Something to smile about: preschoolers meet Mona Lisa.

Something to smile about: preschoolers meet Mona Lisa. Once a month, I introduce an artist to three different age groupsof preschoolers. This particular month, I was inspired by achildren's book on Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci(də vĭn`chē, Ital. lāōnär`dō dä vēn`chē), 1452–1519, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist, b. near Vinci, a hill village in Tuscany. . This book, Leonardo da Vinci(Viking Press; 1984), is visually stimulating due to its elaboratepop-ups and moving pictures. My students always enjoy looking atthree-dimensional books so I knew this book in particular wouldcaptivate them even more. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To signal story time to my students upon entering the art area, Iset up the chairs in a semicircle. As I read the book with enthusiasm,the children listened attentively and were curious to learn what wasgoing to appear on the next page. In between the story, I included bodymovement that corresponded to the subject matter. This heightened thestudents' learning experience by associating movement with thestory. The children loved imitating one of Leonardo's flyingmachines and posing like Mona Lisa. I reread Verb 1. reread - read anew; read again; "He re-read her letters to him"read - interpret something that is written or printed; "read the advertisement"; "Have you read Salman Rushdie?" the book about Leonardo da Vinci during the next two weeksas a motivator to complete the art project. The students became familiarwith the images as well as the story. In order to assess thestudents' knowledge in a fun way, I read some of the text inincomplete sentences and the children filled in the blanks. They giggledas they shouted the answers with pride. Before art making, the preschoolers observed the portrait of MonaLisa in the book. They studied the color of the eyes, the color and thelength of the hair, the facial expression facial expression,n the use of the facial muscles to communicate or to convey mood. , as well as the positioning ofthe hands and the body. I found this to be a great way to encourage veryyoung students to look at things carefully. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since this project comprised both painting and drawing, I chose theyoungest group to paint the background first before they drew a portraitof Mona Lisa. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. my observation, I have learned that some ofthe children who drew first and painted second ended up painting overthe drawing. I selected fine brushes for this project because the children wereworking on a small surface, sized 8.5" x 11". The use of finebrushes allowed them to spend more time exploring color mixing andmaking line drawings, which helps to develop fine motor skills. One ofmy favorite things about using fine brushes is minimizing themaintenance. The students easily cleaned their brushes with damp spongesplaced in their work area. This avoids any cups of water from spillingand the teacher making frequent trips to the sink. The young artists captured Mona Lisa in their own special way. A2-year-old applied effort drawing the eyes in a spiral formation usingan oil pastel Oil pastel (also called wax oil crayon) is a painting and drawing medium with characteristics similar to pastels and wax crayons. Unlike "soft" or "French" pastel sticks, which are made with a gum or methyl cellulose binder, oil pastels consist of pigment mixed with a . A 3-year-old carefully studied each characteristic ofMona Lisa before drawing. She used markers to produce the portrait andpointed out that the four marks Four Marks is a village in Hampshire, UK, built along the A31 road about four miles south-west of Alton, Hampshire. It was originally settled in by veterans of the Crimean War, who were allocated plots for their smallholdings, and was the site of a telegraph. (resembling a mini scribble scribble - To modify a data structure in a random and unintentionally destructive way. "Bletch! Somebody's disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node table." "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines scribbled on low core. ) located onthe upper page were the shoulders and the ears of Mona Lisa. The youngartist also chose not to apply any paint over the contour drawingbecause she liked it as it was. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Another child of 3-and-a-half painted on the frame and asked thather name be written on the upper right-hand side of the frame. A4-year-old drew Mona Lisa using a different color marker for each bodypart. The following day, she cautiously painted inside the figure, andadded a rainbow in the background. The children gained an enriched experience learning art historythrough engaging in various activities: listening to a storybook,viewing images, doing movement and producing a masterpiece. These youngartists definitely gave the parents and the teachers something to smileabout. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Preschool children will ... * observe carefully * become familiar with Leonardo da Vinci as a scientist, inventorand artist. * recognize the painting, Mona Lisa. MATERIALS * White bond paper * Construction paper * Glue sticks * Paints * Fine paintbrushes * Markers * Oil pastels [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vila Woo teaches at Orchard House, a Montessori-based center forearly childhood, in Montreal, Canada.