Mika's Mandala Artwork [#4] Around the World - India

Meet Mika. She is six years old and homeschooled. She likes coloring Mandala Art.

A mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe.^[1] In common use, “mandala” has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents a microcosm of the universe. [Source]

We first realized Mika’s love for mandalas when she filled up an adult coloring book of a different assortment of Mandala art.

I got her this coloring book called "Around the World Dream Traveler" and she didn't pay attention to it at first so I colored the cover page to make her interested. The book stood on our shelf for months until last week, when she saw the Taj Mahal and decided she would give it some color.

"Do you know what this is, Mommy?", she asks me matter of factly.

"It's the Taj Mahal. The king of India had it built this tomb for his queen. I read it in my Almanac. What's a tomb?"

It's a sad tale but we talked more about how beautiful the structure looks and how it is one of the Wonders of the World. I asked her to show me where it is in her Almanac and she pulls it our from her bag, all dilapidated with post-it bookmarks on the her favorite pages.

Moving on to our Art session, Mika used colored markers for this session.

She initially wanted to use crayons but the spaces between the lines were too narrow. She is learning to add some depth to her colors since she used dark and light green for the trees. Her choice of color for the structure were mostly pink and purple with some touches of brown and green.

She surely loved her Art time.

She expressed artistic freedom in putting her own colors even though the original Taj Mahal is pure white.

An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.
-From the UNESCO World Heritage Center

The Taj Mahal is a profession of love by a king to his queen. We all love that part about the Taj Mahal and we never forget that story behind this architectural beauty.

Not only does the Taj Mahal show us India's rich culture, it also gives us a look into India's history. The structure has gone through invasions, people have stolen the precious gems that were embedded into the white marble, even acid rain has affected the structure but through continuous preservation efforts, it stands the test of time.

After a morning of coloring, she finished with below photo.

I think her markers are running out of color power.

That evening I checked her finished work and smiled at the purple waters and purple skies.

There is no limit to a child's imagination.

Her markers had run out of color as I suspected and she didn't go mixed media with some crayons. I loved it nonethleless.

"Let's visit it someday, mommy!" she told me as she headed to bed.

"Ok, let's save up for it", I said.

She also found these flowery Mandalas within the pages of India and was hyped to color them.

She totally loved the patterns on the hand.

Hope you liked her Art/History session and enjoyed it as much as we did!

I think completing her Around the World coloring book will be a great learning opportunity. I was totally blown away by the fact that she already read about Taj Mahal somewhere, and that she remembered it. I can't wait to see what other stories she will tell me from her books.

Also posted on luvabi.com.

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