The Sm'Arties learned a bit about mandalas as a design motif. We looked very briefly at the history of this circular art form, but our main interest was as an inspiration to art.
Their assignment included the stipulation that they create as many layers of design as their ages in years. So, as a minimum, our 4th graders had to have 9 layers of design; our teenager had to have 13 circles.
Karate mandala
We used polar graph paper to keep our circles circular. Some students chose a theme to pursue; others chose the theme of 'pretty designs.'