This shape mandala drawing activity for kids is a great way to learn about symmetry, patterns and geometric shapes, but it’s also just a fun way to be creative.
These free printable shape mandala drawing templates are a fun way to combine maths and art for kids!
Mandalas are such beautiful art forms, and so much fun to make and experiment with.
What is a Mandala?
A mandala is an abstract design that has radial symmetry where the designs radiate out from the centre in a circular pattern.
‘Mandala’ is a Sanskrit word meaning circle and in many cultures such as Hinduism and Buddhism, mandalas have spiritual significance, and often represent a spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through all the layers. Mandalas have also been associated with other cultures such as the sand paintings of the North American Indians and Mayan and Aztec art as well.
Making Mandalas is often done as a calming or relaxing activity, and they can be a great way to introduce kids to concepts of symmetry and repeating patterns, as well as learning about their history and cultural significance.
Britannica Kids has some great basic information on mandalas un Buddhism and Hinduism to get you started.
Mandala Art for Kids
Drawing mandala inspired art is a great way to teach kids about radial symmetry and repeating patterns.
Mandalas are usually created with radial symmetry, so they have circular patterns that repeat and that are the same in each ‘slice’ of the mandala. Older kids will love the challenge of creating radial symmetry and trying to get each slice to look as close to the same as possible.
With younger kids you might not emphasise this step, and instead concentrate on creating repeating patterns. Creating and following patterns helps kids learn to make predictions, to understand what comes next, and to make logical connections – all important skills for reading, writing, maths and science.
And for very young kids you can simply focus on the joy of creating!
Shape Mandala Drawing for Kids
You might be familiar with circular mandalas but you can make mandala inspired art using other shapes too.
These mandala inspired drawing prompts use geometric shapes as their starting points. They are a simple, and fun, hands on way to reinforce learning about 2D shapes. And also just a fun way to be creative!
Free Printable Shape Mandala Drawing Prompts.
Making circles and getting the spacing right to make a Mandala can be tricky for little hands. While your mandala creations don’t have to be perfect, if your kids become frustrated, or you are working on radial symmetry having a template or mandala drawing prompt can help get you started and guide you.
This set of shape mandala drawing prompts includes 2 circle mandala templates (one with 3 spaces for beginners and one with 5 spaces for more detailed designs), one square mandala template, and one octagon mandala template.
You can download these free printable shape mandala drawing prompts here.
This printable is an A4 sized pdf file, you will need a pdf reader such as adobe acrobat to open it. If you are printing on US ‘letter sized’ paper be sure to select ‘fit’ or ‘shrink to fit’ from your printer options.
Please remember that the printables at picklebums.com are for personal use only, you may not sell, share, or link directly to these files.
More Ways to Make Mandala Art with Kids.
Drawing a mandala is one of the easiest ways to get started with mandala art for kids, but there are lots of other ways you can make mandalas! You can use these free printable mandala templates with more than just pencils and markers.
Try using different art supplies to create your mandalas. Crayon resist with oil pastels and watercolour paints would make awesome mandalas, or you could some collage materials.
You could also try making mandalas from other materials. Create some transient mandala art using loose parts, or natural materials.
These mandala drawing prompt printables also make great playdough mats! Just add playdough to make a colourful mandala.
More Shape Activities
If your kids loved making these shape mandalas that might also like these fun shape activities:
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