Kindness was the theme for today’s Sunday School class.  One of the most powerful mechanisms to feel and express kindness is through loving-kindness meditation- also known as metta meditation.  I have written posts in the past about this practice and integrated it into our programming in different ways.  

Today we converted this meditation into one of our favorite art exercises- creating a mandala.  The mandala creation process is much like the metta meditation in many ways.  Each ring in the mandala represents each step of a loving-kindness meditation.

Starting with the center, which is yourself, you radiate out kind wishes to different groups of people- going from yourself to your loved ones, to your community, to difficult people in your life and even to the universe.  After brainstorming this process together as a class, the kids began drawing what they felt most represented each ring of kindness in their mandala.  There were kids who drew rainbows, infinite loops, leaves, hands for hugs and of course hearts at the center.

This was a huge hit in class and helped the kids actualize a more abstract loving-kindness concept.

Check out our template for this activity, which also makes for a great #WeeklyKindnessProject.