Name Mandalas

My fifth graders have voted this their favorite project of the nine weeks. This looks like a hard lesson, but is really simple (if the students listen to directions)! First off, the students were given a 12x12 piece of paper and were shown how to fold it. The paper is folded in half in each direction (vertically, horizontally and twice diagonally) Using the fold lines as a guide (which make 8 triangles) the students draw their name in one section. I have make sure that their letters are touching two edges of the triangle, and are overlapping slightly. They start with pencils of course, but once they have a design that they like, they trace it with sharpies. The next step is to for the paper in half with their design on the outside, flip it over, and hold it up to a window or light box in order to trace the design onto another triangle. Continue unfolding and refolding until the design is traced around the entire square (note... 4 sections will have name reversed, this is correct). Finally, the students get to paint their names using whatever paint I choose. For this class, I choose glitter liquid watercolors that were donated to the art room. It was more gel-like than liquid, but the students liked it. I had them paint the background black. The neat thing is that unless you tell the viewers that this is the child's name, it is usually hard to find it.