Week 10- It's a Mystery

da Vinci's inventions
*pencil, paper, imagination!
Inspiration: Discuss the life of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519, Italian). da Vinci was a painter (Mona Lisa), sculptor, inventor, architect, engineer...a true Renaissance man. Above is his sketch for a spinning wheel from his sketchbooks. da Vinci cryptically wrote backwards in his sketchbooks and filled them with sketches from nature, anatomy and inventions. See more inventions at da-vinci-biography.com.
Activity: Students will create an invention and label the parts. For a challenge they can try writing backwards. Test the writing by viewing it in a mirror.

Salvador Dali surreal magazine collage
*magazines (any kind but National Geographic is great for backgrounds), 9x12 & 12x18 white paper, glue, scissors, 1 gallon Ziploc bag per child (to save cut images while in process).
View "Get Surreal" video and Dragon in my Art Room Blog (Dali lessons). ~OR~ show students "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali. Asks students what they see in it, what they like and what's interesting. Surreal art is dreamlike yet realistically rendered. Students need to use at least one element of surrealism in their collage: dislocation (putting something in an unusual location), juxtaposition (placing 2 objects near each other that are not normally found together), metamorphosis (changing one object into another object), and symbolism (an object representing an idea). Students need to find a large background image and also cut smaller images to juxtapose, dislocate, etc. Careful cutting is a must. Students are asked to discard inappropriate magazine images (violent images, alcohol, too much skin, etc.). The more strange and unusual the better!

Lunch Bag Kit (repeat from Week 1)
*lunch bag per student filled with assortment of items such as paper clip, gum, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaner, etc.)
Each child needs to create something creative out of their "mystery bag". This is a great way to use up old craft supplies! For a challenge, teacher can require that everyone must use EVERYTHING out of their lunch bag.