Summer Mandala Coloring Page

This summer mandala coloring page turns the best things about the season into one big circle. A smiling sun sits right in the center, with ten ice cream cones and ten palm leaves around it. The next ring holds sixteen watermelon wedges and sixteen lemon wheels. Soft blue scallops close the circle, like waves on every side, and four starfish rest in the corners.

It is meant for teens and adults, and for careful kids from about 10. Set aside an hour or two. The lines are thinner than on our simple pages, and many of the shapes are small.

How the rings fit together

A mandala grows out from one point, and this one is easy to read if you go ring by ring. The sun has sixteen pointed rays around a round, friendly face. Around that comes the first ring of treats, where the cones point toward the center and palm leaves fill the gaps.

Next is a thin ring of dots, then a band of small triangles. After that, the page opens up into the wide white ring with the fruit. Every watermelon wedge has a rind, a thin pale line and a red middle with seeds. The lemon wheels sit between them, like coins.

Outside that, twenty four scallops run around the edge, each with a small dot inside. In the corners, a starfish holds three palm leaves. Citrus wheels mark the top and bottom of the frame.

Summer mandala coloring page color ideas

Bright fruit colors are the natural choice. Red melon, yellow lemon and pink ice cream will look like a beach party. Use teal and light blue for the scallops, so the outer ring feels like water around a sunny middle.

Pick a plan before you begin, since repeating colors is what makes a mandala look calm. Try one of these:

• Sunset: gold, coral and deep pink, with the blues left out
• Seaside: only blues and greens, with a single yellow sun
• Pastel: mint, peach and lilac, for a soft look on a bedroom wall

Treat the white rings as color too. Leave them bare for a clean look, or fill them with one pale tone to pull the whole page together.

Tips for a neat finish

Color one full ring before you move on. When you do all the cones at once, they come out the same shade, and that sameness is what gives the design its order.

Turn the sheet as you go, so your hand always comes at each shape from the same side. Fine tip markers are great for tiny parts, but test them on the back first. Some bleed on plain paper, so a heavier sheet is worth it here.

Stuck on a color? Lay your pencils on the page and look at them next to each other for a moment before you commit.

What the word mandala means

Round as the smiling sun on this page, a mandala takes its name from the Sanskrit word for circle. These designs began in Indian religions, and they are used in Hindu and Buddhist practice. Buddhists also use them as an aid to meditation.

One kind may surprise you. In Tibetan Buddhism, artists make colorful mandalas out of sand. When one is done, it is swept into a pile and poured into running water, as a sign that nothing lasts forever. That is a lot of work for something so short lived!

Use it when you finish

Cut out the circle and glue it to a sheet of colored card for a bright wall piece. It also makes a nice summer card for someone who is far away. Slip a note on the back.

For a math link, kids can count the parts in each ring and look for patterns. Ten, sixteen and twenty four all divide in half neatly. Ask why a designer might pick even numbers.

You can also fold a paper circle into eighths, cut a few shapes along the folds and open it up. Now you have a small mandala of your own.

More circles to color

The ocean mandala coloring page has the same seaside feeling with more detail. For a page all about the star of this one, try the sun mandala coloring page.

Questions