Original URL: http://fun.familyeducation.com/activity/childrens-art-activities/40040.html

Upside-Down Drawing

Directions:

It's rumored (in our household, anyway), that when Leonardo da Vinci got stuck for artistic inspiration, he occasionally drew a picture upside down. In fact, that may just be why the Mona Lisa's smile looks so weird—she was da Vinci's first attempt at upside-down drawing!

See whether your child can improve upon such primitive artistic efforts by using today's modern drawing tools (paper, pencil, and eraser). Give your child a subject (anything you can view while you're waiting), and see whether your child can draw it from the bottom up. For example, if your child is drawing a person, he or she starts with the model's shoes, moves up to the legs, then the arms, then the torso, then the neck, head, and hair. You might establish other tricky drawing rules, too: Your child draws the right side of the subject and then the left side, or draws the details and then the outlines, and so on. You might be surprised at the results.

So why is the statue of the mayor wearing its hat on its feet? Now, hold on a minute. The paper is upside down!