This week is a magical week filled with mandalas and mindfulness for children. For 5 days, May 28 to June 1, I’ll be hosting Mandala Magic, one of the site activities at the International Children’s Festival held in St Albert, Alberta, Canada.

Mandalas for Kids

First participants will discover what a mandala is and where we can find them in nature (science application). We’ll be discussing the cross cultural representations of mandalas from Rose Windows to Buddhist Sand Mandalas, Celtic Knots to Aztec Calendars (social studies curriculum). We’ll also explore the meaning and symbolism behind the colors of the rainbow which will we be using for our visual arts project of rice mandalas (art exploration). We then begin to expand our co-operation and teamwork skills while cultivating listening skills and coordination by making human mandalas (meets PE standards).

Rice Mandalas

Finally we’ll create fabulous community rice mandalas with each child participating, adding their own unique touch to large group mandalas. We’re starting the week off with 30 gallons of colored rice in six colors. I’m sure we’ll need more to meet the needs of thousands of children as they attend the festival. We’ll have eight 24″ square mandalas being created simultaneously. Good thing there will be lots of volunteer helpers around to assist.

When they’re done they can pick a mini mandala, sign their name and add it to the Mandala Artists Wall of Fame.

It’s going to be a fantastic week filled with moments of connection, peace, chaos and laughter. Now I’m off to set up my tent and get ready for all the fun. If you get the chance to attend the festival be sure to come by Tent #5 and say hello.

UPDATE: See photos of the event  including this gorgeous rice mandala created by a group of grade 6 students.