Kindergarten and 1st Grade Mandalas

This school year, as an introductory unit, Kindergarten and 1st grade students analyzed Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni to learn about color mixing and warm/cool colors. After students completed color mixing practice activities they delved into shapes and creating images with shapes, which led into using symmetry with shapes to create mandalas!

Students were given various shape manipulatives and taught to fold paper to create a Mandala which would be symmetrical whether you folded the paper "hamburger style" or "hotdog style."

Once students completed their drawings using pencil they chose warm or cool colors to use on inner shapes, then they used the opposite color family on the shapes on the exterior of their mandala. (i.e. warm on the inside, cool on the outside, and vice versa.)