Background: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that children experienced a deterioration in wellbeing. To address this rising issue, preventive strategies and mental health interventions need to be evaluated to foster children's wellbeing in school settings. Recent studies have suggested that art-based therapies could increase children’s wellbeing and be easily implemented in schools.

Aims: The goal of this study was to assess the effects of an emotion-based directed drawing intervention, compared to a mindfulness-based mandala drawing intervention, on elementary school children’s wellbeing, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Method: A randomized cluster trial was implemented to compare the effects of the two interventions on primary school students’ wellbeing (life satisfaction, basic psychological needs satisfaction and anxiety). Participants consisted of 10 classrooms of first to sixth grade children (n = 152) from two elementary schools. Classrooms were randomly selected to be part of the emotion-based drawing group or the mindfulness-based mandala drawing group. 

Results: Mixed ANOVAs revealed a significant effect of time on students’ levels of anxiety (Wilks Lambda = .929, F(1, 117) = 8.885, p = .003, η_p² = .071). Post-hoc sensitivity analyses indicated that children from both groups reported lower levels of anxiety pre- to post-intervention (t(126) = -.530, p = .597). There were no significant effects of time nor intervention group on levels of life satisfaction or basic psychological needs satisfaction.

Conclusion: Results from this study showed that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, both emotion-based and mindfulness-based mandala drawing interventions could improve the wellbeing of elementary school children, by reducing their anxiety levels. Using art to initiate group discussions and providing children with a safe space in which to express and process their feelings could be a useful way to improve children's wellbeing. Future studies should aim to integrate longitudinal data and an inactive control group to better evaluate the long-term effects of both interventions on children’s wellbeing.