Leonardo's Art Workshop

Book excerpt: Leonardo’s Art Workshop leads children on an interactive adventure through key art concepts by following the multidisciplinary approach of the Renaissance period polymath Leonardo da Vinci: experimenting, creating projects, and exploring how art intersects with science and nature. Photos of Leonardo’s own notebooks, paintings, and drawings provide visual inspiration. More than 500 years ago, Leonardo knew that the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) are all connected. The insatiably curious Leonardo examined not just the outer appearance of his art subjects, but the science that explained them. He began his studies as a painter, but his curiosity, diligence, and genius made him also a master sculptor, architect, designer, scientist, engineer, and inventor. The Leonardo’s Workshop series shares this spirit of multidisciplinary inquiry with children through accessible, engaging explanations and hands-on learning. Following Leonardo’s example, this fascinating book harnesses children’s innate curiosity to explore the foundational elements of art—color, shadow and light, lines and patterns, forms and structures, and optics and special effects—and the science behind them. After each concept is explained using science, history, and real-world examples, kids can experience the principles first-hand with step-by-step STEAM projects, including: Create paints and dyes from food Harness a rainbow with a prism Build a camera obscura Make your own sundial Practice blind contour drawing Create a one-point perspective drawing Make an infinity scope Insight from other great artists and scientists—such as Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Botticelli, Paul Klee, and Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci—are woven into the lessons throughout. Introduce vital STEAM skills through visually rich, hands-on learning with Leonardo’s Art Workshop.