treepassion@gmail.com, Author at Montessori Art

February 4, 2021November 6, 2024

Making Art Stimulates Kids’ Brain Development

I talk to so many adults and teachers who think art is just a frivolous subject, an activity to give kids to do to keep them quiet for an hour or so. Some might even know the value of art in that it encourages kids to think creatively and work through complex emotions. Art benefits both their mental health and their fine motor skills too. But, did you know art-making stimulates kids’ brain development!? It goes beyond creative expression (although that’s important too) and actually has lasting positive effects on kids’ brains!

You may think that the art projects and lessons you’ve been doing in your Montessori classroom are just busy work—filling time and keeping kids busy. But in fact, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes action going on during each art activity that fuels students’ brain development. We know that when a child touches an object, information is sent through their sensory nerves to their brain. Visual art learning happens through direct sensory interactions which stimulate learning in different ways than visual and audio learning.

These sensory experiences can help young students learn more, better understand different ideas and concepts, and art-making stimulates kids’ brain development. Here are a few areas where art directly benefits kids’ brain development.

Gross Fine-Motor Skills

Visual arts provides kids with the opportunity to use their hands on a regular basis. They are holding pencils, pinching and sculpting clay, cutting with scissors, and making fluid brushstrokes. These all help kids build their hand muscles and strengthen their hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor movements.

Connection to Vocabulary and Communication

Visual arts help kids make connections across different subjects and ideas to be able to better understand things. So, when kids explore different art activities, they’re actually learning how to communicate what they see in their artworks and how to describe the artistic process they used to create. In doing this, they unknowingly start making observations such as, “I see color,” “I see pink,” “I see a squiggly line,” “I see zigzags.” When they communicate those observations to you or each other, they begin to develop their art language and a greater vocabulary. As a result, they improve and develop important cognitive processing.

Stress Regulation

Creating art also helps children wire their brains to regulate stress. Art gives them the tools to learn how to calm themselves down. Tactile sensory processing occurs when children create art; neural networks fire and signal their focus solely on what they’re doing with their hands, blocking outside thoughts and stimuli. What happens is, if kids are stressed out or upset about something and they’re making art, they can’t focus on that. Art involves active learning, meaning they have to focus on what they’re doing immediately, which takes away the upsetting, stressful things that are happening in their environment.

Implicit Memory

Another area of brain development art fuels is implicit memory. When kids learn repeated movements, they’re strengthening their implicit memory and are actually storing this new information. The next time that they engage in an art activity, implicit memory kicks in and their hand movements will come naturally—the actions are wired and become linked in their brain. That means they don’t have to consciously think about every minute action; they will see a paintbrush, and instinctively know to pick it up, dip it into the palette or water, and start creating. The sensory information of seeing the paintbrush and then holding it in their hand immediately send that information to their brain, triggering an action. Building this implicit memory helps develop more skills down the road; they’ll have this implicit memory already stored in their brain and can then focus on new skills to learn.

Spatial Intelligence

Spatial intelligence is learned through creating with forms in space. When children make art, they become aware of the spatial relationships among objects in the realm of their own experiences. This gives them the ability to visualize and manipulate elements, rotate objects, and distinguish depth and balance—which is critical in early childhood brain development. It’s important to note that spatial intelligence is something that cannot be taught unless kids are actually doing an activity; art gives them the experience of seeing how things interact and happen dynamically or statically.

Where to Start: Lesson Plans to Ensure Art Stimulates Kids’ Brain Development

Here’s some great news: students will automatically start getting all these benefits any time they create art! That means you don’t have to have any fancy art mediums or materials or complicated lesson plans. You can do simple activities to make sure art stimulates kids’ brain development. The more art lessons and activities you plan for your Montessori students, the more they’ll deepen their neural networks and build on all these developmental skills. Any art lesson, especially those that involve process-based or exploratory learning, will benefit kids’ brain development.

One Step Further: Watch My Training, ‘How-to Teach Art Montessori Art Lessons Using Storybooks’

I’ve worked with so many Montessori teachers from all over the world and they’ve all told me how intimidating it is to actually teach art in their classrooms. I want art to be accessible to every child, from early elementary on up—and to do that, I know that actually teaching art needs to be easy.

One way I love to introduce teachers to the idea of how to teach art is by showing you how to work with tools you already have—like storybooks! I created a virtual training that teaches you how to teach art by using storybooks to create art lesson themes. And as a bonus, I share some quick-planning ideas to help you regularly and easily schedule art activities in your Montessori classroom.

To get access to this incredible training (for free!), click here!

A Short Cut Just for You

If you’d like to learn more about all the benefits art can offer to children, read my book, Defining Visual Arts. It provides art literacy standards and gives you a guide to what you should be teaching your students. The book also includes tips for using artistic language, choosing the best art mediums, and putting together art projects for kids of different ages.

It’s truly a solid foundation to help you teach art in your classroom (in a way that’s stress-free for you, and exciting and fun for your students!). To purchase Defining Visual Arts, click here.

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Art Book Shop

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

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 foreign language 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.

January 28, 2021January 28, 2021

When’s the Best Time to Teach Montessori Art Lessons?

As teachers, we always want what’s best for our students; we want them to excel at the task at hand and get the most out of their lessons. If you want them to succeed, knowing when to teach them is just as important as how and what you teach them. Because, believe it or not, there are actually optimal times to teach specific types of lessons. And the best time to teach Montessori art lessons is going to differ from math or science.

There’s been a lot of research and studies done on the optimal time for learning, and much of it has found that people tend to be the most primed for analytical thinking in the early morning.

This means that morning will typically be the best time to teach the more logical or methodical lessons—such as math, science, reading, and writing. These subjects require sharp, critical thinking.

When's the Best Time to Teach Montessori Art Lessons?

A Danish study, conducted over the course of three years, looked at how the time of day affected kids’ test-taking skills. The results showed that for every hour later in the day the test was scheduled, scores decreased by about 1%. This, again, shows that children are ‘better thinkers’ in the morning and earlier in the day.

So what does this mean for the best time to teach Montessori art lessons?

Art is pretty much on the other side of the spectrum from those critical-thinking type subjects. A big difference between visual arts and academics is that there are no wrong answers in creative art; it’s all about each artist’s perception and how they want to design, make, and create things. Instead of needing to think logically or analytically, art involves a more relaxed state of mind.

To get into a creative flow, kids don’t need to have full focus on their project—in fact, it’s best if they have very little on their minds, and are actually in a more playful mood.

That’s why I suggest that the best time to teach Montessori art is in the later afternoon.

So if you’re in a traditional classroom setting, schedule your more analytical subjects in the morning; and after kids break for lunch, they can set up for their art lessons and assignments. If you wait until after lunch, kids will typically be more refreshed, more playful, and in a more relaxed state—which is the optimum state for creative and innovative thinking.

Where to Start: Build Your Schedule Around the Best Time to Teach Montessori Art

Your classroom’s schedule is likely to change from day to day and week to week, but if you know that there really is a best time to teach analytical subjects and a best time to teach art, that should be the place to start. This should help you organize and plan ahead for your lessons during the academic school year. And if you need ideas on the what—as in what to teach in those art lessons, check out this blog for more Montessori art lesson-planning ideas.

One Step Further: Watch My Training, ‘How-to Teach Art Montessori Art Lessons Using Storybooks’

To get access to this incredible training (for free!), click here!

A Short Cut Just for You

January 22, 2021January 27, 2021

How to Teach Montessori Art Lessons Without Compromising Creativity

Art and creativity usually go hand in hand, but I’ve seen so many teachers overteach their students when it comes to art—giving them step-by-step instructions and expecting every student’s final art project to look the same—but this stifles creativity! If you’ve been teaching like this, I’m willing to bet it’s because that’s how you were taught (especially if you only have limited art experience). But there’s a better way! And once you learn how to teach Montessori art lessons this way, not only will teaching lessons become easier for you, but you’ll also be promoting creativity in your students.

Because creativity is actually a pretty great concern amongst Montessori teachers. In fact, I’m often asked how to teach Montessori art lessons without compromising student creativity. I like to answer this question by first explaining what it means to be creative. And once you understand what creativity is, you’ll understand how to encourage it—not compromise it.

What is creativity?

Being creative means coming up with a completely new idea—something novel, something never designed before, or something conjured up from one’s own imagination.

For children to think this way, we have to get out of their way and not disturb their creative process. We have to relinquish control of the end product. Thankfully, as Montessori teachers, we’re used to giving our students the space to work independently; now, it’s just about learning how to teach art lessons that support their independence and creativity.

Balancing Teaching Art Lessons and Allowing for Creativity

While it’s okay to show step-by-step instructions and use inspirational examples, you don’t want to insist on what students’ end-project should look like. It can be tempting to fall into detailed instructions and lessons, but that doesn’t give students the freedom to be creative.

As you plan your Montessori art lessons, ask yourself these questions:

Are you asking your students to copy step-by step instructions?
Do you have an art sample of what the outcome should look like?
Is your art lesson rigid, with no flexibility for kids to invent or create a new idea?
Do you discourage your students from exploring and experimenting with mediums (i.e. they must use it the “correct” way)?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are teaching copy-mode lessons and likely with step-by-step instructions—and are definitely going to compromise creativity. To support more creativity in your Montessori classroom, you have to adjust your lessons. Allow more freedom to explore, experiment and finish the art project in any direction.

You can support creativity by teaching through process-based or choice-based methods. Choice-based teaching provides students the freedom to choose their art project, mediums, and make anything they choose. Process-based teaching is all about exploration and discovery—not the end result or what that final product is going to look like. Both of these methods allow kids to flow into their own creations without adhering to rules of what to create; they instill the idea that there is no right or wrong way to create and make art.

Where to Start: Montessori Art Lesson Creativity Guides

It’s possible to teach high-quality art skills without compromising creativity. The idea is to give your students a prompt to start with or skill set to practice, then let them create. Here are five ways to start teaching your students creative are lessons:

Choose the art project
Choose the artistic technique, method, or style to study
Demonstrate how to use different mediums
Prepare an art space for exploration and experimentation
Allow for flexibility and freedom for kids to create their own ideas

Once you get the hang of it and practice being more hands-off, you’ll notice your students coming up with amazing new creative ideas. You will also be better supporting the artistic process and ensuring that students develop art literacy and meet art standards.

One Step Further: Watch My Training, ‘How-to Teach Art Montessori Art Lessons Using Storybooks’

To get access to this incredible training (for free!), click here!

A Short Cut Just for You

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

How To Modify Montessori Art Lessons for Virtual Teaching

We made it through another year and I’m super excited for all the new lessons I have planned for you in this new year! I have so many art teaching tips, advice, lessons, and trainings I can’t wait to share and talk about! But today, I want to share some advice on teaching kids virtually, specifically, how to modify Montessori art lessons for virtual teaching—since it looks like that’s how a lot of us will be starting the year off (at least for us here in California and a few other U.S. states).

(By the way… find me on Instagram, @nature.of.art.kids and let me know if schools in your area are currently open or closed!)

Last year was a rollercoaster, to say the least, but as teachers we had to adapt. I taught all my normal art lessons, but modified them to work virtually during the pandemic. And guess what? They were huge successes!

I hope this new year turns out to be so much better than last, but just in case we’re looking at more virtual teaching and crazy curveballs, here are a few ways to make virtual teaching a little easier—and even fun!

How To Modify Montessori Art Lessons for Virtual Teaching, spramani

5 Ways I Modified Montessori Art Lessons for Virtual Teaching

If I’m being honest, I genuinely loved teaching in 2020. It gave me the chance to be a little creative in how I taught my students. And being an art teacher, I love the chance to be creative! Here are five ways I changed my teaching methods!

I embraced storybooks into my lessons. I read fun art storybooks out loud, virtually on camera. Then, kids created their own artworks based on the topics of each book. (This type of lesson can be repeated again and again and again—with a new book each time!)

I shared fun links to really cool art museums. Kids had the chance to visit those museums virtually and tell me what they liked or thought was weird. Then we created our own version of the artworks we discussed. There are lots of virtual tours offered on museum websites from all over the world! That means there is a TON of lesson and project ideas. (Always check out the kids’ education pages and resources for inspiration.)

I mixed things up. Rather than having the kids look at me or just listen to just me instruct, I shared pictures and presentation slides of artworks and did lots of screen sharing in Zoom. It kept students super engaged. I also timed these lessons to be 15 minutes or less, to keep kids from being bored or checking out of my talks.

I had discussions about art, instead of just giving lectures. I listened and asked my students about their thoughts and opinions. I’m not talking boring art history lessons here—I mean cool art conversations about buildings, inventions, fun pop art, and unusual art pieces. And do you know what? Kids learned a ton about art without even having to make it. Just by having conversations and having students reflect on art, you are taking kids through one of the steps of the artistic process. So don’t feel pressured to make something creative or pretty every time.

I gave kids less time to work on their projects. I didn’t want them to have to sit in front of the screen for too long or work so long they get distracted. I truly modified how each segment was addressed, so we worked on a project more slowly, over time (sometimes just working on it for 15 minutes a day). It gave myself and my students some breathing room and it gave kids something to look forward to working on the next day!

I truly believe there is always a way to keep your students engaged and excited for learning art literacy.

Where to Start: Think Outside the Box

You just have to think outside of the box and maybe even step away from typical, traditional mediums.

For example, I challenged kids to make artworks using items from around the house and out of mediums they already had. Not everyone has the same supplies at home, so I was very relaxed and let them use anything they wanted.

One project that was a big hit was creating mandalas! I asked kids to make a mandala out of whatever they wanted, and it could be a 2D or 3D version. So many fun things came back! Chalk mandalas, sticks and stones mandalas, painted rock mandalas, colorings of mandalas—so much creativity! BUT get your kids’ parents’ permission first, because they just might use up all the toothpaste as paint—yes, this was one student’s brilliant idea and while I loved it, mom was not exactly on board.

One Step Further: Download My Easy Montessori Art Lesson Prompts Cheat Sheet

Before I became a Montessori art teacher trainer, I was an artist and homeschool mom. I also taught other art students from around my community how to create art, and have led programs in museums and educational conferences from different pedagogies throughout the world. With all this experience (more than three decades!), I’ve been able to observe the activities that excite and engage students. I’ve also learned what prompts can be done virtually anywhere—from your classroom to your students’ homes!

These virtual Montessori lessons support independent learning—and I’m sure parents will thank you for them! While you can offer these prompts to students to do while schools are closed, I also encourage you to do them in your classroom as well once school starts up again. They’re easy for you and fun for your students!

You can download 10 FREE Easy Montessori Art Activities by clicking here.

A Short Cut Just for You: Downloadable Art Lessons for Virtual Teaching

Here’s some good news: YOU can teach your kids art at home—and you don’t need any experience to do so. I’ve created the Kids Art At Home Lessons Download so that you can start presenting easy and fun art lessons to your kids.

This limited-time bundle features art lessons from each of the visual arts domains (drawing, painting, clay modeling, crafting, and color theory), so you’re actually laying a solid foundation for your child’s art education. You’ll receive:

1 Drawing Lesson
1 Color Mixing Lesson
1 Painting Lesson
1 Clay Modeling Lesson
1 Craft Lesson

PLUS, you’ll also get 50 art lesson ideas, a materials list, and video and blog resources so your kids can continue to do art every day while at home! All of this is delivered as a bundle; you’ll download each item separately, so you and your child can be introduced to and work through the activities one at a time so they don’t get overwhelmed.

You can purchase Kids Art At Home: A Bundle of Beginner Art Curriculum & Activities for Kids—which is available for just a limited time—by clicking here.

December 18, 2020November 6, 2024

Gingerbread Decorating with Kids | Montessori Art

The tradition of making gingerbread houses has been a favorite with my family and kids of all ages at my art workshops for many, many years. But did you know that the tradition of making decorated gingerbread houses dates back all the way to the 1800s? The tradition started in Germany and became popularized by the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, which was published in 1812. That means that whenever you’re doing gingerbread decorating with kids, you’re participating in a tradition that’s more than 200 years old!

Of course, you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy decorating gingerbread houses—adults really love it too! I started the tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with my kids when they were young teens, and I thought they would lose interest as they got older, but every year they get more excited to outdo their last creation with even more creativity and details! It’s something we all look forward to every December.

Gingerbread Decorating with Kids

The first few years we started decorating gingerbread houses, we actually started with plain graham crackers—not gingerbread!—and icing. They came out so darling! In years after that, we would go “treasure hunting” and local candy stores for new and pretty sweet treats to add to our houses.

What I love about this holiday tradition is that it’s really an art activity kids can do at home! Art can be presented in so many ways to kids, and this one is always so much fun!

I would always show my kids pictures of other gingerbread creations to look at for ideas, but allowed them the freedom to make their house any way they wanted. It’s important to let your kids just have fun and be creative—there’s no right or wrong way to decorate a gingerbread house. After all, even if their house topples over, it’ll still be a delicious treat to eat!

What You Need:

A flat and sturdy surface, like cardboard – you can use boxes from holiday packages or recycle a pizza box; just trim them to size and line them with foil, parchment paper, or wax paper
Graham crackers or baked gingerbread (The Food Network has a great gingerbread recipe) or a gingerbread house kit
Icing
An assortment of candy
Wipes and paper towels

Where to Start: A Pre-Made Kit for Gingerbread Decorating with Kids

Of course, I believe making a gingerbread (or graham cracker) house from scratch is a fun challenge for kids, but there are some really great short cuts out there too. So many stores offer gingerbread house kits and they come in all different shapes and sizes—houses, castles, villages, even trains, and a camper! If you go this route and buy a pre-made kit or even a pre-made house, I strongly suggest you find extra treats to add to it. The kits are usually pretty standard, and offering your kids more types of candies and icings to decorate with will allow them to be more creative and have even more fun!

One Step Further: Download My Free Training, How to Theme Art Lessons with Story Books

Knowing that the tradition of gingerbread houses has ties to a fairy tale is proof that we can use stories to inspire our art. While the story of Hansel and Gretel may not be suitable for younger kids, there are many, many other story books that can serve as inspiration!

I created this free training, How to Theme Art Lessons with Story Books, to show you exactly how to use story books (plus science and history books too) to create art lessons for kids. It makes coming up with art themes and activities easy, and shows you how to bridge literature and text books with a creative outlet like art—which helps kids make connections, stay engaged, and retain valuable lessons and concepts. Get the training for free by clicking here!

A Short Cut Just for You

Even if you don’t consider yourself to be ‘artsy’ or do many art activities with your children, you’ll find that decorating gingerbread houses opens up a whole new world of art appreciation! Art doesn’t have to be stuffy still-life paintings or incredibly detailed statues—it’s simply fun! And to a young child, exploring art through play is a natural way to learn and appreciate it.

If you want to learn more about how to give your children fun, meaningful, and educational art activities that stimulate their senses and little minds, check out my book Nurturing Children in the Visual Arts Naturally.

Many books have been written on the subject of teaching visual arts to children, but they use traditional fine art as examples and in lessons. My book, on the other hand, teaches you how to set up kids to explore and develop their own natural creative abilities. Art is a brilliant way to help your child strengthen their fine motor skills, better express their emotions, and tap into creative problem-solving and thinking—and Nurturing Children in the Visual Arts Naturally breaks it all down for you so it’s easy to understand and facilitate.

Download the e-book of Nurturing Children in the Visual Arts Naturally now, by clicking here!

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Art Book Shop

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

December 13, 2020November 4, 2024

Holiday Craft | Painting Ornaments

During the holiday things get busier, but we also create space for special moments, even in the Montessori classroom. Painting holiday crafts are a fantastic way for children to express their creativity and independence. I’ve painted ornaments with countless kids in classrooms and workshops during the holidays, and they all enjoy this craft immensely! It’s a keepsake that students and their families can cherish for years. Every year, I have kids coming back to create a new ornament for their collection.

Setting Up a Kids Craft Activity

One of the great things about this kids’ holiday craft is its simplicity in setup, requiring just a basic paint kit without the need for many special items. Opting for woodcraft ornaments is beneficial as they are environmentally friendly compared to plastic and safer for younger children than glass ornaments.

Here are some handy tips for organizing this festive art activity for your students (or for kids at home too!):

Holiday Craft | Painting Ornaments, child painting

Creating a Mess-Free Painting Area

Ensure the painting space is located in an area where children can freely engage in a bit of messiness. Consider using a drop cloth, especially if painting indoors. Provide smocks, aprons, or large old t-shirts for the kids to wear, protecting their clothes from potential stains—some paints are challenging to wash off fabrics.

To enhance the painting experience, place the materials at eye level on a flat and stable surface, such as a table. Adding another layer of protection with a drop cloth or old newspaper on top can further safeguard the painting area from spills and splatters.

Ornament Supplies

Here’s a list of everything you’ll need for this kids’ holiday craft:

Wooden ornaments – any shape will work, but ‘holiday shapes’ add to the festive spirit
Acrylic paint – for the best and longest-lasting results
Paintbrushes – various sizes, including fine/tiny ones for details
Paint palette – any size works, even a simple paper plate
Glitter – choose any color; white glitter adds a lovely touch to painted ornaments
Smock – or another cover-up to protect kids’ clothes from acrylic paint stains
Napkins – for cleaning paintbrushes between color changes
Water jar – for rinsing paintbrushes
Hairdryer (optional) – handy for speeding up the drying process, especially for older kids or adults working on intricate details

Painting Tips

Ornaments: You can purchase unfinished wood craft shapes at local superstores, craft stores, or online. Glass orb ornaments can also be used, but caution is advised with younger children. Consider recycling old ornaments by refreshing their designs or allowing kids to create new ones from scratch.

Paint: Opt for acrylic paint for its durability and longevity. Memories can last a lifetime—I still display ornaments my kids painted when they were young every holiday season! Ensure you use kid-safe, non-toxic acrylic paint for this activity.

How to choose colors

Encourage children to express their creativity freely by allowing them to paint whatever inspires them, whether traditional holiday themes or personal creations. While kids may opt for symbols of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other winter holidays, they have the freedom to choose.

Here are some recommended colors to kickstart the painting process:

Red
Black
White
Gold
Silver
Dark Green
Yellow
Orange
Pink
Purple
Brown
Burgundy deep red

If you don’t have all these colors, that’s perfectly fine; beautiful ornaments can still be created using just three to four colors!

Remember, when using glitter, ensure children apply it while the paint is wet. If they wait until the paint dries completely, the glitter won’t adhere well and may not stick effectively.

Ultimate Guide to Montessori Painting

Take it a Step Further: Grab Your FREE Kids Holiday Crafts Painting Checklist!

If you’re new to painting activities with your students, get ready for a delightful experience—kids truly enjoy this craft! The setup is straightforward, making it easy to repeat with your students multiple times throughout the holiday season. You can also explore related activities like rock painting or painting on paper using the same materials; only the images, paint colors, and canvases may vary.

Buy Kids Painting Online Here

Painting Guide for Teachers and Parents

Discover a straightforward guide tailored for teachers and parents to kickstart painting lessons with ease. This book equips you with essential knowledge on the required materials, the best paints suited for kids, fundamental painting techniques, and my top tips for creating an exciting painting exploration experience for your students. Get ready to ignite a passion for art in your students as you embark on this colorful journey of creativity and learning. Unleash the joy of painting and inspire young minds to express themselves through art! ORDER NOW

A Short Cut Just for You

Once you see how much your students love painting, you’re going to want to include it as a regular part of your curriculum. My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that walk students through everything they need to know to be successful at painting, from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals!

Each lesson is part of a sequence and includes all the components, tips, materials lists, and instructions you need to ensure you will be able to actually teach your students to become skilled painters. All you have to do is simply follow the instructions and easily present the activities to your students.

Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Art Book Shop

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

October 28, 2020November 4, 2024

Easy Montessori Halloween Crafts for Kids

It’s hard to believe that it’s already October and Halloween is upon us! I love Halloween! I love the creativity that comes with it—the fun costumes, the sweet treats, and the spooky crafts! These easy Montessori Halloween crafts for kids are the perfect way to bring the Halloween season—and a little fun—into your classroom!

If you’re like most of us right now, Halloween snuck up on you. Its a fun busy season for everyone!

pumpkin painting, teach kids art ideas, spramani elaun

Not to worry though! I’ve rounded up some last-minute, super easy Halloween crafts you can put together for you students (or your kids at home) with stuff you likely have around the house already.

Where to Start: 5 Last-Minute, Easy Montessori Halloween Crafts

Here are some easy Montessori Halloween crafts for kids that you can pull together in just a few minutes!

1. Stamped Halloween Ghosts

If you have paper, a pencil, a pair of scissors, and some paint, you can do this project! Have your students or children draw out a ghost shape on a piece of paper, then cut it out. Place that cut out on top of another piece of paper, then dip the pencil eraser in paint and stamp along the edge of the paper. When you remove the paper, it’ll reveal spooky ghost shapes!

rock painting for halloween, spramani elaun, nature of art

2. Halloween Rock Painting

This is one of my favorite painting projects to do with kids any time of year! You can find rocks outside (or at a craft store), and then all you need is paint and a paintbrush. For Halloween, I like to encourage children to make spooky designs, like ghosts, monsters, jack-o’-lanterns, and even Frankenstein. For full instructions on how to set up this easy Halloween craft, click here.

3. Toilet Paper Roll Spider Stamp + Craft

You might have to dig through your recycle bin for this one, but the supplies are pretty basic! Start by making four even cuts on each side of a toilet paper roll; and then cut off a square piece on both sides, in between the sets of legs. Fold the ends back and then dip the stamp into black paint and stamp it onto paper. This will give you an outline for a spider that children can then decorate! Once they’re done using the stamps, they can then paint them, add some eyes, and now they have a spooky spider craft too!

painting pumpkins with art teacher spramani elaun

4. Pumpkin Painting

Stores are still filled with pumpkins of all sizes, and believe it or not, they make the perfect canvas for painting projects for kids! I love this activity because kids of all ages can do it—you don’t have to worry about little hands and sharp knives like you would for carving pumpkins! If you want pumpkin painting ideas and details on how to set up a painting area, click here.

montessori halloween ideas, spramani elaun, nature of art, bat template

5. Black Bat Silhouettes

This paper bat craft is a great one to do around Halloween. You will be cutting paper, learning how to teach your students about concentric circles and splattering paint. Click here for download and video insturctions

https://spramani.lpages.co/painting-materials-checklistOne Step Further: Download My FREE Kids Painting Materials Checklist

As you can see, all these last-minute Halloween projects involve painting. Painting is such an easy project to set up and kids love it. With just a basic tool kit of painting materials, you’ll always be ready to set up a quick painting activity for your kids. If you want a free downloadable version of the paint materials listed above (plus a few more), get my Kids Painting Materials Checklist now by clicking here.

paint curriculum, art for kids, montessori book

A Short Cut Just for You

Once you see how much your students love painting, you’re going to want to include it as a regular part of your curriculum. My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that walk students through everything they need to know to be successful at painting, from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals!

Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

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Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

October 16, 2020November 5, 2024

Halloween Rock Painting | Kids Art Project

Let’s start this blog off with a fun fact: I have painted thousands of rocks with kids throughout San Diego! It’s one of my go-to art activities because kids love painting rocks. Easy to set up, and leads to really diverse artworks. Now that Fall and Halloween season is upon us Halloween rock painting is a perfect activity. In this blog I want to share my fast quick best tips for setting up this activity. And you will have the least amount of mess and stress while preparing for halloween rock painting with Montessori kids.

Halloween rock painting kids art project ideas for fall

Setting up for painting

When you’re setting up you really only need three things: rocks for painting, kid-safe painting supplies, and a painting space. There are a few materials you will need which I share below in detail. But set up can be easy.

Collecting Rocks

Kids love collecting rocks outside! You can find rocks everywhere, they’re a free resource that helps make this project really affordable. However, if your class is unable to go out and collect rocks, you can always find bags of rocks in the garden stores. If you are using collected rocks, make sure you clean and dry them before painting.

Natural rocks come in different sizes and shapes. Have your students imagine what they would like to paint, then look for rocks similar in shape. The best rocks for this project will have a nice, flat surface to paint.

Preparing The Painting Space

Set up the painting area where kids can make a mess. Use a drop cloth to protect the floor. Make sure students wear clothes that can get dirty, as some paints don’t wash out easily. Keep materials at eye level on a flat, sturdy surface like a table. You can also cover the table with a drop cloth or old newspaper.

Rock Painting Materials

Here’s what you need for this fun Halloween rock painting project:

Acrylic Paint: Use safe, non-toxic acrylic or thick craft paint.
Paintbrushes: Have very small brushes for details and medium brushes for painting the whole rock surface.
Water Jar: For rinsing paint off brushes between colors.
Napkins: To wipe water and paint off brushes.
Palette: Use small palettes, or substitute with paper plates or recycled egg cartons for holding paint.
Newspaper: To cover the work area and catch any paint spills.
Smock, Apron, or Old Clothes: To keep children’s clothes safe from paint.

Halloween Colors

Acrylic paint is the best choice for painting natural rocks because it sticks well and lasts a long time. Be sure to use kid-safe, non-toxic acrylic paint, especially for children under 12 years old.

You can create fun Halloween designs on rocks with just a few paint colors. These designs are simple enough for kids to copy.

White: ghosts, mummies, skulls, eyeballs, spider webs
Black: jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, bats
Orange: pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns
Red: eyeballs, drops of blood
Green: witches, monsters, Frankenstein
Purple: monsters, spiders, witches’ hats
Yellow: candy corn, scary eyes

Remember, the final artwork will depend on your students’ ages and how much painting experience they have had before this activity.

For another spooky fun Halloween art project, check out my post on painting pumpkins!

Where to Start: Follow My Halloween Rock Painting Tips

This Montessori Halloween rock painting activity is quite simple. Just show how to use the materials—paintbrushes, water jar, napkins—and then let kids create their artworks on their own. Here are three quick tips to make the project smoother.

Tip 1: Rocks are not like paper; they don’t absorb paint as easily.

When kids clean their paintbrushes between colors, ensure they wipe all the water off the brush before dipping it back into the paint. You want to avoid runny paint on rocks, as it makes controlling the paint harder and the image less clear.

Tip 2: Paint the background color first and let it dry completely before adding more paint.

If you want the rock to have a solid background color, paint that part first. Allow the paint to dry before adding more details. This helps the image look clear and prevents colors from mixing.

Example: For a ghost rock, paint it white first, let it dry, then add black eyes and a mouth once the white is dry.

Tip 3: If possible, paint rocks in direct sunlight.

Acrylic paint dries faster under a heat source. Rocks take longer to dry in cool temperatures. Once your students finish painting, place the rocks in direct sunlight to dry.

Halloween Rock Painting | Kids Art Project, check list

If you’d like a free downloadable version of the materials list above (plus a few extras), grab my Kids Painting Materials Checklist now.

One Step Further: Download My FREE Kids Painting Materials Checklist

Students can explore rock painting in countless ways and themes! The basic idea and materials remain the same; only the images and paint colors might change. With any painting project, as long as kids have the right materials, they’ll learn and have fun!

Halloween Rock Painting | Kids Art Project, curriculum

A Short Cut Just for You

Painting—whether it’s rocks or on paper—is always such a fun activity for kids. I encourage you to set up painting projects and lessons for your class on a regular basis. My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that take kids from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals! Each lesson is featured as part of a sequence and includes all the information—materials, demonstration technique, and direct and indirect aims—so you can simply follow the instructions and easily present the activity to your students.

Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.

Painting | Art Project | Fall Leaves | Kids | Acrylic

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

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Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

October 15, 2020November 5, 2024

Pumpkin Painting | Kids Art Project

It’s finally autumn! Hopefully where you are the leaves are turning beautiful hues and you’re enjoying the season! To me, nothing says autumn more than being surrounded by pumpkins! And, based on experience, I think a lot of Montessori students would agree! This pumpkin painting Montessori art project is a favorite among children (and teachers) every year!

giant pumpkin with art teacher Spramani Elaun

Pumpkins add a festive touch during the fall holiday season, and this art activity gives you the chance to talk about plant life cycle or a number of other Montessori topics!

What I love most about this pumpkin painting Montessori art activity for kids is how easy it is! It’s a great alternative to carving pumpkins, which can be difficult or even dangerous to do with Early Childhood and Lower Elementary students. This project is very safe and lots of fun children of all ages.

Pumpkin Painting in the Classroom or Home

When you’re setting up this pumpkin painting project, you really only need three things: a pumpkin, painting supplies, and a painting space.

Picking a Pumpkin

First, your pumpkin. Any size pumpkin will work but try to choose one that has little to no blemishes—this will make painting easier and actually make the pumpkin last longer. Once your child picks the pumpkin they want, clean its surface gently with soap and water or a wipe. Then allow the pumpkin to air-dry or dry it with a cloth before painting.

Setting Up a Painting Space

The space you set up should be in an area where children can get messy. If you want to protect your floor, use a drop cloth. Make sure your students are also prepared for a little mess; they should be dressed in clothes that can get messy, some paints do not easily wash off clothes.

It’s much easier for kids to paint if the pumpkins are at eye level and on a flat and sturdy surface (like a table). You may want to put a drop cloth or old newspaper on top of that too.

Pumpkin Painting Art Supplies

Here’s everything you need for this art project:

Clothes to get messy in; artist smocks and aprons work too
Paint brushes – small ones for little pumpkins and large ones for bigger pumpkins (kids can paint with sponges and their fingers too!)
Water jar – for washing brushes between paint colors
Napkins – for paintbrushes and paint spills
Baby wipes (optional) – I love having these around for quick clean-ups, they get all types of paint off kids’ skin, even acrylic
Palette – to hold paints (paper plates and egg cartons work too)

Remember, this is a seasonal project and will only last the life of the pumpkin. So safe, non-toxic paints will work perfectly. I recommended using water-based paints like mineral paint, milk paint, acrylic paint or tempera when working with young kids.

You can choose whatever paint colors you have in your classroom, but I suggest using a mix of fall colors like green, white, red, orange, yellow, brown, and purple, which all stand out on a pumpkin.

Note: I recommend leaving black paint out of young children’s paint palettes. The smallest amount of black will turn all colors gray. Your child’s pumpkins will still look wonderful without black paint.

How To Present Pumpkin Painting Lessons

The best part about this project is that it’s so simple! Kids can have fun and their pumpkins will look fantastic no matter what! There aren’t any complicated instructions, just three steps.

Squeeze out just a quarter-size dollop of paint, you can add more as you go along
Demonstrate how to do simple strokes so children have an understanding of how to use the paintbrushes and other materials (like the water jars and napkins for cleaning their brushes)
Leave the rest to them!

Where to Start: Pumpkin Painting

It’s important to let your kids explore and work independently with this project. Process-based learning is especially important for Early Childhood and Lower Elementary students.

However, it is okay to give them inspiration. Here are a few ideas:

Purple paint for Dracula, monsters, or bats
Green paint for witches, goblins, or aliens
White paint for ghosts and spider webs
With older children, you can include black paint for spiders and bats

While this is a painting project, you can also put out other art materials for students to use, such as googly eyes, recycled scraps, and raw or dried veggies to make funny faces.

https://spramani.lpages.co/painting-materials-checklistOne Step Further: Download My FREE Kids Painting Materials Checklist

I see so many teachers overcomplicate painting lessons. It really is simple though! As long as children have the right painting materials, they will learn! If you want a free downloadable version of the paint materials listed above (plus a few more), get my Kids Painting Materials Checklist now by clicking here.

painting lessons for children, cover of curriculum

Order painting curriculum, 57 brushstroke lessons

Once you see how much your students love this project, you’re going to want to include even more painting activities in your classroom! Students should be given ample time to just discover and experiment, but structured lessons can help them really improve their skills and become better artists! My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that take kids from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals! Each lesson is featured as part of a sequence and includes all the information—materials, demonstration technique, and direct and indirect aims—so you can simply follow the instructions and easily present the activity to your students.

Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Art Book Shop

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum

August 20, 2020November 6, 2024

Create a Fun & Organized Art Room Space of your dreams!

For so many people around the world—especially in the U.S.—schools have been looking a little different as of lately. Kids are spending more time at home, and parents are scrambling for ways to bring a full classroom experience into their homes. And unfortunately, art is an often overlooked aspect of Montessori education today. If you don’t quite know how to teach art or haven’t had much experience in the subject, setting up a space or lessons for your children can be overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be though! Here’s your guide to organizing and setting up a Montessori homeschool art room space for your kids this year.

The secret to a beautiful, functional art space is really about giving kids the space and permission to work and create uninterrupted. If you give your children a space to make art, they will do it!

Before we go into my art room organizing tips, here’s a little perspective: If you don’t have a shelf filled with books, you won’t raise readers; if you don’t have pens, papers, or a dictionary handy, you won’t raise a writer either. So, guess what? When you don’t have an art space filled with art supplies, you won’t raise an artist!

And creating art has a ton of benefits that goes beyond a beautiful finished project; art helps improve kids’ focus, problem-solving skills, stress-management skills, emotional literacy, and hand-eye coordination. That’s why it’s so important to give children a space to create.

As an art studio designer, children’s art teacher, and former homeschool mom, I’ve had the opportunity to design many stimulating creative spaces for kids of all ages. I will teach you what you need to know about creating a homeschool art room space for your Montessori students.

Montessori Homeschool Art Room Design

In reality, you can design your art space however you want, however, every Montessori homeschool art room needs to include these six components:

Table – all activities should take place on a flat surface
Chair – along with a sturdy table, children need a safe place to sit while working
Floor covering – this saves your floors from spills!
Light source – for children to work with color they need a good source of light
Storage – art storage comes in many shapes and sizes, including baskets, jars, plastic bins, shelves, or an art closet
Sink – the sink doesn’t need to be in the immediate art space, but should be close and easily accessible, like a bathroom or kitchen; it’s needed to wash materials and hands

Montessori Homeschool Art Room Location

Because an art space doesn’t need to be elaborate, you can set it up basically anywhere in your home. It can be a dedicated room, corner of your child’s bedroom or family living room, part of your yard or basement, and even in your kitchen.

One of my homeschool-mom friends set up a simple desk for her kids in her kitchen; I loved seeing what her daughter would create when I’d visit for tea! My own kids’ art spaces have transitioned throughout the years to be located in different spots around our home. Now, my daughter, who is 19, likes to draw and paint in her bedroom!

Montessori Homeschool Art Room Supplies

You can keep your art supplies very basic, such as paper, colored pencils, paints, paintbrushes, and clay. But, it’s very important to make sure any art supplies you give your children are non-toxic and kid-safe. For a list of the basic art materials I recommend for every Montessori classroom, click here.

I also created age-specific art materials lists. Click for:
Early Childhood
Lower Elementary
Upper Elementary

Where to Start: Keep Things Exciting—and Organized

The secret to keeping your art space and art supplies organized is only keeping out the materials your child is currently into. If you had every supply out all the time, things could get cluttered and untidy, and your child may actually get bored.

If you see that your child is drawn to painting, keep those supplies out. They may seem content with whatever activity you put in front of them, but make sure you’re switching things up. Put out papers, pencils, and stencils for a week so your child can explore drawing; the next week put out clay and modeling tools; then put out paintbrushes, different types of paint, and paper.

One Step Further: Watch My Montessori Art Storage How-To Video!

Hopefully, this guide I have provided has given you the tips and information you need to set up your child’s at-home art room space. I know that storage can get a little tricky though—especially if your whole family is sharing a live/workspace. I originally created this art storage video for Montessori teachers, but all the principles apply to at-home art spaces and storage too.

In it, I walk you through how I set up my own Montessori art storage area. You’ll see how I organize things overall, but I’ll also show you how I categorize my tubs and storage containers. And then, as a bonus, I walk you through how I use the art materials I have in storage to set up an art lesson without much thought. Trust me, it’ll save you tons of time if you get this down.

Click here to unlock and watch my video, How to Set Up Your Montessori Art Storage Stress and Mess Free.

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Art Book Shop

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

Buy Art Curriculum