Lesson Plan
Dalai Lama Tibetan Mandala Lesson
Subject
The Arts (1996), Social Studies (NYS K-12 Framework Common Core)
Grade Levels
Elementary, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade
Description
This lesson uses a popular children’s story from Tibet as a springboard for discussion of making choices in our lives. The lesson is an introduction to the spiritual and artistic process and purpose of creating mandalas in the Tibetan culture. This lesson was prepared for the visit of the Dalai Lama to the University of Buffalo, September 18 - 20, 2006.
Objectives
• Students will gain an understanding of making good choices.
• Students will learn of Tibetan culture from a traditional Tibetan children’s story.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the intricate process of a Tibetan art form
• Students will work cooperatively to construct a depiction of a Tibetan mandala.
Materials
The Mountains of Tibet book by Mordicai Gerstein
Enough flat 18”- 24” foam core board circles for groups of 4 children to work together on each circle
* Prior to the lesson, glue a yarn border to the edge of each circle for the edge to hold in the sand.
A variety of colored sand
One funnel for each child (can be made from paper rolled in a cone shape, with a fine hole for sand to pass
through)
Liquid white glue
Paintbrush
Mandala stickers by Marty Noble
Procedure
- Tell the children that in the Tibetan culture people believe that life is a continuous circle of life, death, life and
so on, therefore it is very important to make thoughtful decisions along the way.
- Read the story to the children.
- Discuss the choices the woodcutter had to make, and choices the students have had to make, some easy
some difficult.
- Take a “picture walk” back through the book, looking at the colorful illustrations of the woodcutter’s imagination as he made choices.
- The illustrations are representative of colorful mandala’s (a spiritual art form) that are created by 4 monks
working peacefully together. Creating the traditional circular designs known as a mandala is a meditative practice, a healing exercise in
times of crisis, and a pleasurable act of creativity. As a symbol of the Self, the mandala provides a connection to our innermost being (Susanne F. Fincher, Coloring Mandalas 1, www.shambhala.com).
Mandalas are made by carefully and thoughtfully placing grains of sand to create a design. Mandalas can
take several months to complete. When completed they are dismantled and distributed into the closest body of
water, to disperse it’s energies through the water cycle.
Mandala designs are often reminiscent of a detailed map of a temple, representative of a deity.
- Divide the class into groups of 4 children. Each group will need one circle, funnels for each child and sand.
- Tell the children they will work together to create an imaginative mandala in a peaceful, meditative way. In the story, the illustrations/mandalas were representations of the woodcutters imagination.
- Divide the class into cooperative groups of 4, representing 4 monks that would work together.
- Distribute materials to the groups.
- Have students paint each circle with white glue in a thin layer.
- Students design their cooperative mandala. The mandalas will not be dismantled, but displayed in the
classroom.
- Each cooperative group should share the imaginative design of their mandala with the class.
- When complete give each child a mandala sticker of their own.
Duration
This lesson is designed for one 40-minute class period. If the teacher feels students need more than the allotted times to read and present the data sets, then those times may be lengthened, and the lesson may spill over into part of the next day's class.
Additional Resources
Printable mandala coloring pages:
http://www.coloringcastle.com/mandala_coloring_pages.html
http://www.junemoon.com/free.html
http://mandalaz.free.fr/fr/mandalas_grands.html
Additional Favorite Children's Stories
All the Way to Lhasa by Barbara Helen Berger
The Stone Lion by Alan Schroeder
Favorite Children’s Stories from China & Tibet by Lotta Carswell Hume
Author
Alyssa Schwabe
