Mandalas

In the Spring of 2013 Mr. Campbell and Mrs. Steckel received a grant from the 112 Education Foundation to purchase 5 new tenor ukuleles and lead the students in a lesson in textile design through designing a batik.  Under the instruction of Mrs. Lorenz, Mrs. Steckel's student teacher, students learned the history of mandalas and how to make a batik using a glue resist technique.  


The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself.  

Students used a compass to create their circles and colored their designs using colored pencils. They were asked to base the theme of their mandala on themselves using iconography representative of themes in their lives.  They traced over their design with special gel glue.  

The next week, they painted the mandala with fluorescent acrylic paint.  

Mrs Steckel took them to the laundromat to wash and dry them. They were used as a display for the 4th and 5th grade show.

Visit http://www.papermandalas.com for child-friendly mandalas to print and color.