Here’s an easy DIY 3D Popup Card for Pongal that kids can make by themselves! Features a Pongal pot with overflowing rice and bamboo decor!

When you’re cooking, something boiling over and spilling is generally considered a mess and something to avoid. However, when it comes to the Pongal festival, this is something to be celebrated!

The Pongal festival corresponds to Makar Sankranti, and usually falls on the 14th or 15th of January. The word ‘Pongal’ is derived from ‘pongu‘, which means ‘boil over’ or ‘overflow’. And that’s where the pot enters the picture!

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What is the significance of the Pongal pot?

Pongal isn’t just the name of a festival; it’s also the name of the dish eaten on the occasion. Pongal is a sweet dish made by cooking freshly harvested rice in milk and jaggery or cane sugar.

The Pongal pot is a celebration of the harvest, and is a representation of how the gifts of nature provide us nourishment. The boiling over is a sign of overflow of abundance and divine blessings.

You can join in the celebrations too, and if you don’t want to get into actually preparing a boiling pot, you can create a three-dimensional paper version – in our easy DIY 3D popup card for Pongal!

Easy DIY 3D Popup Card for Pongal

Supplies required:

Craft paper in different colors
Card stock or thick craft paper
White textured paper or craft paper
Few grains of raw white rice
Color pencils
Glue stick
Scissors

How to make the 3D popup card for Pongal:

1. Download and print the Sankranti Lohri Pongal Coloring Sheets. While this set features multiple festivals, we will be using the one shown below (page 4) for our 3D popup card for Pongal.

2. Take out your colors and fill in your coloring sheet.

3. After coloring your sheet, cut out the excess borders. Take your thick cardstock and cut out a card from it. Make sure the front of the card is bigger than your Pongal coloring sheet. Once you’ve cut and folded your card, stick the completed coloring sheet on the front of the card.

4. Put aside the card and bring out your craft paper. Cut out 5 symmetrical pot shapes from brown craft paper. If you like, you can trace them from the pot in the coloring sheet. Draw bamboo shapes on white paper and color them. Cut out the bamboo.

5. Fold each pot in half vertically, as shown in the image below.

6. Open your card and stick the bamboo on either side of the central crease. Place them slanting, so that together they form a ‘V’ shape.

7. Time to assemble the star of our 3D popup card for Pongal – the pot! Take two folded pot shapes and stick the folded ends together, as shown in the image below.

8. Continue sticking on the remaining pots so you end up with a 3D pot with 4 ‘flaps’. Stick the pot in the center of the card, so that it overlaps the ends of the bamboo.

9. Cut out a piece of white paper for the rice and stick it on the top of the pot. If you can, choose a paper with some texture.

10. Apply glue on the white paper and sprinkle some raw white rice on it. Shake the card to get rid of any excess, unstuck grains.

11. Write or stick a Pongal greeting – this is a festival of auspiciousness!

12. Fold the card carefully and press the crease firmly so your folds are sharp. Now when you open the card, you will be greeted with a gorgeous overflowing Pongal pot!

We love how this 3D popup card for Pongal turned out, especially the little pot in the center! Adding real rice to the craft helps kids relate more to the festival, and a culture where agriculture and harvests are celebrated. Now put your pretty card in an envelope and gift it to a friend!

For more popup card ideas, check these out: