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The Mandala for Kids  

A mandala ritual can be a very empowering experience for a child. The first step in working with children is making it easy for them to express themselves. Children are blessed with wonderful imaginations, but are often held back by fears of criticism. One of the most important things you can instill in a child is a positive self-image.

What is a Mandala? 

Read our general mandala section. 

  A Few Considerations Regarding Using The Mandala in Schools

Many districts have strict rules about prayer in school. When teaching the mandala process in public school settings, it might be a good idea to omit any religious connotations you might have about the exercise. Be careful not to introduce any specific religious beliefs and keep the exercise very general by using words such as "wish" or "intention" rather than "prayer". If you are unfamiliar with your school district’s guidelines, you may want to check with the principal, superintendent, school board, or parent-teacher association.

On the other hand, if you are creating this mandala as part of a children’s prayer group or religion class, you may wish to incorporate the religious beliefs of the group into the exercise.

Sample Lesson Plan 

Feel free to modify these instructions based on the age of the children or your personal teaching preferences. As this is simply our interpretation of the ritual, there may be another way that you would feel more comfortable explaining it. 

In simple terms, explain to the children that a mandala is a "special circle". You might try saying something like this:

In many different countries people create mandalas - special circle pictures - as part of making a kind of wish. This special wish is called an intention. The intention can be anything you need to have or want to achieve.

In Tibet, mandalas for peace are created in sand and the Navajo create similar sand paintings to heal sickness. A doctor named Carl Jung had his patients draw pictures like these to help them express feelings that they had trouble talking about. 

Today we are going to create our own circle pictures with sand. We're going to make up our own intentions - or wishes - and then think about these wishes while we create the sand picture. 

When we're done, we're going to take the picture apart and sweep up all the sand. We do this to remind ourselves that everything in the world is always changing and this sand won't stay the same forever. It starts out just as sand, and then becomes a beautiful work of art, and then goes right back to being sand. But when we're finished, the sand is special because it came from our pictures and it knows our special wishes. 

We're each going to save a little bit of the sand from our pictures and bring it home with us. The rest of the sand, we're going to scatter. That way the special feeling we got from making these pictures can spread to other people... through the sand. 

Before beginning the following exercise, teach the children how to use the tools to draw with the sand. Explain and demonstrate how to use the funnel. The children can also use their fingertips to sprinkle the sand. You should allow them time to practice and experiment with controlling the sand before they begin their actual mandalas. When they are comfortable working with the sand, have them sit down in front of their supplies and prepare to begin the exercise.

Exercise

• Get comfortable and close your eyes.
• Take three slow, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.
• Keep breathing slowly, concentrating only on your breathing.
• Forget about anything that may have happened today and pay attention to your breathing, letting it calm you and make you feel good all over.
• Imagine a light flowing all around you… starting at the top of your head and going all the way down to your feet.
• This light is warm and healing and protecting. It makes you feel really safe and happy.
• The light covers you and everything in the room, spreading this warm, fuzzy feeling to everyone in the room.
• Now imagine your intention – your special wish – coming true. Imagine the warm light making the wish come true.
• Now imagine the light coming together and forming a circle.
• Imagine this circle is deep within you – in your heart – and it is growing.
• Imagine that all that powerful energy that was in the circle of light – the healing, protective energy – is now in you.
• The circle is growing bigger and bigger and bigger, until it is covering you and protecting you.
• The circle covers you completely until you are the circle. You are the powerful circle.
• Think about what this circle feels like and what this circle looks like.
• When you’re ready, open your eyes and using the sand, draw a picture of your own special circle.
• You can draw anything you want – there are no wrong answers. Don’t worry about making mistakes – there are no mistakes. Trust that whatever you put down is what is supposed to be there.

You should allow for at least twenty minutes of work on the mandalas, depending on size. After the mandalas are created, the children may choose to say a few words about their wishes or how the exercise made them feel. The children should then carefully dismantle their mandalas and you can help them place the sand in a container until it is time to scatter it.

You may choose to give the children a related written assignment, perhaps an explanation of why they selected their specific wishes or a prediction of how the wishes might come true. Depending on the age of your students, you might also consider a research project on the use of mandalas in various cultures.

Feel free to use another medium with the children – such as crayons, pencils, markers, chalk, collage, etc – to create permanent mandalas that the children can keep or give as gifts.

A child is never too young to create his or her own mandala.

Creating a Communal Mandala with Children

You may choose to create a larger, communal mandala with a group of children. This might make a nice activity for any special occasion, be it educational or celebratory. If you would like to perform a mandala ritual at a children’s event – such as a peace fair or a celebration of a certain historical figure – you may want to suggest intentions that correlate with the event. You can either give the children total freedom in creating individual intentions or you might provide them with a general set of guidelines.

You might also lead the children in other accompanying activities, such as singing songs or reciting poetry that relates to the topic at hand. For instance, at a celebration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., students might create mandalas for peace, unity, or an end to racism. Additional activities might include singing songs about peace and brotherhood, or reading speeches and other related literature by or about Dr. King.

Eileen M. Rose is an authorized mandala facilitator and has been a teacher of Fine Arts of children and adults for over thirty years. She co-authored the book Create Your Own Sand Mandala: For Meditation, Healing, and Prayer with Abby Rose Dalto. 

Mandala created with colored pencil on black paper - by Imogen Rose Castro (age 5). 

Copyright Illuminated Rose Inc. 2005    Contact us!
Last updated: February 03, 2010.