Mandala and pattern coloringNew every click
Mandala coloring pages
A full-page circular design built from rings of petals, circles and points, different each time you generate one. It is for older children and adults who like to color, and for classrooms that need a lot of different pages.
- Fresh problems every time
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
A mandala, from the Sanskrit word for circle, is a design built outward from a central point. Mandalas in the sacred art of South and East Asia have set meanings. The pages here are not copies of those. They are generated patterns that borrow the circular layout, and every one is different.
What prints
The title is "Mandala Coloring Page". The instruction line suggests coloring the rings from the middle out, or picking three colors and repeating them, and tells you to press New design for a different mandala. The mandala itself fills the page, centered, as a set of concentric rings. In the center are two small circles. Around them the rings are built from repeated motifs: pointed or rounded petals with a smaller petal inside, circles with a dot in the middle, triangles, scalloped arcs with a dot, and slim petals with beads between them. Each ring uses one motif, and a motif is not repeated twice in a row. A heavier line closes the outer edge.
The number of repeats in a ring varies between 8 and 32, and alternate rings are offset by half a step, so the petals interlock. There is no name line or answer key.
The settings
- Detail: Simple (big spaces, for kids), Medium, or Detailed (for adults). They give 4, 6 and 9 rings. This page opens on Medium.
The pattern changes whenever you press New design, and you can print as many as you like.
Coloring ideas
Work from the center out, or from the outside in. Choose a limit of three or four colors and repeat them ring by ring. A second approach is to color every petal of one kind the same hue. A warm-to-cool progression across the rings also works. Gel pens and fine markers suit Detailed pages, and crayons and thick markers suit Simple pages. Plain paper takes pencil and marker well. For watercolor, print on heavier paper, around 65 lb or more, and let the lines dry before painting.
Check the page on screen before you print. If a design leaves spaces too small for your tools, press New design or switch to a simpler level.
Worked example: a quiet-time pile
A fourth-grade teacher wants a calm choice for children who finish early. She sets Medium, presses New design six times, and prints each result. The class gets six different mandalas, so there is little chance two children are coloring the same page. One student colors every other ring black and white and fills the petals with rainbow colors. Another uses only blue and green. The teacher keeps the finished ones for a bulletin board titled "Same rings, different choices", and prints a fresh stack each week.
At home, an adult might choose Detailed and use a pad of fine pens over an evening. A mandala with 9 rings can take well over an hour.
Related pages
For younger children, try easy mandala coloring pages. For straight-edged designs, see geometric coloring pages. The NRICH site has activities on symmetry that go well with this kind of coloring.