Our Study of Leonardo da Vinci ...

For the month of September we will be studying Leonardo da Vinci for both art and science.  My oldest loves Leonardo da Vinci and has really talked him up to the little ones. They are all eager to learn more and do fun projects.

Leonardo da Vinci For Kids His Life and Ideas~21 Activities will be our spine.  We will be doing numerous activities from this book, as well as reading other parts that are not covered here in our picture books.

We will also be reading the following books~

• Kids Discover magazine on Leonardo da Vinci


• Leonardo da Vinci Dreams, Schemes, and Flying Machines


• Leonardo and the Flying Boy


• Famous Artists Leonardo Da Vinci


• The Artist, Inventor, Scientist, In Three Dimensional, Movable Pictures


• Katie and the Mona Lisa

Where do you start when it comes to Leonardo da Vinci?  It seems like he dabbled in almost every topic.  We will only be concentrating on a few areas of his life based on the kids' interests.  We are planning to do the following:

• We will learn how da Vinci used casts to make statues by casting our own miniature chocolates.


• His adopted son was quite a handful and was often given treats made out of anise to encourage good behavior.   We will make Aniseed sweets (cookies).


• Leonardo was one of the first cartographers to make maps from a bird's eye view.  We will be making a map from a bird's eye view as well.


• During his early apprentice years, he often made metal picture frames and death masks.  We will be doing punched tin picture frames out of pie tins and life masks.


• We will be able to see a real Leonardo da Vinci at the National Gallery of Art when we visit my parents later this month.


• We will do the lesson on taking things apart and drawing them in Discovering Great Artist.


• We will be doing several picture studies.


• We will wrap up our study of Leonardo with a special vegetarian dinner (Leonardo was a vegetarian), which will include his favorite, minestrone soup. 


• During our feast, we will tell Leonardo's favorite riddles to Daddy and Grandma to see if they can answer any of them.  Also, Leonardo da Vinci often had theme parties.  Everyone will come as the personality of their favorite planet, a theme Leonarado once used with his guests.   For example~one could come dressed as Venus, named for the god of love and beauty.  I will be coming as Tellus (earth), who is known as Mother!  Sorry, Mom, I read the list first .... LOL


• We will also be learning more about simple machines, but I have not decided which one we will make yet.

That about wraps up for this go around of Leonardo da Vinci.  I tried to leave some room for rabbit trails that are sure to happen.

Blessings,

Dawn