Kalamkari painting- explore ancient art with kids

Kalamkari is a beautiful Indian art form known for its beautiful colour patterns, flowing through different themes. One can easily spot this art form with figures of women in yellow, demons in red or green and Gods in vibrant shades of blue. Birds and flowers are most common for these prints. Why not try these beautiful coloured freehand Kalamkari painting for kids- preschooler or toddlers. Even if you are older and are a beginner, then also this post will be helpful.

What is Kalamkari?

A kalamkari is an art form of hand-printed or hand block printed cotton textile. Kalam-kari refers to the ancient style of hand painting that is done with a tamarind kalam, using organic/natural dyes. The literal meaning of Kalamkari is “kalam”, which means pen in Hindi and “Kari” which refers to craftsmanship. Most common motifs outlined in this ancient art of Kalamkari includes flowers, birds, peacock, and also characters from Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The Kalamkari paintings were born out of the art of story-telling. In ancient times- people used to travel – from village to village and share stories. Some of them even used to drew it on a canvas. This was how, the ancient art of Kalamkari was born which is primarily used on fabrics to make sarees or dresses.

 

How to draw a Kalamkari painting with kids?

As true with most of the folk or tribal art forms, the artists use natural dyes to paint this. The colours commonly used in kalamkari are earthy colours like black, brown, indigo, mustard, rust and green.

Here are some types of flowers and leaves that you see commonly in a Kalamkari design. If you notice the art form carefully you would see that these shapes are usually curved or round. Whether you see a figurine of animals or the patterns that is used to fill them, it is filled with circles or similar repeated curvy pattern.

The patterns looks intricate but there seems to be a balance between the empty spacethat  kept in between these intricate designs.

 

Kalamkari craft painting kit for kids

If you find this difficult, these are too many Kalambari art and craft kit available online too. One such kit if from Hobby crafts idea we love. Do check it out here.

 

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There is numerous possible way to explore and create this intricate kalamkari painting for kids, project for kids basis their interest. Hope this post has motivated you enough to make your own version of kalamkari art project ideas with your child today!  Follow #TnM_Activites for many such ideas on Instagram @tuggu.n.mommy and Facebook @tuggunmommy

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