Activity time: 15 minutes

Give each person a half sheet of cover stock with a circle drawn on it. Invite them to honor their object and what it symbolizes by using their own art supplies to create a mandala. Explain that they will reflect what their object means to them by using color, line, and shapes within the circle on their paper. Say:

The symbolic use of a circle is found in many of the world’s cultures. Some examples are rose windows in cathedrals, creative works of indigenous peoples, the city layouts of Paris and Washington, DC, Buddhist prayer mandalas, and labyrinths. While it is relatively easy to find pictures of mandalas in books and online, we are not going to refer to examples so that our mandalas will be our own expressions. They do not need to look any certain way to be “right.” The mandala you create is a visual representation of an aspect of your spirit. Like your meaningful object, it can serve to ground you during difficult situations.

Suggest that participants note the day’s date on the page. At some future point they might find it interesting to recall when they created their mandala.