Nani and Nana

For Indian Arrival Day this year I thought the Picassos and I should practice some of the words the East Indians brought to Trindad! So I had them calling out the words they knew and I got quite a list! In one particular class I had a few kiddos who were eager to write down the words they knew and share with the class! So we learned several words and phrases in Hindi and Sanskrit not to mention how to count up to 14... yup my lil buddy couldn't go higher than that but hey... neither can I! LOL (Shout out to Anjaana, Pavan and Hayley!! Thanks for sharing with us!) 

But today we were going to focus on some very special ones... our Nani and Nana or Ajji and Ajja. These are the maternal and paternal grandparents. We imagined Indian grandparents (in their younger days) posing for a portrait before they left their homeland for new adventures. 

This was a very cool project because not only do they get to draw a seated person, so they get to practice drawing limbs and think about how to represent the body in different positions, but they also get to use patterns and colours that are common in Indian fabrics, so they got to do a tiny bit of research using my computer and phone in class. So of course this makes for a very gorgeous art piece! Not to mention a chance for us to explore what patterns and colours are native to India. See for yourself 😍