Mehndi Art

By Denzelle (Year 3 student)

Lesson Background:
During our Year 3/4 unit of work "Snapshots of Asia" students have been learning about different aspects of Asian countries.  Many of the students in our classes were born in India or Pakistan and these students were keen to share their knowledge of traditional mehndi in our classroom.  This lead to the creation of these artworks.

Lesson Steps:
1.  Students shared their knowledge about mehndi and we also looked at pictures and information on the Internet.
2.  We talked about other cultures with similar traditions, such as Maouri tattooing, and the symobolism and significance involved in such traditions.
3.  We looked at different designs and described their features- the types of lines, shapes, symbols, pictures etc.  We also talked about the colour of the ink and how the designs were different to other design work we had done during the year.
4.  Students traced their hands in brown or black texta.  They then used photographs of traditional mehndi, to inspire them to create their own designs.
5.  The students cut their hand designs out and mounted them on black or coloured paper.

Sample Year 3 Artworks:


By Denzelle




By Janis




By Charles




By Nomvula



By Kaya



By Kaya



Some of our Year 3 artworks