I had the chance to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa in person many years ago. What I thought would be a huge and impressive painting was actually a small and somewhat dull portrait. What’s all the fuss with the Mona Lisa? There have been many theories about the woman’s expression, about what her real name is, and even about the portrait being of Da Vinci himself painted as a female. Though I am not a die-hard fan of the work, it is still an interesting piece of history and a quintessential piece of Renaissance art. This week we will re-create the Mona Lisa using a grid-drawing technique. This will tie in our history sentence and expose students to another way to accurately draw what we see.
Below you will find three lesson plans: one for ages 4-6, 7-9, and 10-11. The lesson plan PDF includes tutor directions, line drawing of the Mona Lisa, and gridded paper.
Materials needed:
8.5 x 11 white paper (for print-outs from lesson plan)
pencils
colored pencils
whiteboard
(lesson for ages 4-6 also requires 1 piece of construction paper and glue)
I’m all for hard work and practicing skills. Art isn’t easy, and we shouldn’t expect our kids to always enjoy it. However, if we can include skill-building and a bit of fun, why not? In this project, students can add a silly face to Mona Lisa once the ACCURATE and COMPLETE drawing is finished. Let them be creative and have fun, within reason 🙂
Click here for the Mona Lisa Grid Drawing, age 4-6 lesson plan
Each student will receive one eighth of the Mona Lisa and one piece of blank paper the same size as their Mona Lisa piece.
Click here for the Mona Lisa Grid Drawing, age 7-9 lesson plan
(See video below for additional tips and examples)
Click here for the Mona Lisa Grid Drawing, age 10-11 lesson plan
(The lesson plan for ages 10-11 is exactly the same as ages 7-9, but with a more detailed drawing of the Mona Lisa)
This completes the first 6 weeks of art! I will be posting examples and tutorials of the Great Artist projects for weeks 13-18 during late Fall.
Leave a Reply