5 Activities for Renaissance Art Instruction

IN THIS POST: These five activities for Renaissance Art were the backbone of our introduction to this art movement.

The Renaissance period launched our exploration of art movements. It was also one of the most fun periods to plan hands-on learning projects. Try one of the first STEAM activities, decide if you prefer Michaelangelo or da Vinci style of plaster painting, and carve soap.

Why Start with Renaissance Art?

This technically isn’t our first foray into studying art. We’ve had a lot of different readings and activities with an emphasis on art. It is our first effort to learn about various art movements in a somewhat organized way.

(I’m excited to share our culminating project, but we’ve got a while to go yet so that post will be for later.)

I started with the Renaissance for a couple reasons.

One: I wanted a manageable timeframe. There are several art movements and some are more involved than others. Since this was just meant to be an overview, I wanted a reasonable place to start that would allow us to get into modern art as well.

Two: The Renaissance is when we start to see familiar names of artists and big, memorable works. It’s a good starting point because there’s some cultural familiarity.

Resources for Renaissance Art Week

Two books have been invaluable to me in getting context and examples for the Renaissance.

(I will link to the other online resources as we go through them in the next section.)

History of Art for Young People by H.W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson is a chunk of a book. I most certainly did not read it all the way through, but it is a great resource. I used it to clarify time frames, get information about the movements, and find a range of examples.

Additionally, if you are interested in looking at how the movements impacted architecture, music, drama, and literature, this book includes those connections. Check your local library first before committing to purchase. We just renewed it a couple times and that sufficed for our purposes.

13 Art Movements Children Should Know by Brad Finger is part of a larger art series of books for children. In contrast to History of Art for Young People, this book covers a large swathe of art history in two-to-four-page spreads. Accessible language, quick overview in sidebars, color pictures give a broad overview of each movement.

There are only a couple examples for each movement and a cursory overview so if you have kids with a lot of questions or want to show a variety of examples, then you’ll need to supplement.

If, however, you just want an introduction, then this could be a workable book to read through one chapter at a time and not be overwhelmed.

Characteristics of Renaissance Art

With the information I gleaned from these two resources and several other online sources, I put together a bullet list of characteristics of Renaissance Art. My objective was to select a few traits that I could show through examples rather than capture all the particulars.

To that end, here’s the list that we discussed:

*Serene and “classical” faces – little emotion

*Looked to recreate/reimagine ancient Roman culture

*Natural looking human figures

*3D spaces and landscapes

*Used mythology as well as religion; also started painting church leaders, Kings, nobility, etc.

2 Artists of Renaissance Art

I took the easy road on this one and focused on two big names in Renaissance Art: Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

In particular, I showed them the sculpture of David and we discussed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Michaelangelo. For da Vinci we discussed the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Three of the four of these were important for understanding some of our activities and the David would make an appearance in our next movement for Baroque art.

5 Activities for Renaissance Art

And now! Let the fun begin!

Da Vinci Warm-Up

We ended up doing this activity towards the end, but I think if I were doing it again then I would use it as a warm-up. I got the idea for this activity after reading Kids Get Arty from Kitchen Counter Chronicle as I was collecting ideas for our plaster painting fun (more on that later).

Grab some paper and pen or a dry erase board and marker. Tell your children to write a sentence backwards (right to left). Then, have them hold the sentence in a mirror. Can they read it better? Easier?

Da Vinci used mirror writing in his notes. One reason that is suggested is that he was left-handed and didn’t want to smudge his notes as he wrote. His writings to other people were written left to right, but his personal notes use mirror writing.

The Genius of da Vinci

We were focusing on artistic expression and contributions, but it is impossible to discuss da Vinci without noting his other interests. To do this we discussed da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

We didn’t dwell long here, but this activity from Highhill Education (with a free worksheet!) was a great way to discuss da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and practice our metric measurements.

The activity is pretty straightforward. The girls took the measurements and compared their results with da Vinci’s ideal form. You can also label this as an original STEAM activity since da Vinci blended art and science to create this iconic image.

(Soap) Sculpture with Michaelangelo

This idea came from Research Parent. I borrowed her adjusted quote, including the adjustment of changing stone to soap, and propped it up in our workspace for the day.

For this activity, students get the opportunity to get a feel for carving a shape or image out of a block.

Use bars of Ivory soap and outline an image (or use a cookie cutter). Then, using knives, toothpicks, and any other small tool to cut out the soap around the image.

We didn’t have a cookie cutter that was narrow enough to fit on just one bar of Ivory soap so my youngest daughter cut her image from two bars held together.

My eldest daughter opted to create her own image in the block of soap. She carved out a vine down the center with leaves and flowers.

By the end there were shavings all over the table, but it was a rewarding activity.

Plaster Painting with da Vinci and Michaelangelo

I had to do some research for these projects. This article was particularly helpful in learning about the different forms of plaster painting. Apparently, there are three ways to do plaster painting – for our Renaissance Art activities we were going to take on two of them…in modern form.

Da Vinci painted on dry plaster for The Last Supper and Michaelangelo painted on wet plaster to create the impressive ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The difference impacts the longevity of the work. Though several other factors contribute to differing rates of deterioration, the plaster methods are key distinctions. Michaelangelo painted on wet plaster and as it dried the paint became part of the mixture; da Vinci painted over dried plaster. Da Vinci’s is more susceptible to fading and the elements.

Instructions and Resources Overview

For our next two activities we made an effort to paint both wet and dry.

I found examples and instructions in two places. Fabulous Frescoes from LaughPaintCreate was going to paint with wet plaster but modified it for her younger students to the dry variety. And Kitchen Counter Chronicles did a wet version in connection with da Vinci (we connected it with Michaelangelo). So I encourage you to check out both those resources to determine what will work for you.

A very quick summary of the activities: pour plaster in a mold (plastic plates work great) and paint immediately and quickly (for wet plaster painting) or let set for several minutes to several hours and paint when plaster is dry (for dry plaster painting).

Wet Plaster Painting

We purchased Plaster of Paris at our local Hobby Lobby. You can find it at a local craft or hobby store or home improvement store.

I also bought plastic plates as our frames/molds, and they worked great.

We used tempera paint.

I mixed the two molds, and they started painting.

(While they were painting, I mixed two more molds to set overnight for our da Vinci painting activity the next day.)

This is a great hands-on activity to give a sense of the level of skill necessary for such an undertaking and the delicacy required to paint on a wet surface.

Dry Plaster Painting

I used the molds that I had poured the day before to let the girls try another painting but this time on dry plaster.

For our dry plaster painting we simply let the plaster dry completely before beginning the project.

Not surprisingly, the girls found this approach easier. The biggest excitement came when they noticed that the underside of the plaster was super smooth. Although neither of them opted to paint on that side, it could be an option.

I don’t think we’ll be experimenting with which version lasts the longest or keeps its color the best. The real value of doing both painting activities is in the comparison conversation.

Renaissance Art Activities Wrap-Up

There are two blog posts from ArtsyCraftsyMom that I need to give credit to. In fact, these pointed me to most of the other activity ideas. Both posts have several suggestions so if the activities that we did won’t work for you, then these will have great alternatives.

Check out:

ArtsyCraftsyMom and her Top 10 Leonardo da Vinci Projects for Kids

and

ArtsyCraftsyMom and 10 Magnificent Michaelangelo Art Projects for Kids

There you have it. Whether you’re planning on hosting a Renaissance Art Week or spreading these activities out, they’re great hands-on projects for exploring the art of Michaelangelo and da Vinci in a memorable way.

Which one will you try? What other activities for Renaissance Art have you tried? Be sure to click on the links to the blog resources that I used – many of them have additional ideas and suggestions.