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The INDIEana Handicraft

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craftgossip125x125The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is a D.I.Y. contemporary craft fair that showcases the work of artists and crafters who use traditional crafting techniques mixed with a contemporary edge. Vendors offer a range of unique handmade goods from wooden jewelry to fanciful undergarments, from custom vintage-inspired western wear to stationery, from plush animals to natural bath and body goodies, from hand-screened rock ‘n’ roll poster art to pop culture icon finger puppets and much, much more. The IHE is the first and only of its kind in Indianapolis and is currently held biannually.

The IHE summer show will be held from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, 2009 in conjunction with the Independent Music + Art Festival (IMAF) at the Harrison Center for the Arts at 1505 North Delaware Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202, just north of downtown Indy. The event annually brings out a crowd of 5000+ folks. This year the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange will feature 70+ vendors, a “Craft Mafia” gallery show sponsored by the Indy Craft Mafia, an outdoor textiles art installation, live music by Mandy Marie & the Cool Hand Lukes and Shirtless Biddles, and giveaways of many fantastic raffle prizes donated by vendors and business sponsors.

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is FREE to the public. However, raffle tickets are sold for $2 each. Purchasing a raffle ticket will give patrons a chance to win one of many prizes donated by vendors and local, independent business sponsors. All proceeds from the raffle will go directly to the art programs at Indianapolis area public schools and the Marion County Children’s Guardian Home. If patrons bring an art book or art or craft supply for donation at the door, they will receive an additional raffle ticket.

The October fair will be held on the 2nd (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) & 3rd (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in conjunction with IDADA’s wildly popular First Friday event, also guaranteeing quite a hearty crowd.

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Learning about Chad for Kids – Lesson Plan

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked Central African nation bordered by Lybia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. It is the fifth largest country in Africa and is one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the world.

Chad Basics

  • Chad is about 500,000 square miles, or 1.3 million square kilometers and has a population around 16 million. Its capital and largest city is N’Djamena.
  • Part of the Sahara Desert is in Chad, as well as an arid zone and a more fertile area. Lake Chad, for which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland area in Africa.
  • The official languages are Arabic and French, but more than 200 ethnic and linguistic groups call Chad home.
  • The land of Chad became part of French Equatorial Africa in 1920 and gained its independence in 1960, but the nation has faced civil war, coups and strife most of the time since. It has also been affected by the crisis in the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
  • Chad has a parliamentary system with a president and prime minister. After the president was killed by rebels in 2021, his son took over.

Chad National Symbols

The Republic of Chad’s flag features three vertical stripes of blue, yellow and red. The intent was for the colors to be a combination of the French flag and the Pan-African colors.

It was adopted in 1959 when the country was given autonomous status and has been retained ever since, though there has been concern that the flag is nearly identical to Romania’s, which sometimes causes confusion.

The national anthem is “La Tchadienne” or “Song of the Chadian.” The music was written by a Jesuit father, Paul Villard, while the lyrics were composed by another Jesuit father and his students.

 

The country has two national animals, which represent the northern and southern parts of the country: the goat and the lion. These animals are both found on the coat of arms of Chad.

The violet turaco is considered the national bird of Chad (according to some guy on X, anyway). Click through to see this pretty bird’s colorful head! The peregrine falcon is also associated with the country.

Chad Learning Activities

When learning about Chad would be a fine time to pull out your lion and goat activities. Emma Owl has some fun lion crafts, and 3 Boys and a Dog has some goat crafts and activities that may be a little bit more about farm goats, but we’ll take what we can get.

I’m not finding a lot of stuff specific to Chad, but you can find Africa activities that include Chad at Teachers Pay Teachers (and if you find a better way to search for them let me know!).

Learn about Lake Chad and see images from space to see how it has shrunk in recent decades. With older kids you can talk about why the lake is getting smaller and what people can do about it.

Listen to some traditional music from Chad and learn about common instruments like the kakaki, a long tin horn.

To try food from Chad, eat some millet! The Afrikan Store has a recipe for millet porridge that some consider the national dish of Chad, or you can try these fried millet balls from Gormandize.