Leonardo da Vinci - School-age

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci, Italy (1452-1519). He was an Italian Renaissance man with wide-ranging knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as one of the greatest artists in history and an inventive genius. He was a painter, inventor, engineer, musician, mathematician, scientist, anatomist, botanist, sculptor, and architect.

Leonardo da Vinci Printable Biography

Leonardo da Vinci Scientist at Famous Scientists

Biography Leonardo da Vinci at Ducksters

Leonardo, The Mona Lisa Video

Famous Artwork

Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is the world’s most famous artwork.

Mona Lisa Color by Number

Mona Lisa color by number

The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci
One of the most famous mural paintings in the world is the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

This mural painting is not a true fresco painting, where paint is applied to fresh plaster before the plaster dries and the paint pigment bonds to the wall. Instead Leonard tried a painting technique using tempera paint. This meant the paint pigments were not permanently attached to the wall, the paint would begin to flake withing a few years. Britannica

The Last Supper coloring page

Vitruvian Man

As Leonardo measured and drew human bodies he noticed that usually we have standard proportions.

The Vitruvian Man is a man standing in a circle and a square. It shows the proportion of height to arm span. Da Vinci noted that the span of a person's outstretched arms is equal to the person's height.

Is the Vitruvian theory that height is equal to arm span true for students today? worksheet

Mirror Writing Video

Da Vinci's Mirror Writing

Leonardo was left-handed. He would write in a special shorthand he invented himself. He would also mirror his writing, starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left. No one knows why he did that. Only when he wrote something intended for other people did he write in the normal direction.

In mirror writing, letters are wrote backward and wrote from right to left.

mirror writing

Leonardo, Inventions

Inventions

Classroom Activity: Da Vinci Parachute

Classroom Activity: Da Vinci Parachute A five page pdf with student handouts and template.

Notebook

Wherever Leonardo went he carried a small notebook slung from his belt. He jotted down his observations of nature, of people he saw in the street, and his thoughts.

Site to See

Leonardo da Vinci - Nest activity book Great printables (48 pages) pdf.

Leonardo da Vinci coded message

Print and solve the Leonardo da Vinci coded message at Crayola.

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