How-to teach children age appropriate art activities

I get questions every day on how to teach age appropriate art activities.

I’m going to share some tips to get you on the right track.

I’ll also be sharing lots of resources.

There’s only four important things you should consider when teaching age appropriate art activities:

Use only safe non-toxic children’s art supplies
Focus on discovery exploratory type of activities
Keep steps very minimal
Focus on introducing the basic 7 elements

Early Childhood Art Activities

Very young children from toddler to six years can not plan art ideas out yet. So their art activities should be very exploration and discovery in style. They should only do process based style art activities. These lessons should generally introduce art mediums and art tools. You should only be introducing the very basic elements of art like line and colors etc. If you want to understand what art programs should consist of you can order:

Defining Visual Arts. This book explains what art literacy is for children and what you should be focusing on teaching. If you want to learn all about early childhood art programming you can order: Early Childhood Art Guide, this book shows you how to design an age appropriate art program.

Elementary Art Activities

Elementary age students can plan and create with intention. They are able to imagine an idea and plan it out. They can also follow one to six step instructions. These ages should also work in an exploratory discovery fashion. Allow children full freedom to express their own ideas. This means you should allow them to change the final outcome of their creation and not insist they follow an exact example.

Safe Non-Toxic Art Supplies

I recommend children under the age of 12 years old not use adult grade fine art supplies. Many artist grade supplies may contain hazards pigments like cadmium, lead, formaldehyde, solvents. Some paints may add additives, mildew resistance or other chemicals. Or also have special instructions for handling. These chemicals could be harmful to children not aware of special handling instructions. Pick non-toxic kids products that bare the ASTM D 4236 on them. This is a U.S. labeling law to protect children from dangerous chemicals.

If you start with these four suggestions you will be starting out on the right foot. If you need more guidance I have many training videos, books and professional development.

Warmly,

SpramaniE laun

READ BLOG:

Montessori Early Childhood Materials List

Montessori Upper Elementary Materials List

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January 4, 2022January 4, 2022

How Clay Modeling Can Reduce Stress

Tactile Art-Making Is Beneficial for Stress Relief

Over my twenty years of naturalistic art observations, I’ve witnessed tactile art projects like clay modeling lead kids into relaxed states of mind time and time again. I’ve seen stressed children come into my classroom and quickly be able to transition into a calm and relaxed state. As a result, allowing them to focus on their handiwork. Most art activities are multi-sensory engaging and can help children relax and work calmly.
Making art with your hands stimulates touch neural input, visual pathways communicate with both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, auditory and smell sensory systems collect information all at once, entering an active multi-sensory learning state. In addition, making art modeling clay is high in visual-auditory connectivity in the brain. Strong connectivity occurs, and the child becomes intensely focused on their handiwork.

Children using their hands can be so engaged that other stress-related thoughts clear their minds, and they enter a state of flow. As a result, students can forget the stress-related emotions they were experiencing before entering a creative state of flow.
The electrical activity stimulated in the brain becomes a different type of action. Then, firing connections occur that allow children to focus only on their creative process.
Soon, a calming effect takes place because tactile cognitive processing is occurring as children form or manipulate objects with their hands. It’s good for children to develop good habits and activities during their sensitive periods so they can regulate their own relaxation early in life through creative handiwork. Consequently, I’ve coined the phrase “active multi-sensory learning” to explain this cognitive state.

Clay Modeling Activity Can Reduce Stress

Clay modeling can be a great way children can have active multi-sensory learning happen and reduce stress! I’ve been teaching these types of lessons for two decades with clay modeling activities and using a variety of clay mediums for multi-sensory learning. Also, the other important aspect of these types of lessons is that children love them and take to them well.
To illustrate, if you find a child fidgety, highly stressed, or exhibiting anxiety, I recommend you engage them in clay modeling activities. In addition, another tip I would recommend is dedicating a place to these art materials and making them easily available in your classroom, home, or school. Because of this, if you observe students with these persistent signals, follow your school protocols or seek professional therapists. Most importantly, do not try to treat children exhibiting trauma yourself unless you are a licensed therapist.

Basic Clay Modeling Steps:

Prepare a bowl with malleable clay in plastic baggies to keep moist.
Start with calming, kneading movements (a ceramic technique).
Encourage students to knead the clay for long period (5-10 minutes).
Allow students to transition into process-based exploration forms.
Do not give students complex instructions to follow.
Leave simple clay books or activity instructions nearby.

Recommended Clays to Buy:

Plasticine, non-hardening clay (Click to Buy)
Air-dry clay
Pottery earth clay
Pure beeswax modeling clay

Recommended Curriculum to Follow:

Clay Modeling – Practice & Process Curriculum, 27 Sequential Lessons (Click to Buy)

Contact me if you’d like to learn more about teaching children art using Montessori methods.

December 9, 2021January 2, 2023

Montessori Practical Life Activity | Winter Wrapping Paper Collage: Cut, Tear & Glue

Get ready to save all your wrapping paper scraps for a winter wrapping paper collage!
Bring them into the classroom and recycle them to give students the opportunity to create unique pieces of art. Ask your parents and students to collect their home wrapping paper scraps for this Montessori art activity.
This is one of the simplest Montessori practical life activities to keep kids busy. And while I put this into the winter art projects category, you can really do this any time of year, with any type of recycled scrap paper. This art activity is great for all ages, early childhood, lower and upper elementary.
And you can actually teach scaffold tasks while building essential foundational skill sets.

Coordination
Independence
Scissor cutting or tearing
Gluing & Pasting
Composition
Problem Solving

For more Montessori activities related to this project, download my Ultimate Winter Arts & Crafts Idea Guide and check out page 9.

Need more Collage ideas? Read my Collage Ultimate Montessori Collage Guide

Preparing the Environment for Wrapping Paper Collaging

Supplies

Wrapping paper scraps
Scissors
Glue
Paper
(Optional) pencil and eraser

How to:

There are so many reasons you want to give your students the opportunity to gather their own materials, one is truly allowing the child to work creatively. Gathering allows children to create their own individual creations. Second, this supports problem-solving skill sets. Children will go back and forth working out their design elements.

This project can be done two ways:
1. Let students choose the paper designs they want to work with.
Cut or rip pieces into different shapes.
Using these pieces, they can aim to create a specific object/design or keep it abstract.
Have them move the pieces around their paper and experiment with the design.
Once they’re happy with their image, have them glue the pieces onto their paper.
Or,
2. Have students decide on an image they want to create (fish, butterfly, face, mountains, etc.). Lightly draw an outline of the design onto their paper.
Cut the wrapping paper into shapes that will fit within their image.
Once they’ve put the pieces together to their liking, glue them onto their paper drawing.

Toddler/Early Childhood Group Collage

Gluing and pasting are essential art practices for young students that lead to advanced craft skills. Here is a simpler setup for early childhood grades as a group activity. You can have a couple of students working at one time, or have one student walk up to this activity table.
For more information on setting up for early childhood children, be sure to read my Early Childhood Art Collage Guide https://montessori-art.com/montessori-early-childhood-art-collaging/

Basic table set up steps:

Tape down a large paper filling up a tabletop
Tape masking tape down on paper into interesting sections so children can collage inside the open spaces
Prepare materials like wrapping paper scraps, glue, scissors in a basket or tray for children to reach easily
Demonstrate the movements of tearing, cutting, and gluing onto the large paper
When it’s fully covered, slowly pull take off, hang in the classroom as art the children can look at and be excited they took part in

Have fun creating your Winter Wrapping Paper Collage Art!

December 2, 2021December 2, 2021

5 Reasons Making Art Boosts Children’s Brainpower

Did you know that making art boosts children’s brainpower? You can help boost brainpower by supporting art activities at home or in the classroom. It’s true, and it’s supported by new science! There’s a lot of neural wiring happening in the brain when children make art. Other branches of scientists, like neuroscientists, science researchers, and art therapists, have also made connections to how early childhood art contributes to brainpower. Over my twenty years in the process, studio-based observations, I have observed these same connections to how children get to improve their brains by creating artwork!

5 brainpower areas:

Problem-solving
Fine motor development
Memory development
Spatial awareness
Stress regulation

fine motor development, art boosts children's brainpower

Let’s review these 5 areas of how early childhood art helps:

Problem-Solving

Art making is a great place for children to go through lots of problem-solving situations. They usually start with designing problems, deciding what materials and tools they need, how to construct their artworks, and what size to create their artworks. They then analyze their artworks to decide if they need to find a different way to get the results they desire. The artistic process is a great way for children to become problem-solvers. Creative activities are directly linked to problem-solving.

Fine Motor Development

Fine motor development is a physical attribute that advances a child’s growth. In addition, fine motor skills help with creating children’s art projects and in using art materials. By developing these muscles, children develop better dexterity with paintbrushes and crayons as well as constructing movements and putting together their crafts. (Science Art Method © 2021 Spramani Elaun)

Memory Development

When kids learn repeated movements, they’re reinforcing implicit memory; the actions are wired and become linked in their brain. Fortunately, 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 painting. The next time they engage in an art activity, their memory kicks in and their hand movements will come naturally. (Science Art Method © 2021 Spramani Elaun)

Regulate Stress

Most art activities offer multi-sensory engagement and can help kids relax and work calmly. Tactile art-making stimulates touch neural input, visual pathways communicate with both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. And, auditory and smell sensory systems also collect information all while entering an active multi-sensory learning state. (Science Art Method © 2021 Spramani Elaun).

Spatial Awareness

Visual arts are a significant way to improve spatial intelligence. Visual art creation relies on spatial understanding. Art-making teaches kids visualization. When children make art, they become aware of the spatial relationships among objects in the realm of their own experiences. As children learn through two-dimensional and three-dimensional art-making, their long-term memories create sight patterns stored in the mind known as “spatial memories.” (Science Art Method © 2021 Spramani Elaun).

Art Activities and Mediums to Start With

Now that you have a good idea of how art-making can boost brain power, here are the best types of art projects to start teaching. These types of art activities will help develop children’s fine motor control and the small muscles in their fingers and hands.

Drawing: crayons, color pencils, graphite pencil, oil pastels, etc.
Painting: watercolor paints, tempera paints, acrylic paints, watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, etc.
Color Theory: primary color mixing, dropper color mixing, etc.
Clay Modeling: earth clay, non-harden plasticine clay, air-dry modeling clay, beeswax forming, etc.
Crafts: paper folding, nature and paper collage, mosaic arrangements, sewing basics, wool felting, string weaving, nature crafting, 3D constructing, etc.

All art supplies are available online in my Nature of Art for Kids online store.

To learn more about how art boosts children’s brainpower you can order my art teaching books here: BUY BOOKS

Get my free Materials Lists for Children’s Art Projects Below:

free download children's material lists for children's art activities

Early Childhood Materials List – PDF

Lower Elementary Materials List – PDF

Upper Elementary Materials List – PDF

Spramani ELaun, Owner, Artist, Montessori-art & Nature of Art For Kids

November 18, 2021May 14, 2024

Teaching Art Activities by Using Children’s Storybooks

Why Use Storybooks

As an art teacher, I love using teaching art activities by using children’s storybooks! Storybooks can bridge connections to the elements and principles of design within illustrations, pictures, or descriptive words. Storybooks can help you communicate, especially in art language.

In addition, book illustrations give visual clues to what color or shape looks like in the context of artworks. Storybooks don’t just have to be related to art topics or artists; you can use basic, classic children’s literature, such as The Giving Tree, The Ugly Duckling, Green Eggs and Ham, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Though, remember that almost all children’s storybooks are illustrated by an artist.

However, there are many other great reasons you should integrate books into art-making lessons. Using children’s storybooks can not only inspire creative ideas, but it can also bring characters and plots to life by following up with art activities.

Combining Storybooks and Art

Combining children’s storybooks and art supports:

Developing early literacy
Bringing characters and plots to life
Engaging in open-ended questions
Fostering multi-sensory learning
Enriching reading and writing techniques

Developing Early Literacy

Children can learn art language by reading stories and following up with art activities. This can be a great way for you to enrich your teaching techniques by getting children to read more. Educational research confirms that when children read regularly, they expand their vocabularies, which leads to more reading and doing better academically in the upper grades.

I regularly use this method when introducing new techniques to my students. I love theming art activities with stories!

Bringing Characters and Plots to Life

Books bring characters and plots to life, but following up by creating your own character from a book is an immersive experience! You can appeal to young readers’ imagination by transforming a flat 2D character into physical pieces of art. Also, you can read a wonderful story like The Velveteen Rabbit and have them create their own rabbit character they can play with. And in addition, you can ask children to create art with an unexpected twist to the story or their own version of how the story ends. Allow them to paint a different image and draw their own scenes. Children love imagining themselves within stories.

Engaging in Open-Ended Questions

I usually read-aloud stories and point out art elements like colors and shapes. It’s a natural way I teach art language. I can prompt students with questions like “What colors do you see in this picture?” “Can you see lines used in the artwork?” “Can you describe what you see on this page?” “Look how interesting these shapes are.” “What shapes do you see?” “What are your favorite colors used in this art?” “Do you see the small dots?” “Would you like to go to the art shelf and experiment making some of these wavy lines with crayons?”

Fostering Multi-Sensory Learning

Reading to children is positive, but making the experience tactile is even better for cognitive processing. You can give children a different dimension to learning than just audio or visual senses by adding tactile sensory learning to deepen their understanding. Making art is a tactile, multi-sensory experience. For example, let’s say you read to a child a story about a duck; you can give the child an opportunity to create a three-dimensional duck out of clay by sparking lots of questions about the duck’s features, such as its size, color, and shape, further deepening their understanding about the characters or topics in the story. Another example could be looking at rainbows in illustrations. The conversations can go deeper by painting and mixing colors leading to scientific inquiries. Connecting storybooks and art activities is a multi-sensory experience for better comprehension.

Enriches Reading and Writing Techniques

Integrating art with reading and writing work can be exciting for students. Over the past ten years, I have visited many elementary grades as a special guest art teacher. As a result, I’ve had amazing opportunities to team up with other teachers to teach the Great Lessons.

Most of the lessons usually started with me coming into the classroom to teach an art technique, followed by the classroom’s teacher reading about the topic, and finally ending with the students following up with writing exercises related to the artwork they created in my session.

These teachers all reported back to me how their students were super engaged with reading and writing follow-up work because of their art lesson connection to the stories. They also reported to me that writing improved with some of their struggling students. In addition, they felt that the children were more invested in the outcome of how their artwork was reflected and open to writing critiques.

My favorite Children’s Art Storybooks

Below are three videos where I read stories that can inspire and engage young children in both literacy and their interest in creating art through the Montessori art methods.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, illustrator of the Judy Moody, Narrated by Art Teacher Spramani Elaun

Henri’s Scissors, by Jeanette Winter, Narrated by Art Teacher Spramani Elaun

Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman (Author), Steve Wilson (Illustrator), Narrated by Art Teacher Spramani Elaun

How-to teach children age appropriate art activities

October 13, 2021November 14, 2021

Early Childhood Montessori Art Lesson Training Video | FREE

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

1-hour video training

REGISTER NOW TO WATCH!

Early Childhood Montessori Art Lesson Training Video | FREE, spramani elaun, how we montessori art lessons — Montessori Art Teacher Trainer, Spramani Elaun, Nature of Art®

Early Childhood Art Guide

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

September 22, 2021November 14, 2021

Montessori Teaching Art Lessons – 3 Tips For Teaching Art Lessons

Montessori Teaching Art Lessons – Plan, Organize, and Prepare

3 Tips for Teaching Art Lessons – Plan, Organize, and Prepare

Teaching messy art lessons can be stressful and have you quickly unraveling like a wet noodle!

Whether you are working with one child at home or shuffling large groups into your Montessori classroom each hour, the following tips will help. These tips are from my signature Art Teaching Blueprint™ training course.

Where to Start: Plan, Prepare and Organize

Plan

Always be sure you have created the art lesson ahead of time before you present it to your students. You will be able to work out the bugs and know how the artistic process will unfold.

Prepare

By doing the project ahead of time, you can test the quality of the materials, be sure you have plenty on hand and know they will yield the results you expect

Organize

Organize the materials to ensure they are ready for children to work in groups by having them staged on a shelf or table. When I have art materials staged, it’s easier for independent students to work and get their material, and it’s easy for me to get young students what they need by having everything staged ahead of time.

Additional Tips

Working smaller is my best signature tip that I can share here. It gives me more control as an art teacher. By shrinking all the materials, like papers, paintbrushes, and mediums, I can control the messy outcomes. I share this tip in many of my videos and books. I live by this rule. I’m still able to provide a quality art program; I just have children work smaller to help maintain the large masses.

If you want to learn more about my art teaching method, you can visit my blogs, watch my free videos, or order my books and digital courses.

Inspiring children to be creative and use their imagination should not put us as parents and teachers at the mercy of chaotic art lessons. I promise if you use these tips, you will love teaching children art lessons.

https://spramani.lpages.co/painting-materials-checklist

One Step Further: 7 Must-Have Painting Materials Checklist!

No more messy paint projects! 🎨

Ever had an art activity explode in your classroom and swore never to paint with kids again?

I have . . . lots of times, and it taught me some very valuable lessons I can now laugh about! 😂

Well, it’s not your fault. It’s truly all in the set-up before you even get started.

I totally get it, and I’m here to share my painting set-up tips and hacks!

There’s no way to know the secrets to painting with kids unless you’ve painted with tens of thousands of kids of all ages like I have!

DOWNLOAD THE FREE CHECKLIST

August 30, 2021December 16, 2021

Montessori Art – Best Art Activities For Children Ages 3-6

Best Art Activities for Children 3-6

Have you struggled to find art activities for your children? For the longest time, teachers of early childhood students have been told, “young kids can’t learn art.” And based on that misinformation, as well as out-of-date art teaching practices, you might be thinking that’s true too. I’m here to tell you that’s not the case! I’ll be teaching you some of the best activities for children ages 3-6.

Toddlers and early childhood students CAN learn art!

It all comes down to HOW you teach them. After years of observing art, I’ve developed my very own teaching method that engages and excites young children; it introduces them to art in a way that makes sense to their little developing brains.

If you have the art bug—and you don’t have to be an artist to catch it! And, if you KNOW the value of art in the Montessori classroom, especially for young students, then this book is for you!

In this book you will:

Understand easy ways you can teach art lessons
Learn secrets to theming art with storytime books
Get quick planning ideas for scheduling art activities for children

MONTESSORI ART EARLY CHILDHOOD GUIDE – Book

Visual Arts Teaching Guide for 13 Months – 6 Years Old
Proper and Complete List of Art Materials
Staging and Environment Set-up Guide
Tips and Art Lesson Ideas

To Watch My Free Webinar REGISTER HERE

August 30, 2021November 14, 2021

Montessori Art –How Art Lessons are Integrated into the Montessori Approach

By Spramani Elaun

Can young kids learn art?

For the longest time, teachers of early childhood students have been told, “young kids can’t learn art.” That you couldn’t teach young children art. And based on that misinformation, as well as out-of-date art teaching practices, you might be thinking that’s true too.

I’m here to tell you that’s not the case!

Toddlers and early childhood students CAN learn art!

Learn to teach young children art

If you have the art bug—and you don’t have to be an artist to catch it!—and KNOW the value of art in the Montessori classroom, especially for young students, then this book is for you!

Understand easy ways you can teach art lessons
Learn secrets to theming art with storytime books
Get quick planning ideas for scheduling art activities

MONTESSORI ART EARLY CHILDHOOD GUIDE – Book

Visual Arts Teaching Guide for 13 Months – 6 Years Old

✅ Proper and Complete List of Art Materials

✅ Staging and Environment Set-up Guide

✅ Tips and Art Lesson Ideas

Register for a Free Webinar!

Watch Free Webinar REGISTER HERE

July 28, 2021November 14, 2021

Montessori Art – Why Teach Primary Color Mixing Curriculum

Is primary color mixing essential for kids?

Preparing a Montessori art curriculum might feel overwhelming. Especially if you don’t know what should come first when teaching Montessori students art. In this blog, I’m sharing why you should teach primary color mixing to Montessori students. I’ll give you my art teacher advice on what’s important to focus on first.

Primary color mixing should be on the top of your art curriculum scaffolding. Why is teaching it so essential? Because all visual arts are connected to color theory.

If you want to teach children how to paint, they will need to learn how to achieve the colors they need when those colors are not available in their palette. And when learning how to create realistic images you need to know how to control color values by mixing primary colors together. Artists also tint and shade by understanding basic primary and secondary mixing ideas. To create color pop in designs you need to understand warm, cool, and complementary color ideas as well.

So start with teaching the basics of color mixing, then move into more advanced color theory ideas. Be sure to check out my store for the art supplies you may need for this curriculum.

Good news!

As a homeschool mom, artist, and art teacher I know how difficult it can be to create an art curriculum. I’ve spent the last five years developing an easy-to-follow sequential step-by-step curriculum for parents and school teachers…so you don’t have to!

It took me twenty years to create this method. I start my color theory curriculum modules first with primary colors into secondary color mixing, then move into more important color theory ideas with easy lessons. I can save you valuable time from trying to figure this all out, so check out my links below!

I hope you find this valuable.