12 Indian Arts & Crafts you can Learn at Home

Learning Indian arts and crafts can be intellectual with a variety of activities as well as being fun for all the family.

There are a variety of Indian arts and crafts that can be made at home from knitting to printing to drawing this can be a great way of decorating and creativity.

A range of these includes woodwork, textiles, henna, pottery, making jewellery which are as intricate and simply crafted.

For example, some traditional arts and crafts are bamboo art, Rangoli designs and Kalamkari found widely across India.

Not only do the fabulous designs and paintings draw attention to the eye, the creations are versatile and can be enjoyed by children as well as adults.

So, here’s 12 different Indian arts and crafts activities that you can indulge in on your own or with your little ones.

Ribbon Bangle

Bangle making is a nice and easy way of jazzing up any Indian outfit or occasion. It consists of using an empty plastic bottle, preferably washing up liquid or juice bottles.

They are not only fabulous to make for yourself but also for family and friends too.

Other types of designs can be made by covering a plain bangle itself or foil with the help of glue, scissors and double-sided tape.

These are made using several different accessories and materials including paper, acrylic paint ribbon, gems, glitter and sweet wrappers.

For a ribbon bangle use gold paint to cover it fully and wait till its dry. Cut pieces of ribbon of your choice to style the bangle and wrap it around using tape.

Alternatively, sweet wrappers and buttons look very attractive instead of ribbon.

Bangles can also become statement pieces by sticking on some beads or pearls to create a classier look.

Mandala Designs

Mandala designs are a beautiful piece of art that vary in the patterns formed and its intricacy.

They are usually found on walls, fabrics and in most cases embedded in the form of henna used to decorate hands, arms and feet.

Creating mandalas can be easily done by using resources such as a compass, A4 paper or card, oil pastels, a pencil and an eraser.

A mandala template can be used in order to help with the shape. However, this is optional.  The compass is used to draw a couple of circles in the centre of the page.

Horizontal and vertical lines are then drawn through the origin of the circle. This is then divided up to look like slices of pizza.

Pencil drawing is convenient for these designs as they can be easily adapted to form any inspiration. The design drawn is symmetrical as it mirrors the other side.

Although this piece of art requires time and patience once finished, the result is wonderful and unique.

Children can make their own beautiful oil pastel creations, Indian textiles, lotus flower and more.

Lotus Flower Template

A lotus flower template is a quick and simple form of painting that is apt for beginners. It is also great for colouring in with sand due to its easy to follow structure.

As the national flower of India, this flower can be found in many different places such as clothing, monuments and tattoos.

This type of painting requires only three items: lotus flower template, glue, paintbrush and coloured sand.

The lotus flower can be printed on a big white sheet of paper to allow even distribution of the sand and for better results.

The paintbrush is used to cover one side of the design with glue so that each petal can be filled in separately.

Different coloured sand is then used to pour over each individual petal to create the design. Wiping around the edges is always a useful trick to avoid overlapping colours.

Lotus flower designs look stunning when framed whether that’s the bedroom wall or conservatory.

Elephant Mask

Elephant masks are extremely entertaining and fun to make. The bright head and ears make this an amazing wear.

This mask can be made using a large paper plate, grey-coloured card, paint, coloured paper, paint, glue, gems and thin elastic.

Many different types of paint can be used to make this including 3D paint. However, this is optional.

The back of the paper plate needs to be coloured in grey and left to dry. Once you have cut out the eye holes, using the grey card you can cut out the ears and trunk.

Using glue, attach the ears on the opposite side of the face with the trunk in the centre. A triangle shape can be cut out for the headdress and glue this on the forehead.

The headdress can be decorated using gems, sequins or stickers. In the end, a small hole is to be made on either side of the face in order to string through the elastic.

Creativity can be added by making other animal masks such as tigers and peacocks.

Bead Bag Tags

Bead bag tags are a funky way of jazzing up school bags, satchels and make an interesting gifts.

Equipment needed to make these are a plain key ring, pipe cleaner and beads. The keyring is made by threading the pipe cleaner onto it.

Next, the beads are threaded on which can be of any type. However, if you want to be specific then alphabets are great for spelling out names and phrases.

A few special wordings include ‘Jack is King’ or ‘Best Friend.’ These are special for yourself as well as close friends and family.

Once complete the pipe cleaner is to be twisted tightly together, forming a loop at the end which can be of any shape.

It’s an existing way of decorating an object which takes very little time and effort.

For a more inspirational tag, they can be decorated with beads of different coloured country flags.

Button Tree Craft

Button tree craft is a very imaginative art as you can virtually create anything using all kinds of buttons.

This is done by either drawing a bare tree on a large canvas or a coloured template that could be used.

Leaves can also be drawn on if you would like to fill them in with tiny buttons.

A great way of gathering all the buttons is by sorting them out in shapes, sizes, and colours which results in a neater design. Using a variety of buttons makes the tree very attractive.

To attach the buttons onto the tree, blue tack or glue can be used to secure them into place.

As many or as few buttons can be placed on. However, for a chunky look, the buttons can also be layered on top of each other.

A few more popular designs that can be made using button craft are trees, letters, cards and bookmarks.

Chalk Rangoli

Chalk rangoli is a great fun way to indulge young children in the tradition. Conventionally, Rangoli is made using colour, flour and rice grains.

These can be made into any shape and size and decorated as much as you like. For a chalk rangoli black paper, chalk and ruler are necessary.

Use the ruler to make grid dots on the black paper which can be drawn as close or as far as possible, depending on the type of design you would like.

Then you simply draw on the design using chalk using the dots as a guideline. Although inspiration can be taken from anywhere, young children may need assistance to complete a design.

Filling in the design with different colours will make it come more alive. Sandpaper is also a viable alternative as this means the drawing remains smudge-proof for longer.

By drawing with chalk this gives the Rangoli an authentic touch and allows for smoother designs. You can even draw an outline of the Taj Mahal for a bit of a challenge!

A display of this will look amazing in a study or office especially if you are looking for minimal decor.

Watch how to create a Chalk Rangoli

Crayon Sun-Catchers

Crayon sun-catchers are an effective use of crayons as they shield your home from the sun. They can be made by melting crayons into any shape such as hearts, animals, flowers.

For these, you will require wax paper, crayons, a cheese grater and iron. Chunky crayons are useful as they are easier to grate.

To begin with, grate the crayons but make sure not to mix all the colours up. Keep the temperature setting on cotton for the iron.

Cut a piece of wax paper and fold it in half. Scatter the grated crayons onto the wax paper and fold over the other half of the paper to cover them.

Using layers of newspaper to help, place the wax sheet onto your ironing board and iron the folded paper until the crayons melt.

Once ready you can then draw on any picture, shape or design for your sun-catcher.

Hang these lovely creations with a piece of string, if you choose to draw heart shapes you could do a row of them together for a better shield.

Henna Designs

Henna hand designs are an excellent craft to do at home for girls and a very important aspect of Indian celebrations.

Whether that’s weddings, parties or birthdays it’s an Indian tradition to draw pretty simple or intricate designs. These can be as fuller in coverage as preferred, however, simple design look just as beautiful.

To make these designs, a skin-coloured paper and brown pen is needed. You draw around your hand onto the paper and go over the handshape with the pen.

The hand is then to be filled in with whichever pattern you like and then cut out with a pair of scissors.

Patterns that can be drawn include flowers, swirls, dots and grids. Not limited to these, they can be made more interesting by older children by incorporating heart and moon shapes.

Once you have mastered the art of henna, you can then start crafting henna designs on your hands.

Pot Painting

Pot painting can be done anywhere in the home using a variety of different pots that may need a little decoration.

Usually, the inspiration for the designs comes from ancient customs or traditions but can also be certain states such as Gujrat, Bengal or Punjab.

Painting these and explaining the significance behind certain traditions is a fabulous way of educating and enjoying culture at the same time.

Elements needed to paint the pots are a clay pot or a normal pot, sandpaper, acrylic paint and a variety of paintbrushes.

Grab your pot after its been nicely cleaned and smoothen it out with sandpaper. However, this is not necessary if you are using a different type of pot.

Take the acrylic paint and paint on a design of your choice or an inspiration. The more imaginative the better!

For adding finishing details, small brushes can be used. Using small strokes will allow you to develop an elaborate design.

Let the pot dry up nicely before placing this in your favourite places around the house either on a windowsill or your living room.

Warli Bookmarks

Warli art is another very popular way of introducing children to old traditions and how you can interpret them in the modern-day.

It is a tribal folk art who had their own style of artistic drawings that were mainly circles, squares and triangles.

This kind of art is mostly found in the works of potters and on the walls of the houses Warli people lived in.

Mainly the designs derive from the daily routine of the Warli tribe which included activities such as farming, fishing, collecting water.

To make these bookmarks you will need a coloured piece of card, a string or thread, jewels or stickers and colouring pencils.  The card is to be cut out into the size your bookmark will be.

Once cut out make a hole at the top of the bookmark in the centre to allow the string to draw through. Draw on the Warli figures or any activity, for example, dancing Warli figures are very common.

Decorate them with stickers or jewels of your choice and insert your chosen thread. It is fantastic for use on your all favourite stories.

Alternatively, you can decorate your bookmarks with anything you desire, such as, flowers and more.

Peacock Craft

Peacock craft is a wonderful art to get stuck into as it is also the national bird of India. Although it may seem difficult to draw, it is very quick once you learn how to.

Make sure that you have coloured card, pencil, eraser and a black line marker to outline the shape at the end.

For the body start by drawing an upside rainbow in the middle of the page and two curved lines from the head to the bottom of the page. Draw around this with several little clouds.

The feathers are to be drawn in the shape of a heart and the greater the hearts the more feathers!

When drawing these ensure that the end of the heart points towards your peacock.

To join the hearts to the body draw lines going from each one. To make the feathers stand out more double up the heart and draw curved lines to add waves at the top of them.

Draw more cloud-like shapes at the bottom of the peacock’s body and add lots of layers. Finally, add the facial features and use the black marker to go over it.

Oil pastels are profound in adding colour to your peacock and you can also experiment with different colours.

There is a range of Indian arts and crafts to choose from when learning at home. Being constantly surrounded by it in all households means that we can take inspiration and continue to create our own.

It is an excellent source of education as well as fun as you explore all the different types of art and designs that have been around for centuries.