Art Explorers - Modern Mona Lisa

This was a really nice program celebrating the birth month of Leonardo da Vinci, who was born on April 15, 1452. I had good registration for this program, but some had to cancel the day before.

PROGRAM BASICS

• For children ages 6 through 12 years
• Must register prior to program due to limited space.
• If space allows, children can walk in day off. 
• 1 hour in length

THEME 
Modern Mona Lisa

PROJECT EXAMPLE 

INTRODUCTION 
Many of the children already were familiar with the Mona Lisa so I decided to give them some interesting facts to make them think. For example, she did, in fact, at one point had eyebrows! (Source: here and here). I also shared info about Leonardo da Vinci, especially about everything he did from being an artists to an inventor to being a scientist! The children were fascinated with his Mirror Writing.

INSPIRATION 
I found the idea of the project while searching the web and Pinterest. These two websites were my main source of inspiration for the project:

• Art with Mrs. Seitz - Mona Lisa Parodies
• http://artwithmrsseitz.blogspot.com/2013/02/mona-lisa-parodies.html?m=1

• Art Projects for Kids - Fun with Mona Lisa
• https://artprojectsforkids.org/make-a-mona-lisa-free-download/

HOW TO MAKE IT?
Supplies 

• Art Paper 
• Print out copies of Mona Lisa's head, hands, and arms (color or black & white, your choice)
• Glue sticks 
• Scissors 
• Pencils
• Crayons
• Markers 

Instruction
Step 1: Cut out Mona Lisa's head and hands (you can use just the hands or have hands with the arms attached). 

Step 2: Sketch/draw your overall design of how you want your Mona Lisa to look (pose her doing something fun, like skateboarding!), and add a background!

Step 3: Add coloring using crayons and/or markers. I did both for this project. Markers were used to make bold color accents and the crayons for a softer colors.


HOW DID IT GO?
Attendance: 8 children, 6 adults
The children did a great job! I used the inspiration prompt like "What would she be doing when she wasn't having her portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci?" and "What would she look like if she was...?". Some artists drew and colored a modernized portrait of her while others showed her being comfy in her bedroom. One boy showed her practicing black bet karate, which was so cool! In other drawing there was an illustrated love of eating "Chez Doodles"! This was a fun program because you got to see the imagination flow.