Spring Life Cycle Mandalas

How many times have you heard in staff meetings that there isn’t enough time to do it all? If I had a penny for each time, I’d be one rich teacher! As art teachers, we can help take on some of that “burden” of not having enough time with arts integration.

With arts integration, students work on arts standards and other content areas within the same lesson - and it’s simpler to implement than it might sound. In the blog, we will specifically look at incorporating spring mandalas or spring life cycle mandalas to bring art, science, and math together.

You can use these spring mandalas in your art classroom or recommend them to science and math teachers as an enrichment activity, warm-up, and early-finisher work.

Spring Mandalas

As I mentioned, these spring mandalas integrate science and math into art. Specifically, this mandala activity looks at rotation, symmetry, and fractions. Here’s what that looks like when it comes to mandalas -

Rotation - Students will craft an image, which will then be rotated within the circle to create that repetitive mandala effect.

Symmetry - A key element of many mandalas is symmetry. Certain shapes or figures on their mandala may not contain symmetry, so have those conversations and identify the symmetry as it appears.

Fractions - In order to create the mandala with their image, they will need to divide their circle into wedges or fractions. The image will repeat across these wedges.

How to Create Spring Mandalas

Along with science and math skills, the spring mandalas also tap into executive function skills. Students will work on folding paper (a fine motor skill) and tracing (hand-eye coordination). Here’s what the Spring Life Cycle Mandala process looks like -

1. Choose a media to use. White paper and pencil is the easiest to begin with. Students can trace and outline elements with a black permanent marker later and use crayons to add color.

2. Read a book or article about the life cycle. Some recommended books are How Does a Tadpole Grow?, Rise and Shine: A Little Seed Story, and The Life Cycle of Birds. As you read, stop and talk about the different elements of the life cycle. You might even assign a recorder to write on the board or anchor chart, so you can map the life cycle as you read.

3.  Begin creating the mandala. Have students fold their circle into fourths. Then, have them draw an image to depict a life cycle on one wedge of the circle (1/4th). They will then trace that image onto another sheet of paper.

Now, the rotation begins! To complete their spring mandala, they need to rotate their image and trace it onto the other wedges of the circle. If you have lightboxes, that will make tracing much easier. You can also have them tape their work to a window or onto a smart board.

You can recreate this lesson with the Spring Life Cycle Mandala resource. The resource features a full lesson plan with how-to photos and step-by-step instructions, so it can be easily incorporated into any classroom. It also includes assessments and reflection opportunities.

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I’m Amanda, and I align standards and integrate content to help teachers meet the needs of the Whole Child in art class! I have yet to find a standard that I couldn’t teach through art, and I want to share it all with you.

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