Leonardo da Vinci was a great inventor, military engineer, scientist, botanist, and mathematician as well as one of the world's finest artist and sculptor. Children will love learning about the man who painted the Mona Lisa and envisioned the bicycle and countless other machines centuries before they were ever built. This biography of Leonardo also brings you 21 great hands-on activities, illustrating the work of this great man. Included are:

• Sketch birds and animals as leonardo did when he was a child.
• Test perceptions of height and distance and then measure the actual height of a tree.
• Determine the launch angle of a catapult like a military engineer, and hit a target on the first shot.
• Make a map from a bird's-eye view.
• Try mirror writing as Leonardo did in his notebooks.
• Make a lute like his gift to Ludovice, the ruler of Milan.

History, science and art come alive in this book as children learn about leonardo's life and times, the Renaissance and the Plague, simple machines and the mystery of flight, and the use of perspective and vanishing point in painting. A valuable teaching resource! For students ages 8 and up....91 pages fully illustrated in full color.