toothpick to sketch designs into clay
- Let dry
- Paint your buttons if you would like to. The watercolor paint would probably work best.
Mandala Dot Painting
Mandala is Sanskrit for circles. Mandalas have lots of symbolic meaning in Hindu and Buddhism.
 |
 |
 |
Materials
- Paper
- Paint
- Cotton swabs
Instructions
- Look at the examples of mandala coloring sheets
- Draw your own mandala (Mandalas are supposed to be a circular design so it might help to make a quick outline of a circle in pencil to help guide your drawing. If creating your own sounds complicated, you can use one of the color sheets in your envelope.)
- Using a cotton swab, fill the design with colorful dots. Dip the cotton swab in paint and dot it on the page.
Milk Jug Elephant
India is the largest producer of milk. Additionally, the people of India believe that Elephants are holy spirits.
Materials
- Plastic milk jug
- Tissue paper
- Glue
- Googly eyes
- Scissors
Instructions
- Cut the top of the milk jug off by the handle.
- Cut arches to make legs.
- Stick on tissue paper with glue.
- Let dry.
- Add on googly eyes.
Peacock
The Peacock is India’s national bird.
Materials
- Blue paper
- Light blue paper
- Orange paper
- Blue orange and yellow paint
- Tape
- Googly eyes
Instructions
1. On the dark blue paper draw the peacock’s body. Draw 2 circles – one medium circle for the body and one slightly smaller for the head. Connect the two circles with an oval for the neck. See the image above for reference. Cut this out.
2. Cut out a small orange triangle for the beak.
3. Next, it’s time to make the tail. Take the light blue paper. Using your finger make circles of orange paint over the page.
4. Once the orange paint dries, add yellow circles above the orange, and then blue on top of these.
5. Once the paint is dry, fold, starting on a long side, the edge of the paper about an inch.
6. Then flip over and fold the over way, continue this until you’ve folded the whole page.
7. Fold it in halve and tape the edges together where they meet.
8. Add on googly eyes and the beak.
9. Tape the body to the tail.
Popsicle Stick Tiger
Tigers are India’s national animal.
Materials
- Orange popsicle sticks
- Googly eyes
- Black marker
- Orange paper
- Scissors
- Glue
Instructions
- Glue Popsicle sticks into a triangle. Using your watercolors or a marker, color the Popsicle sticks orange.
- Cut a triangle the same size out of the orange paper.
- Cut out 2 rounded triangles for the ears.
- Glue them to the triangle.
- Color the stripes, ears, mouth and nose.
- Glue on the eyes.
Make a Lotus Flower
The Lotus is the national flower of India. It is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and mythology of ancient India and has been a symbol of Indian culture since the beginning of time.
