Following on from our rangoli meeting, we moved on to the Indian tradition of mehndi. Also known as henna, mehndi is a paste made from the leaves of the henna plant. In India, it is typically applied for celebrations such as weddings and festivals.
A few weeks prior to the meeting, I had sent home the below permission note to families.
At the meeting we discussed how mehndi is made (traditionally and commercially), when it is used and also looked at photographs of different designs both simple and intricate. I demonstrated how to draw a few simple designs (swirls, dots and flowers) and then the girl's created their own designs on a printed hand template.
The mehndi cones we used (see picture on the note above) are from India. You can purchase these on eBay or buy them at a local Indian store. Once you start looking, you will realise they are fairly easy to come by! Drawing the designs below on about 20 girls only used two cones, so if you buy a pack of twelve like I did, you will have plenty for future meetings!
Parents and Guide helpers drew the final designs on the girl's as we needed to be efficient with our limited time. We dried the completed designs using a hairdryer. The biggest challenge was stopping the Brownie Guides from touching the mehndi. The wet would smudge and the dry paste would get picked off to see the design underneath. For this reason, the ankle designs worked better than the palm, as they were mostly left alone.
Some of the designs:
At the meeting we discussed how mehndi is made (traditionally and commercially), when it is used and also looked at photographs of different designs both simple and intricate. I demonstrated how to draw a few simple designs (swirls, dots and flowers) and then the girl's created their own designs on a printed hand template.
The mehndi cones we used (see picture on the note above) are from India. You can purchase these on eBay or buy them at a local Indian store. Once you start looking, you will realise they are fairly easy to come by! Drawing the designs below on about 20 girls only used two cones, so if you buy a pack of twelve like I did, you will have plenty for future meetings!
Parents and Guide helpers drew the final designs on the girl's as we needed to be efficient with our limited time. We dried the completed designs using a hairdryer. The biggest challenge was stopping the Brownie Guides from touching the mehndi. The wet would smudge and the dry paste would get picked off to see the design underneath. For this reason, the ankle designs worked better than the palm, as they were mostly left alone.
Some of the designs:
A fun meeting, but definitely make sure you have other adults to assist along the way!
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