The Best Colored Pencils for Coloring Mandalas

Mandalas can and have been created with about every artistic medium you could imagine, but in this article we focus on the colored pencil.

Colored pencils are good for people who want to have a very controlled expression whereas markers, paint and oil pastels are suitable for those who want to make a bold statement. If you are exploring the world of mandala coloring pages and coloring books, colored pencils are hard to beat. I prefer using colored pencils for coloring mandalas because:

1. they can be erased if you make a mistake
2. they  are much more precise, making detail easier to handle
3. colors are easily layered and blended
4. the colors don’t bleed like markers

Which Brand to Choose?

Finding the best colored pencil for your mandala coloring can sometimes be puzzling. Different brands vary in quality, color vibrancy and durability.  Lets take a look.

Colored pencils are pigmented pencils which use a wax-based pigment mixture for ‘lead’. Student grade colored pencils (such as Crayola, Rose Art, Prang, etc) are very different from artist quality pencils. They have very little pigment in the wax binder, and so the colors they lay down are very diffuse in comparison.

Watercolor pencils are very much like colored pencils and can be used just like colored pencils except their ‘lead’ is water-soluble. Watercolor pencils are more versatile than regular colored pencils. You have the option of creating colored pencil effects or, by brushing on water, watercolor painting effects.

Artist brands are more highly pigmented, which means a little goes a long ways. They are easier to use, easier to manipulate and easier to blend and mix.  I do find it is more difficult to erase them, so you will want to be sure and experiment with different types of artists’ erasers to find what works best with your pencil and paper selections. always has a great selection. and Derwent Coloursoft are the very softest wax-based colored pencils. Lyra Rembrandt are oil-based, there’s oil as well as wax in the binder, and they have a slippery oil feeling that’s a lot like painting.

Prismacolor Premier fine art water colored pencils are my favorite because they have thick, soft leads that are made from brilliant pigments. These Soft, thick cores create a smooth color lay down for superior blending and shading.  It is a little tougher to get and keep a fine sharp point, and you have somewhat more lead breakage because the lead is softer, but the brilliant colors make it worth the effort for me.

What do you prefer to use?

Lesson Plans With Mandalas

by Beth Ali

First, we must answer the question: What is a Mandala?

One dictionary definition of a mandala is “Any of various ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to meditation.”  This definition may seem fairly simplistic but it is a good springboard to jump off of with regards to it’s practical use in education. This basic definition gives mention to math, religion, history/social studies and art. An educator could potentially develop an entire cross-curriculum unit with the mandala as the center.

In Rudigar Dahlke’s Mandalas of the World: A Meditating & Painting Guide, he briefly discusses how mandalas can be of benefit in the classroom. Although his discourse is primarily detailing how teachers can use the mandalas to calm, focus and center the student, their use can be much broader, as a central theme to a history, geography, comparative religion unit or as a tool to teach geometry.

We also mustn’t forget the usefulness of the mandala in art and art history courses. The use of the mandala can also span different ages and grades and can be used as a cross-curriculum tool. The study of the mandala can be incorporated from elementary grades up through high school in both public school and in home schools.

Probably the easiest ways to include the mandala in education is in discussion of history, geography and religion of the Far East. One starting point can be the political history and geography of Tibet. Through learning the history of Tibet’s independence in the seventh century and its adoption of many of India’s characteristics the student will learn how mandalas become such an important part of Tibetan life and the philosophy of its monks. The teacher can expand on the history of Tibet by introducing the use of the mandala in religious ceremonies in Buddhism. The Buddhist monks believe each color, line and shape has specific meaning. They believe that the “see” of inner enlightenment can be found from within the mandala.

The mandala can be used as a starting point in the study of comparative religion. The teacher can have the students study the use of the mandala in Native American rituals and even how they are used in modern therapeutic programs to help patients. A comparison of mandalas from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Christianity would also be useful.

Another excellent use of the mandala would be in geometry courses. The creation of mandalas by the students, using polygons and symmetry with the tools of compass, ruler and protractor, aid in the concrete understanding of some of the basic concepts in geometry. There are many fine lessons for using mandalas in a geometry unit.

In art and art history classes the use of the mandala is useful to teach comparisons of art from different time periods and cultures. They are also invaluable in teaching visual arts in relation to history and cultures.

Beyond this website, where we will be continually adding lesson plan ideas, there are many resources on the web.  Check out the following:

Shrewsbury, MA schools

Home Education Magazine

Princeton Online

SaxArts.com – if the link doesn’t work, just search their lesson plan ideas for mandala related projects, they sometimes have more than one.

Mandala Sacred Geometry Designs

By Andy Kahn

The word mandala is of Hindu origin also used in Buddhist practice. In Tibetan Buddhism it has developed into sand mandala pattern. Mandala generally speaking is a term for any geometric symbol that represents the cosmic energy metaphysically or symbolically. Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community, connection. Various forms of Mandala design is also used as an aid to meditation and trance induction. Read more