Renaissance Activities for Middle School
The Renaissance gave us some of the best and most important artistic and scientific advancements in history. Travel back in time with your students as they get to know the people, places and lifestyle of the Renaissance with fun and engaging class activities.
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Decoration
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Have students shape, paint and decorate roll paper, then turn the door of your classroom into a castle gate. Use rope to attach a "drawbridge" to the gate. Or, tape large amounts of roll paper to the classroom ceiling. Place drop cloths on the floor. Give students paint and let them create their own version of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Purchase a small blank canvas for every student, then tell each student to recreate her favorite Renaissance painting. Clear wall space and turn your classroom into an art gallery.
Drama
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Choose a famous Renaissance figure and put on a play about his life. Let students creatively interpret the events and people they've read about. Or, assign the roles of famous figures to several different students, have them research the figures' lives and art. Give them a topic or a theme and have an improv competition to see who can most accurately represent each figure. Or, focus on the Reformation for the day. Put students in pairs and let one student play Martin Luther while other students take turns playing current world leaders. Tell each pair to create a conversation that compares the events that Martin Luther instigated to the way dramatic change happens in modern times, then perform it as a skit for the class. You could also pick one of Shakespeare's famous plays and perform it for the students' parents.
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Field Trips
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Time your unit on the Renaissance to coincide with a nearby Renaissance fair, then take your students. Students will get real-time reenactments of much of what they've read about in class. Plan a trip to an art gallery. You don't have to pick one that houses Renaissance art; instead, tell students to look at the paintings on display and try to find remnants of Renaissance methods and subject matter. They will get a clearer idea of how art has evolved over the centuries.
Food
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Explore the different foods that people in the Renaissance ate. Have students compare and contrast the average Renaissance diet with that of today. Compile a list of Renaissance foods and have students create their own restaurant. Students can work in pairs or small groups to work out the details of their restaurant, including location, decor and background. Have each pair or group create a menu. Finally, celebrate the completion of your Renaissance unit with an authentic Renaissance feast. Enlist the help of parents to cook a portion of the food needed. On the day of the feast, invite all the parents to enjoy a good meal and to peruse the students' artwork.
Art
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Let students explore the different kinds of Renaissance art, lest they think everyone was a painter. Teach them about sculptors Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti, then give them clay to sculpt their own masterpieces. Show them the buildings that master architect Filippo Brunelleschi planned, then let them design their own church or meeting hall. Teach the difficult sonnet form perfected by Shakespeare and let them give it a try.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit da vinci kunst image by fuxart from Fotolia.com
