Mamquam Elementary School's Mindful Mandalas

At Mamquam Elementary school the grade 3 and 4 students in Mrs. Reed’s class are immersed in learning about mindfulness through painting.  

 

Students are painting 7 acrylic layers on a canvas to create a beautiful mandala.  Each layer is themed with the topics of freedom, circles, intentions, the healing art of play, creating form, ripples of colour, tone and shades.

 

Students focus on their feelings and thoughts as they paint.  At the end of each lesson, they reflect on their ability to be present and in the moment and then create a new goal for the next layer.

 

During the painting lessons, they are free to mess up, to make mistakes, to waste time, to get lost and let go of all the ideas around painting and “talent” and “good vs bad” in order to feel the possibility of mindfulness.  When they do one thing and pay attention to one thing they feel the possibility of mindfulness.

 

Whether they have never painted before or love painting, this activity is helping them learn to calm their mind and body. This is a time to purposefully pay attention to their feelings and thoughts and how these guide actions.

 

Mrs. Reed has welcomed Mamquam staff members to join her in this journey, “to feel the joy of painting without interpretation and judgement.”

 

She hopes that her students will be able to apply the skills they have learned about themselves to other areas of their learning.