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Resources for Leonardo da Vinci study?


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We are going to study Leonardo da Vinci for art appreciation for the first 2 months of our school year. What are some good resources I can use for this study? I would like some age-appropriate biographies, a good book or two of his artwork, and lots of hands-on suggestions. I need resources for K-level, upper elementary level and middle-school level. Also, any website suggestions you have would be great also. TIA for your help.

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I was going to get these things for ours, but they got cut out of my final list. Too bad money has to run out :tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie:

Leonardo Da Vinci for kids

 

Leonardo Da Vinci - Diane Stanley

 

RR sells both of those, too. I was also going to get art stickers/art prints, coloring books from Dover that had him in it.

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Wowio has free books for download, including: Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself.

 

:iagree:

 

Last summer, I did a Leonardo da Vinci camp for my dc & a few friends. Mainly, I used projects out of the "Amazing Leonardo..." book & also from "Leonardo da Vinci for Kids". We had a great time & pretty much most of the projects turned out great.

 

I don't remember the exact titles of the projects we did, but here's a list of at least some of the things I remember us doing:

- making a mask (we used rigid wrap & these turned out so fantastically -- I can give more details if anyone does this project)

- grinding/making our own pigments & painting (smelled yummy!; "Marguerite Makes a Book" is a great go-along w/ this type of project, even though the book is not specifically about da Vinci)

- drawing using perspective

- making Leonardo's plastic (this one didn't work for us)

- planted a Renaissance herb garden

- made a Renaissance banner

- Leonardo's webbed gloves

- parachute

- wind-measuing device

- humidity-measuring device

- lute

- bird seed feeders (he was a big fan of birds)

- made minestrone soup (he was vegetarian)

- camera obscura

 

At the end of the week, I had one of those stand-up cardboard display things (the 3-sectioned type) for each child & they created a display of the week's projects. We also got prints of the bunches of photos we took for them to cut-up/use on their display boards. Each child created their own display & then we did a show & tell among the group. Plus, it was a nice thing to take home at the end of the week to show their dads &/or other family & friends.

 

The other books that have been recommended already are great too. Was Leonardo's Horse mentioned yet? There are a few others, but I would need to go find them on dc's shelves to remember the exact titles.

 

Have fun!

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The video "The Life of Leonardo da Vinci" is excellent. It was originally broadcast as a TV special (over several evenings) in the early 1970s; however, it doesn't seem outdated at all. It's absolutely beautiful.

 

We have the video version of this, and it's just like the TV special (which I remember vividly). Unfortunately, the reviews of the DVD version say that parts were cut out. I'd still recommend watching it, though, because it's such a great resource.

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Here is a site I found a while ago when looking for things on Leonardo Da Vinci: http://www.surfnetkids.com/davinci.htm

It has links to wonderful sites on him, all kid friendly, and interesting.

There is also a wonderful book, Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself, that is supposed to be for 5th through 8th graders--I've looked through it, and, sadly, I believe that my building skills are well below that of a third grader (I know they are well below that of my 9 yo daughter), so I didn't buy it, but it looks really good.

 

Good luck!

Kiran

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