Earn 7 hours of professional development in visual arts education. Gain proper art literacy training to set up your classroom. Watch all 6 videos this summer. No more guessing on what art lessons you should be teaching!
There’s a lot of art advice out there that is not tailored to teach YOU proper art literacy for children. I’ve spent years designing curriculum and training courses to assist Montessori guides in effectively teaching art lessons to children. I have designed thissummer art video bonus to help you get on the right track!
When you purchase this 6-video set, you will also receive an invitation to a special Q&A session with me. This session aims to address all your questions and demonstrate the correct art materials to incorporate into your classroom. The live session is scheduled for mid-August (date TBA), allowing you ample time to watch and absorb the videos beforehand.
In this pre-recorded 20-minute training, Spramani explains the essential areas young children should learn in visual arts and discusses why it is important to teach these skills in the 21st century.
The Art Lessons You Should Teach First!
In this pre-recorded 1-hour training, Spramani delves into what Montessori art guides should prioritize teaching first. She outlines the key areas to focus on, provides examples of art lessons, and offers insights on what to present and demonstrate to children who are new to learning art. Gain access to a wealth of professional art teaching advice in this comprehensive session.
How to Theme Art & The Natural World
Embark on a journey of discovery with Spramani in this enlightening 3-part video series spanning 2 hours. Discover how to engage your child outdoors, fostering scientific and artistic observation skills. Uncover the power of using art in conjunction with Montessori subjects to ignite a curiosity for the natural world and enhance knowledge. Learn how art lessons can intricately represent diverse aspects of Montessori topics found in nature, including seasons, soil layers, energy, rocks and minerals, fossils, landforms, water, flora, fauna, and the atmosphere.
How to Stage A Montessori Art Shelf In this 1-hour pre-recorded video, Spramani shares her: – Proprietary staging system for Montessori classrooms – How to stage to meet the arts standards – What types of materials to stage – How to support group and independent work, and much more!
Positive Artful Ways To Talk To Your Students
She shares examples of how these conversations should sound, drawing upon her 30 years of experience in positively and supportively engaging with students to encourage creative expression as an art facilitator.
Watercolor Joy
In this 1-hour video, Spramani shows you which watercolor paints to use for teaching children. She provides you with all the tips on what to buy, how to set up, and how to prepare for watercolor process-based activities. Great if you are curious.
Get instant access to all 6 videos. Enjoy a 3-year viewing window, giving you ample time to delve into the pre-recorded live sessions led by the esteemed art teacher, Spramani Elaun.
Whether you choose to watch on your phone, tablet, or desktop, these videos are available for your convenience anytime, anywhere. Get the necessary training to start art programming in your classroom.
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
As a Montessori teacher, you know it can be overwhelming to choose the right fun art activities. But, that is why I’m here with some guidance on which Montessori art activities for The Great Lessons are appropriate for your classroom and enjoyable! Art activities related to The Great Lessons are my favorite to teach. Because they allow children to explore their imaginations and get creative in a concrete, meaningful way. From drawing explosions to painting supernovas, students can visualize and understand such a big concept.
Integrating Art Into Your Lessons
Integrating art with science helps children express ideas creatively, stimulates their senses, and provides tactile experiences. So when it comes to teaching the universe, there is no reason you can’t integrate art and science to have some fun. To get started, take a look at some of your classroom books for visual inspiration. One of my favorite books to use is “Born With a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story” by Jennifer Morgan. The illustrations are colorful and beautiful and can be used for many art activities.
These activities can easily be adjusted to fit early childhood, lower elementary, or upper elementary classrooms. Older students will, of course, pay more attention to details, while the early childhood students will engage with these art activities in an open-ended fashion. Fun and fascinating science topics you can incorporate into art projects. Below are ten art projects that Montessori teachers can use to teach elementary students.
Art Ideas
1. Create a Cosmic Painting: Take your students on a journey through the universe with a cosmic painting activity. Discuss the Big Bang and the creation of the universe with your students, then have them create a painting depicting the birth of the universe.
2. Constellations: Give your students a chance to create their own constellations using paint or clay. Educate them on how the Big Bang gave birth to stars and how stars are the building blocks of constellations.
3. Paper Mache Planets: Introduce the concept of planets and solar systems by having your students make paper mache planets. You can use this opportunity to discuss the origins of planets and how they were formed following the Big Bang.
4. Galaxy in a Bottle: Encourage your students to learn about galaxies by creating a galaxy in a bottle. This can be a great way to explore the vastness of space and how galaxies form after the Big Bang.
5. Moon Phases Art: Discuss the moon phases and how they are caused by the changing position of the moon. Have your students create art that depicts the different phases of the moon using paint or chalk.
6. Starry Night Sky: Teach your students about stars by creating a starry night sky mural. This activity can help them learn about the different types of stars and how they are formed.
7. Cosmic Collage: Give your students an opportunity to create a cosmic collage by cutting out pictures of planets, stars, and galaxies from magazines and newspapers. Discuss the Big Bang and how all these celestial bodies came into existence.
8. Sun Catchers: Discuss the origins of our solar system’s star, the sun, and have your students create sun catchers using colorful tissue paper. This can be a great way to explore the different colors of the sun and how they are visible to us.
9. Universe Mobile: Make a universe mobile to showcase the Big Bang and the creation of our universe. Students can create planets, stars, and galaxies to hang from the mobile.
10. Astronaut Art: Discuss space travel and astronauts’ role in exploring space. Let your students create astronaut art that depicts them exploring the galaxies and space beyond, giving them a glimpse into the vast universe beyond our planet.
By incorporating these art projects into your Montessori lessons, your students can learn the vastness of space in a fun and interactive way.
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
Every Montessori school should have an art environment. Whether an art shelf inside the classroom, dedicated classroom, or specials visiting. Elementary students should be engaging in some type of art lessons regularly. Allowing children to express creativity plus building basic skill sets. One of the reasons art programs exist is to expose children to different kinds of mediums. In this blog I want to share some ideas on How To Bring Art Into The Classroom
When children are exposed to different art activities they are likely to find the right art domain they enjoy. As children find the right art experiences they enjoy, they become independent as they practice these skill-sets. When elementary students work independently they can also self regulate their own stress with hand work in the classroom. Independent working students can also reach creative flow states! So where should you start with to bring art into the classroom?
6 Art Areas To Focus On
Schedule Art
Choose Art Subjects
Teach Art Elements
Choose Art Mediums
Choose An Artist Technique
Teach Skill Building Foundations
Focus On Art Direct Aims
Schedule Art Lessons
Start with scheduling regular interactions with art making in the classroom. Schedule daily, weekly or even bi weekly art lessons. Even bi monthly if your teaching schedule is super busy. I did this as a visiting Montessori art specials and I heard from Montessori guides how the children learned so much from just 4 visits! Once you have chosen the day, move to creating time segments. Be sure your timeline is specific to lower or upper elementary attention spans.
Art Subjects To Teach
Then move into deciding which visual art subjects you want to explore. I recommend choosing from my five art domains. Subjects like painting or color theory. Learn more about the 5 domains by buying: Defining Visual Arts Book HERE. Once you decide the area you want to focus on then you can decide on the lesson plans.
Art Elements To Teach
To meet the national art standards it’s important to teach children the Art Elements. The Art Elements cover things like line, color, shape – etc. Each one of your art lessons should always focus on a key art element. I can’t stress enough how important this is to a solid art program. I meet many Montessori guides not even aware of art literacy standards. Even how to teach the artistic process, how-to scaffold art lessons, or what art sequences should come next. Learn more about the Art Elements by buying: Defining Visual Arts Book HERE
Art Mediums & Technique
Then the fun stuff starts by deciding on which mediums to experiment with first. This also includes what presentations and demonstrations to schedule. For example you could teach the subject of painting and focus on the watercolor medium. Then show children a crayon technique – wax resist marks. Or let’s say you decide to integrate a sensory craft with zoology. Like cutting sea life shapes from paper with a collage – technique.
Building Art Skill-Sets
The best advice I have for you is to teach how to set-up, clean-up, and prepare the environment for their next classmate, learning to complete the cycle in the Montessori way first is important. This supports independent work through the school year. Then foucs on building skill-sets and don’t waste time on the wrong type of art lessons. Like focusing on the Masters, copying images, or too much process- based art. Try not to focus lessons on copying the Masters artworks. These lessons can be lacking in developing independent art skill-sets or their own creativity. Montessori elementary students need the right order of skill-set lesson first.
Focus on Art Direct Aims
The other important thing I want to share is even if you can’t draw or paint you can still teach proper art lessons. Your own refined skill-sets are not the focus. What’s important is knowing your direct aims. Direct aims like preparing the environment, and presenting the right order of demonstrations. Scheduling and choosing age appropriate art lessons. Indirect Aims will happen like – your students brainstorming or conjuring up original ideas. Even exploration that leads to the most optimal state of creative flow!
Teaching art can be intimidating without any basic knowledge or experience. But I’m here to tell you I’ve taught thousands of parents and teachers. I have lots of preparatory teaching methods easy for you to follow. But here’s a secret… you will learn right beside your students, I promise!
Art Professional Development
I invite you…
No matter what capacity of training you desire, I’ve built art teaching resources you can have access to!
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
1-hour Montessori Art Lesson Training for Teachers
As a teacher, I sometimes struggle with coming up with the next art activity for my early childhood Montessori students. That’s why I created this Montessori art lesson for teachers just like you. I will be sharing all kinds of new ideas on how to pull together simple art lessons for you to teach to your students.
Teachers have these preconceived notions on what it takes to create art lessons.
They often think they need to be an artist, or have to introduce the Masters to children, and even know how to appreciate the arts themselves.
This 1-hour video training is full of creative ideas on ways to teach simple art concepts – Just by using children’s storybooks!
I share so many ideas, talk about what’s really important to teach and I share some tips on scheduling art projects through the school year.
Need Montessori art teaching tips from a pro?
Tap over and register for this limited time video training, and watch today:
How-to Theme Art Activities – 1 Hr. Video Training
Hosted by Spramani Elaun – International Montessori Art Trainer
Visual Arts Teaching Guide for 13 Months – 6 Years Old
This book includes: ✅ My proprietary art teaching method ✅ The proper and complete list of art materials ✅ A guide for staging and setting up a successful art environment ✅ Tips and art lesson ideas for early childhood ✅ A convenient three-ring binder presentation
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
How to Support Montessori Painting with Young Children
I’ve been painting with many children in staged Montessori art spaces over the years, and I’ve also observed how they best learn to paint. So, I wanted to share some tips on how to support concentration and independence while kids paint. These tips can be helpful if you’re trying to create more Montessori painting activities within your classroom or home.
Here are some tips on how you can support creative painting sessions:
Flow & Concentration
Independence
Exploration & Discovery
Creative Experimentation
Freedom Within Limits
Support Flow & Concentration
Allow uninterrupted periods of creative time while your students are working. When you don’t interrupt children’s painting, they can enter more creative states of flow with heightened concentration. Children can concentrate and go deeper into learning new ideas when not interrupted. To help with these states of flow, try to observe your students from a distance. Too often, creative flow is interrupted by teachers or parents. You should practice more uninterrupted work periods by being conscious of how you are interacting with your child during their painting sessions.
Support Independence
You can support your students’ independence by preparing their art environment to support their painting independence. Think about how you have arranged their painting space. Is their working space aligned with their level of abilities? Is their drying area nearby and easy for them to hang or lay their paintings on? Are materials all set up and easy for them to reach so they can get to work? Have you given them the right amount of demonstrations so they know how to use all the materials properly? By revisiting demonstrations, you can support your child to work more independently.
Support Exploration & Discovery
Exploration and discovery can come in many ways. Allow your children the freedom to choose their materials, such as paint colors, and paintbrush sizes. You can even give them the freedom to choose the size of paper they want to paint on. Children flourish when they can explore how materials behave or even discover how they work in different ways. The process of exploration and discovery is the best way young children learn painting skills. Allow for lots of discovery time. Young children learn to paint over a long period of time. Try supporting more exploration and discovery rather than the outcome.
Support Creative Experimentation
When children go in different directions than you had planned, take a deep breath and allow their experimentation to happen. Example: If they do not use the paintbrush the way you demonstrated or do not choose the colors you planned in your example. You might be thinking, “Green would look lovely for painting turtles,” but your student thinks, “Purple turtles are better!” If your child uses their fingers to paint instead of the paintbrush you took time to stage, as long as they are safe and not disrespecting the art materials, simply allow this type of creative experimentation to go on. This is truly considered one of the artistic processes the National Core Art Standards supports; it’s called INVESTIGATE!
Support Freedom Within Limits
YES, discovery and exploration are part of the creative process, but we can provide freedom within limits by presentations and demonstrations that support healthy limits. We can demonstrate where the painting will take place, where it’s accepted in the art environment, and where it’s NOT allowed.
One of the biggest lessons I learned early on, which I share in several of my kids’ painting books, is that you need to explain to children where painting is not allowed, like the walls, and how walking around with loaded paintbrushes is not allowed outside of their art workspace. I also explain to children how to set up and clean up when they are done painting.
As a homeschool mom, I even had to explain this to two of my own little artists. The freedom should be in what they want to express or paint but not where they want to paint. 😉
I hope these tips help you bring the joy of painting into your Montessori spaces.
If you want to learn more, I recommend learning more about my books, video training, and art supplies.
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
Every summer, I host art camps in San Diego, and my students’ top favorite project to do with me is to paint papers! In this post, we will teach you how to paint paper and collage like artist and author Eric Carle. So I thought I would share this fun Montessori art activity you can introduce to your students.
I like to give my students unusual tools, bright paint colors, different colored papers, and crazy things to make interesting textures and patterns. This also prepares papers for future projects that can be cut and be collage into interesting shapes.
Teach the Elements
Painting papers is a great way to teach the Elements and Principles of Design. You can teach texture and patterns, a vital art standard topic children should learn in Montessori art lessons. The artist and author Eric Carle is famous for doing this fun and vibrant method in his book illustrations. Eric Carle is famous for PAINTED PAPERS and collaging them into beautiful creatures featured in all his books.
Eric Carle, artist and children’s book author
How-to PAINT PAPER like Eric Carle | Montessori Art
What is paint paper?
Painted paper is basically paint applied onto paper. You can paint plain white paper or colored paper. Paper painting can be created with different mediums like watercolor, gel paints, tempera, or acrylic paints (any paint).
What can you do with painted paper?
Like Eric Carle, the famous artist, paint the papers first, let them dry second, then third cut them up into new collage artworks. Eric Carle’s famous painting papers created The Very Hungry Caterpillar book with this unique painted technique.
Interesting objects that make patterns and textures
Drying rack
Interesting tools
Painted papers can be taught in a process-based manner
Process-based painting is more about the experience rather than following directions. When kids paint process-based, they are able to go in any direction they choose. They can explore any texture, use any color, and have any outcome happen, but have very cool painted paper; they can later cut turn into another art piece. Process-based art lessons and painted papers are a great way to start teaching Montessori art lessons.
No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreignlanguage without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.
Are you looking for an art curriculum that fits perfectly into your Montessori homeschool setup? The Montessori Homeschool Primary Art Curriculum offers the ideal solution! Even if you’re not an artist or have no art experience, you can easily teach your children essential visual art skills at home.
These art curriculums make creative, hands-on learning simple and enjoyable, giving your children the chance to explore art in a meaningful way.
Why Choose the Montessori Homeschool Art Curriculum?
Teach Art with Confidence No special experience needed! This program is designed for parents who want an easy way to teach art at home.
Explore Art Activities Enjoy creative projects like painting, drawing, crafting, and more.
Use Everyday Art Supplies The curriculum uses simple, easy-to-find materials you can grab quickly.
Step-by-Step Skill Building Lessons grow with your child’s abilities, helping them build skills over time.
Meets National Arts Standards Developed around national core art standards, this curriculum ensures your child gets quality visual art education.
Montessori-Based Approach Combines the Montessori philosophy with art to create a holistic learning experience.
Designed for Parents, Loved by Kids
This curriculum was created by Spramani Elaun, a homeschool mom, fine artist art school owner. It’s made especially for parents who want an approachable, complete art education for their kids. Each lesson is simple to teach and focuses on core areas like:
Painting Basics Start with brushstrokes and line work anyone can do.
Drawing Skills Learn beginner techniques using basic materials
Clay Modeling Hand building and ceramic primer
Color Mixing and Theory Starts with founational lessons to artist mixing concepts
Crafting and Building Focuses on the 10 foundational crafting principles
Flexible and Easy to Follow Curriculum
Our Nature of Art® Curriculums starts with the very basics, ensuring every child can succeed. The lessons are organized in a thoughtful sequence, with each project building on the last. These step-by-step frameworks help your child progress at their own pace. Plus, the curriculum promotes independence, allowing kids to grow their confidence and explore their creativity on their own.
Montessori Philosophy Meets Art
At its core, this curriculum is all about nurturing a love for learning. It integrates seamlessly with other Montessori subjects, making it easy to blend art into your homeschool routine. Each lesson explains the direc aim.
Different Curriculums To Choose
Transform your child’s homeschooling experience with this engaging, easy-to-use curriculum. Choose from five areas of focus that spark their creativity:
Foundational Painting Brushstrokes
Drawing Techniques
Clay Modeling Projects
Color Theory & Mixing
Crafting & Building Activities
Done for You – Scaffold Art Curriculum
After spending 30 years as an artist and teaching thousands of children, Spramani Elaun created the Scaffold Art Curriculum to make learning art skills easy and effective. This curriculum uses the Science Art Method™, which focuses on sensory learning and age-appropriate projects to meet kids where they are developmentally. ll primary Montessori children start from the beginning and work to their capabilities at that point in time, leaving the next challenging lessons for when your child is ready to advance.
Proven Teaching Method: Successfully used with thousands of students, each project builds on the last to support the artistic process.
All Ages Welcome: Lessons focus on The Elements and Principles of Design, ensuring art education is accessible for beginners and advanced learners alike.
For example, the painting curriculum starts with understanding materials and basic movements before progressing to more complex elements of art application.
Understanding Scope and Sequence in Art Education
Every Nature of Art® Curriculum includes a well-designed scope and sequence to ensure a structured, step-by-step approach to learning art.
What is the Scope in Art Curriculum?
The scope is the “big picture.” It maps out everything your child will learn, like drawing, painting, and creative activities. For example, in our drawing curriculum, you’ll start with fundamental exercises that gradually expand into more detailed projects. This ensures your child receives a complete, balanced art education.
What is A Sequence Art Lesson?
The sequence explains the order of lessons, ensuring each skill builds on the last. For instance, your child will first learn basic brushstrokes before moving on to creating shapes or painting textures. The thoughtful sequence helps avoid gaps in learning, making sure your child feels confident as they progress.
Why you want Scope and Sequence
Provides Structure A clear roadmap for parents and educators to plan lessons effectively.
Balances Learning Ensures each topic gets the attention it deserves without overwhelming kids.
Scope and sequence give parents the tools to guide their primary Montessori student into creative growth and tailor their learning experience to fit their needs.
No Hard Planning, Just Easy Scheduling
Whether you’re an educator or a parent, the Montessori Homeschool Primary Art Curriculum gives you everything you need to set your child up for artistic success. Designed to inspire creativity and independent thinking, this curriculum will transform how your family approaches art education. These lesson can easly be planned into your weekly homeschool teaching subjects.
Curriculum Homeschool Developer, Mom, art teacher – Spramani Elaun
Hi, I’m Spramani.
I’m an artist, homeschool mom, art teacher, and art studio owner.When I decided to teach art to children over twenty years ago, I struggled to find any art curriculum to follow that was appropriate for children.
Today, I’ve taught tens of thousands children art through my traveling art studio by attending some of the largest education conferences in all pedagogies, hosting the largest homeschool conferences nationally, and offering school visual arts programming.
I became really good at teaching children, which has led me to write 9 art education books.I now travel internationally and train teachers how to bring art literacy into their classrooms.I’ve spent thousands of hours perfecting art lessons for children of all ages.Now I want to help you offer your students art lessons with my proven method!
