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Montessori Early Childhood Art Guide

Montessori early childhood art guide

Montessori Early Childhood Art Guide

Isn’t it amazing to see the sparks fly and the little cogs in young students’ brains ignite when they start learning a new subject!? Whether it’s language, science, or the coming of the universe, introducing new subjects to early childhood students can be super exciting! Art is no different—in fact, I think it’s even more exciting! Montessori early childhood art is an essential part of a child’s intellectual and motor skills development and it should be included in early childhood students’ educations!

But for some reason, many people—including teachers—believe that young kids can’t learn art. Or that if they introduce art to early childhood students, it’s going to lead to a huge mess.

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

Toddlers and early childhood students CAN learn art! You just have to know HOW exactly to teach them.

Montessori early childhood art guide, toddler

After years and years of working with and teaching children about art, I’ve discovered the way they naturally learn and comprehend the subject. It’s led me to develop my very own teaching method that engages and excites early childhood students and introduces them to art in a way that makes sense to their developing brains. It’s all in my new book, Early Childhood Art: Visual Arts Teaching Guide! 

Montessori early childhood art guide, preschool

Being able to present art concepts and lessons in a way early childhood students can understand is completely key in helping them understand the different aspects of this important subject. Early Childhood Art: Visual Arts Teaching Guide gives you the foundation for teaching art and presenting successful art activities in early childhood classrooms.

Montessori Guide

Montessori early childhood

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

Buy Guide Now!

This Montessori art guide is the accumulation of more than 20 years of experience in teaching visual art to early childhood students all over the world. I’ve taught thousands of children how to paint, draw, sculpt, craft, and mix colors, all while observing how they engage in art. My success is led by my observations and real-life practice of how children in early childhood cognitively and sensorially process different art matters.

Montessori early childhood art guide, teaching activities

I’ve seen Montessori teachers stress out and lose confidence when it comes to art because they have no previous experience in the subject. I know how intimidating it can be to jump into something so unknown. When we surround ourselves with fine works of art, we set extremely high expectations, but the truth is, art should be fun! What’s more, early childhood students should be encouraged to explore and experiment, not be held to strict standards. Art is all about experimentation and exploring, so you don’t need to be an artist to participate or even teach it! 

Download a FREE Mini Course: Child Art Phase Development

Understanding how early childhood students comprehend and learn art is the first step. If you would like to learn more how to nurture children in the visual arts, register for my FREE mini digital course, Phases of Art Development Video.

Sign-up to receive video course & Montessori art teaching e-newsletter.

The Phases of Art Development is a quick digital course that explains how art making can help students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. More importantly, I share what types of projects students at every age are capable of completing safely, and without making a mess.

Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.

You’re on your way to teaching art with confidence!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

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Montessori Early Childhood Art Language

Montessori Early Childhood Art Language

Not only is it important to teach young children how to create art, but it’s just as important to teach them how to use art language. Some people are surprised to learn that art has its very own language—the Elements of Principles of Design—that is used to describe art. Like many new subjects, it can be complicated to teach to young students, but I promise, there is a way to use Montessori early childhood art language in your classroom!

Art language has developed gradually over the history of mankind—more than 30 thousand years ago! Learning this abstract language can take a while to fully grasp, even for upper elementary students and adults—but the great news is that the original, abstract art language has been simplified over the last few centuries, so it’s much easier to use and understand.

Now, do I feel that early childhood students should start learning complex art terms when they’re just learning to talk and write? I don’t believe students, especially early childhood students, need to be taught art language in an academic sense, but I do recommend you to start introducing them to simple, easy-to-understand art terms through normal discussions. Montessori early childhood art language will become much easier to understand the more students are exposed to it, and for students in upper elementary, it can be weaved into art lessons and presentations.

teaching kids the artist way and art language, montessori art teacher

Learning art language is the traditional way to study visual arts. The Elements and Principles of Design are what we study in the arts and what we use to describe visual dimensions in artworks. By teaching students Elements and Principles of Design terms, you’re helping them learn to communicate what they are creating, how they’re going through the artistic process, and what they see and admire in their and other artworks. 

montessori art curriculum, elemen
Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography | aquarium.ucsd.edu

If you’re new to art language, practice using simple art terms yourself. Look at your favorite artworks and try to describe what you see in them. Bold warm colors? Jagged gray lines, flower shapes? I went to fine art school, and trust me, you don’t have to to become an artist to be able to use artful terms. You’re more than capable of teaching your students the basics! And the more comfortable you are with using art language, the more comfortable your students will become with it too.

Where to Start: Simple Terms for Montessori Early Childhood Art Language

Learning the Elements and Principles of Design helps us communicate in art language. There are many words in the art vocabulary that can be learned and used, but you should start with the very basic terms—especially with younger students.

elements of art, talking to kids about art, montessori

Early childhood students are seeing and experiencing everything for the first time; they don’t quite understand how visual art fits into their little world yet—but they can still be introduced to art language! As they explore and start to really get to know what art is, using art language with your young students will become easier. More than likely, their inquisitive little minds will start making connections (like, “if I use this color paint, this paint brush, it’ll come out like this”), and they’ll probably start asking questions (such as, “what color is this?” or “why did this do this?”).

When you’re first introducing Montessori art language to your students, keep things basic and simple. Start by describing what you see when you’re looking at art or what’s going on as you make art.

One of the easiest ways to start using art language is to point out colors while reading to your students, try:

“The leaf  is all green, would you like to color something green today like this leaf?”

“Let’s cut out some shapes, like circles and squares, with scissors.”

“Let’s make some squiggly lines and straight lines. How many different colored lines can we do?”

One Step Further: Download My Beginner Elements & Principles of Design Cheat Sheet

You might not realize it, but you’re probably already using some of the Elements and Principles of Design vocabulary words already! Some words, such as “color,” “line,” and “texture” are simple enough to use and understand when talking about art, but there are many other terms I’d encourage you to use too.

Montessori Early Childhood Art
Click here!

Download my Beginner Elements and Principle of Design Cheat Sheet for a list of Montessori early childhood art language terms. I’ve included definitions for each term as well, so you’ll feel more confident using them, knowing you’re using them correctly. In truth, these art language terms can be used in all Montessori classrooms, no matter how old your students are!

To download the Art Language cheat sheet, click here.

A Short Cut Just for You – Early Childhood Art Guide

Montessori early childhood

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

Buy Guide Now!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

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Montessori Sensory Art For Early Childhood

  • Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography | aquarium.ucsd.edu

You may know that students learn in a variety of styles, so giving them a variety of options—including tactile and sensory experiences—will greatly benefit them. That’s one of the (very many) reasons I love art! Montessori sensory art activities and projects give students the chance to explore and use their senses as they learn and better understand new concepts and ideas.  

Tactile learning happens when students touch things with their own hands. When a child touches an object, information is sent through the sensory nerves in their fingers to their brain. Almost all art making requires using direct touch to construct, build, or express.

Visual art uses direct sensory touching; students use their hands to create artworks. It stimulates learning in different ways, beyond just visual or auditory learning. For a developing child, tactile exploring can also lead to better fine-motor function and control.

Tactile learning is recommended for highly active children or kinesthetic learning styles; these types of children learn better by physical action and tactile sensations. Visually, hearing, and linguistically impaired children greatly benefit by tactile learning sensations.

It’s becoming increasingly important for young children to have tactile exploring opportunities. Montessori sensory art projects are a perfect way for tactile sensations to take place. Without these opportunities, a child can miss out on important spatial learning. Creating and making through touch helps with brain connectivity that can’t come from just sight and hearing sensory systems.

Montessori Sensory Art For Early Childhood

Sensory tactile art exploration is very important for young children to have. I recommend providing lots of tactile art experiences for the students in your classroom. Experiment and try out a variety of sensory art projects that can aid in learning and be experienced by hand manipulations. The more they can use their hands and fingers directly, the more connections they’ll build.

Most teachers don’t know that you can teach very basic art simply by using a child’s curious sensory system. Plus, kids can relate to the topics they are touching and feeling much better than abstract ideas they can’t feel or see first hand.

Where to Start: Montessori Sensory Art Projects That Utilize the Senses

Approach teaching lessons by thinking of the ways kids use their sensory system. Then frame your art activities to help students discover the topics you’re teaching and see details differently.

I teach my science art method by focusing on these three sensory systems:

  • Visual perception
  • Cognitive
  • Fine-motor

If you plan your art specials to incorporate all three of these sensory systems, you’ll be helping your students better understand their Montessori lessons.

Sensory Art For Early Childhood
Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography | aquarium.ucsd.edu

One Step Further: Integrating Science with Drawing

When I’m leading a lesson that focuses on sensorial experiences, one of my favorite things to do is take my students outside to closely observe the different aspects of nature. I’ll talk about how scientists and naturalists record their findings using drawings and paintings. Then I’ll ask my students to look closely and observe the natural patterns. 

We’ll look at natural objects with a magnifying glass, and feel the specimens with our fingertips. I then ask my students to describe in words what they noticed and could feel, and ask them what they know about the specimens in relation to nature and where they came from. Finally, I’ll challenge students to record their findings by drawing each one with a pencil. Encouraging them to record the details on each object they saw, and allowing them to trace the different items if they didn’t yet feel confident in free-hand drawing. Then I’ll give them the choice to finish their drawing with colored pencils or watercolor paint.

Here are some ideas for nature specimens for your students to observe and record:

  • A variety of leaves
  • Bird feathers
  • Starfish
  • Lemon (or other citrus) slices
  • Wood chips
  • Seashells

A Short Cut Just for You – Professional Development

Sensory art and sensorial art experiences are just one part of teaching students art literacy and artist habits. If you want the tools to help your students become little artists, then you need a foundation of knowing how children are able to learn art. In my online course, Art Teaching Blueprint, I give you everything you need to easily start successfully teaching art to your your Montessori students.

Art Teaching Blueprint is about to open!

I’ve been helping Montessori teachers all over the world bring art into their classroom for more than 20 years. And I’ve honed and perfected my own art teaching method, and have developed it to complement and support Montessori philosophy, so that you can start teaching art in your classroom too. From setting up a proper art environment and art shelf, to giving your students age-appropriate mediums to explore with, I cover everything a Montessori teacher needs to know.

I’m so excited to be opening up the course one more time for this year! You can sign up for the course starting November 1. But if you want a reminder, and to save your seat now, click here to join the waitlist!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

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25 Montessori Art Materials for Early Childhood Classroom

montessori early childhood art materials

It’s back-to-school season, and I’m sure you all are in the middle of shopping for new materials for your classroom. While you’re out finishing up your shopping, make sure you’re picking up the right and best Montessori art materials for early childhood. There are a ton of products and wonderful things to work with, I’d encourage you to explore and purchase anything that inspires you.

25 Montessori Art Materials for Early Childhood Classroom

Choosing the Most Appropriate Art Materials for Early Childhood

There are so many awesome tools and supplies, but not all of them will be appropriate for an early childhood classroom. 

The reason why some art supplies and materials are not suitable for this age group is because early childhood students are in what I identify as the Young Exploratory Phase™. This means they make and create by exploratory and discovery play. Children in these beginning years do not understand the placement of visual arts, and are very curious about different mediums; they’re still working through gross-to-fine motor abilities and are often still putting objects in their mouths. So it’s important to choose the right safe mediums and materials as an introduction to visual arts as they experiment and learn from the results they create.

I’ve met thousands of teachers all over the world who want to start teaching art in their classroom, but they don’t know where to start or what materials they need. It’s taken me years to amass my own art material collection, so I can understand why trying to purchase the right art material for a classroom all at once can be overwhelming—especially if you have no idea where to start.

When you’re teaching art to early childhood Montessori students, you can get by with just a few basic materials. It’s just important to be smart and strategic in purchasing those materials. I’d encourage you to start buying a few items from the list below to get you started, then adding to it as the year goes on and you start to see your students grow in excitement and interest!

montessori art materials for early childhood toddler, 3-6 casa house

Where to Start: Which Montessori Art Materials for Early Childhood to Purchase First

I typically teach visual art within five domains. If you’re really on a budget when you’re shopping for back-to-school art materials, start with purchasing materials for just one domain, then build from there. For instance, you can create dozens of art lessons using just a few essential materials from the painting domain. (If you’re looking for other money-saving tips, read this blog.)

One Step Further (Download My Montessori Art Materials for Early Childhood List!)

Here’s the thing with early childhood art: it needs to be taught specifically for early childhood students using art materials that are designed or appropriate for them. Here’s a list I’ve curated based on my years of experience teaching art to early childhood, 3 to 6 year-old, students. Every art material listed here is suitable for their age group and will make introducing art concepts and lessons to them much easier, account for control of error, and result in less (to zero) mess in your classroom!

You can download 25 Montessori Art Materials to Have in Your Early Childhood Classroom by clicking here.

Montessori Art Toddler, early childhood, 3-6
25 Montessori Art Materials for Early Childhood Classroom

A Short Cut Just for You – Buy Guide Book

Having the right art material for your early childhood classroom is just the first step. If you want more information on how to use each material, how to set up an art shelf with the materials, and how to teach lessons that actually help early childhood students learn art (YES, they can learn art at that early of an age!) then I have some good news for you!

I’m currently selling my brand new, Early Childhood Art Guide . It includes everything you need to know to successfully bring art lessons into your early childhood classroom—without the stress. I go into more detail about art materials (such as how to use them and where to find them), give you step-by-step art presentations, and a ton of other valuable information that makes teaching art and setting up your shelf so much easier. And, right now, you can order yours today!, so don’t miss out!

Montessori early childhood

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

Buy Guide Now!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

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Early Childhood Montessori Art Teaching Method (3-6 Years)

Sensory Cognitive Child Art Method, montessori

I’ve spent years and years researching and observing how children learn art, and what I’ve found is that children are able to grasp different artistic skills at different planes. In this new blog series, I’ll be sharing my insight on the art teaching methods that work for each age group of Montessori students.

Children of all ages can be taught visual arts and be guided through the artistic process. Each developmental phase requires different teaching styles and approaches.

Below you’ll find a general arts literacy guide for Montessori Early Childhood ages 3-6, which follows the International Standards for the Arts Education & Sensory Visual Arts method that aligns with a child’s growth™.

Early Childhood Montessori

Montessori Early Childhood Art Teaching Methods Resources

Sign-up to receive video course & Montessori art teaching e-newsletter.

The Phases of Art Development is a quick digital course that explains how art making can help students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. More importantly, I share what types of projects students at every age are capable of completing safely, and without making a mess.

Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.

If you would like to understand more about which types of art projects children can work on, register for my free video course, Phases of Arts Development, which discusses teaching methods for Early Childhood Montessori students.

You can learn about Art Literacy Standards and the benefits of visual arts by reading Defining Visual Arts Paperback (paperback book).

Get more information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classroom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

If you would like to understand more about the phases of art development, register for this free mini digital course.

art literacy standards, montessori

Early Childhood Art Teaching: 3 to 6 Years

For young children, art making is an exploratory- and discovery-based experience. Students in the Montessori first plane and who are aged 3 to 6 years are ready for simple art making tasks. They’re now able to make connections to their own imagination.

Learning Through Process-Based Art

The best instruction method to introducing art lessons is through process-based art, creative-mode, and copy-mode, with the goal of building implicit memory.

Process-based art is about the experience and the process; it’s not focused on the child’s final piece of artwork or whether it resembles art adults can recognize, but rather, it’s about exploring and using their own imagination.

When teaching by process art, you should give a brief introductory instruction on how mediums work and can be used. Children who are 3-6 years of age are very curious about art mediums and their results. They’re also quick learners. Montessori early childhood art lessons should allow students to explore art mediums without any expected outcome. Give students opportunities to focus on experimentation.

By providing specific activities in your Montessori art classroom, you can actually help young students develop and refine their small motor muscles. Creating art helps develop both large and small muscles, which improves young students’ controlled movements. I will usually start young students off with clay modeling, paint brush stroking, and activities using safety scissors—each of these help them strengthen their fine motor skills more quickly.

montessori art standards

Continuing with Creative-Mode

Creative-mode is how children first learn to create art. It is the basis of process-based art learning. In creative mode, you should refrain from giving students a point of reference or image to copy. The child creates art by exploring the medium and conjuring up their own creative images from their own imaginations, thoughts, and ideas.

Introducing Copy-Mode

Copy-mode refers to a systematic, step-by-step art instruction. But in early childhood, you don’t want to yet introduce copy what you see in the image-type lessons. At this stage, children love to mimic easy task the see adults do, such as sweeping, cleaning, sewing, painting, cutting, and gardening. Bring this into your art lessons, and allow them to copy your movements.

Introduce copy-mode by having students copy a simple design (one that only involves one to two steps). Once they have the basic design complete, let them continue on in creative-mode and finish their projects however they want.


Montessori 3 to 6 ages art

Early Childhood Art Activities & Mediums

Here are some great Montessori Early Childhood art projects for your students who are ages 3 to 6. These types of art activities will help develop their fine motor control and small muscles in fingers and hands; they also allow room to utilize creative-mode and copy-mode during activities. (You can find non-toxic, kid-friendly art supplies needed for these art projects at Nature of Art for Kids.)

  • Doodling: crayons, color pencils, tempera sticks, etc.
  • Painting: watercolor paints, tempera paints, finger paints, homemade veggie dyes, etc.
  • Color Theory Play: watercolor painting, dropper painting, squeeze bottle painting, etc.
  • Clay Modeling: earth clay, homemade play dough, pressing sculptures, beeswax forming, non-hardening plastine clay, etc.
  • Simple Crafts: cutting paper, weaving string, glueing, building with blocks, large popsicle-stick structures, etc.

A Short Cut Just for You

Having the right art material for your early childhood classroom is just the first step. If you want more information on how to use each material, how to set up an art shelf with the materials, and how to teach lessons that actually help early childhood students learn art (YES, they can learn art at that early of an age!) then I have some good news for you!

I’m currently selling my brand new, Early Childhood Art Guide. It includes everything you need to know to successfully bring art lessons into your early childhood classroom—without the stress. I go into more detail about art materials (such as how to use them and where to find them), give you step-by-step art presentations, and a ton of other valuable information that makes teaching art and setting up your shelf so much easier. And, right now, you can order yours today!, so don’t miss out!

Montessori early childhood

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

Buy Guide Now!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

Posted on

Early Childhood (Toddler) Montessori Art Teaching Methods

Sensory Cognitive Child Art Method, Montessori

I’ve spent years and years researching and observing how children learn art, and what I’ve found is that children are able to grasp different artistic skills at different planes. In this new blog series, I’ll be sharing my insight on the art teaching methods that work for each age group of Montessori students.

Children of all ages can be taught visual arts and be guided through the artistic process. Each developmental phase requires different teaching styles and approaches.

Below you’ll find a general arts literacy guide for Montessori Early Childhood, following the International Standards for the Arts Education & Sensory Visual Arts method that aligns with a child’s growth™.

Montessori Early Childhood Art Teaching Methods Resources

If you would like to understand more about which types of art projects children can work on, register for my free video course, Phases of Arts Development, which discusses teaching methods for Early Childhood Montessori students.

You can learn about Art Literacy Standards and the benefits of visual arts by reading Defining Visual Arts Paperback (paperback book).

Get more information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classroom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

If you would like to understand more about the phases of art development, register for this free mini digital course.

Early Childhood (Toddler) Montessori Art Teaching Methods

Early Childhood, Toddler Art Teaching: 15 months to 3 years

For young children, art making is an exploratory- and discovery-based experience. Students in the Montessori art first plane do not yet understand the placement of visual arts, and are in a very curious state about mediums. At this age, children should explore art mediums without any expected outcome.

Learning Through Process-Based Art

The best instruction method to introducing art lessons is through process-based art. Process-based art is about the experience and the process; it’s not focused on the child’s final piece of artwork or whether it resembles art adults can recognize, but rather, it’s about exploring and using their own imagination.

When teaching by process art, you should give a brief introductory instruction on how mediums work and can be used. Give a few examples so kids can see different techniques for using the mediums.

That’s it though!

From there, allow Early Childhood students to explore their own techniques and ideas. Assure them that there is no right or wrong way to use the medium to create their artwork. Let them go back and add to previous projects and (reasonably) experiment with unique ways to finish their project using the medium you’ve introduced. Remember, process-based art is all about experimenting and discovering!

Developing Fine-Motor Skills

An important thing you want to focus on is giving children tasks that encourage fine-motor skill development. Creating art helps develop both large and small muscles, which improves young students’ controlled movements. Be sure to provide plenty of opportunities to practice these skills.

Typically, children who are in preschool to kindergarten have little to no finger or hand strength capabilities. It’s important to understand how fine-motor development plays a huge role in a child’s daily life—dressing themselves, tying their own shoes, eating without assistance, writing, even playing outdoors. They also help with healthy cognitive processing at early ages.

By providing specific activities in your Montessori art classroom, you can actually help young students develop and refine their small motor muscles. I will usually start young students off with clay modeling, paint brush stroking, and activities using safety scissors—each of these help them strengthen their fine motor skills more quickly.

montessori art early childhood toddler

Early Childhood Art Activities & Mediums

Here are some great Montessori early childhood art projects for your students who are at a toddler age up through primary grades. These types of art activities will help develop their fine motor control and small muscles in fingers and hands. (You can find non-toxic, kid-friendly art supplies needed for these art activities at Nature of Art for Kids.)

  • Doodling: crayons, color pencils, tempera sticks, etc.
  • Painting: watercolor paints, tempera paints, finger paints, homemade veggie dyes, etc.
  • Color Theory Play: watercolor painting, dropper painting, squeeze bottle painting, etc.
  • Clay Modeling: earth clay, homemade play dough, pressing sculptures, beeswax forming, etc.
  • Simple Crafts: cutting paper, weaving string, glueing, building with giant/jumbo Legos, large popsicle-stick structures, etc. (I recommend holding off on any crafts involving small parts until after your students are older than 3.)

A Short Cut Just for You: Buy Early Childhood Guide

Having the right art material for your early childhood classroom is just the first step. If you want more information on how to use each material, how to set up an art shelf with the materials, and how to teach lessons that actually help early childhood students learn art (YES, they can learn art at that early of an age!) then I have some good news for you!

I’m currently selling my brand new, Early Childhood Art Guide. It includes everything you need to know to successfully bring art lessons into your early childhood classroom—without the stress. I go into more detail about art materials (such as how to use them and where to find them), give you step-by-step art presentations, and a ton of other valuable information that makes teaching art and setting up your shelf so much easier. And, right now, you can order yours today!, so don’t miss out!

Montessori early childhood

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

Buy Guide Now!

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

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.

Posted on

Montessori Art Early Childhood Guides

Early childhood montessori art


Below you’ll find a general arts literacy guide for Montessori Early Childhood ages following the International Standards for the Arts Education & Sensory Visual Arts method that aligns with a child’s growth – Nature of Art®.

Children of all ages can be taught visual arts and guided through the artistic process.

Each developmental phase requires different teaching styles and approaches.

Resources

If you would like to understand more about which types of art projects children can work on, register for this free video course Phases of Arts Development discussing Early Childhood, 3 – 6, and 6 – 13 years age.

You can learn about Art Literacy Standards and the benefits of visual arts read Defining Visual Arts Paperback (paperback book).Get information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classroom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

Get information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classrom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

montessori art early childhood toddler

Early Childhood, Toddler Art Teaching : 18 months to 3 years

For young children art making will be an exploratory and discovery based experience. Early childhood children do not understand the placement of visual arts, and are in a very curious state about mediums. Children should explore art mediums without any expected outcome.

So the best instruction method to introducing art lessons will be process based art, Process based art is about the experience and the process, and not focused on the child’s final piece of artwork, or whether it resembles art adults recognize.


And finally the important thing you want to focus on is giving children task for fine-motor skill development. Art creating helps develop muscles both small and large, which improves controlled movements. Be sure to provide plenty of opportunities to practice these skills.

Art Activities & Mediums For Early Childhood

Doodling – crayons, color pencils, tempera sticks

Painting – watercolor paints, tempera paints, finger paints, homemade veggie paints

Color Theory Play – water color paints

Clay Modeling – earth clay, homemade play dough

Simple Crafts  – cutting paper and weaving string. I recommend waiting to do crafts with small parts till after age of 3 years.

Learn more by registering for this free mini digital course, Phases of Art Development Video.

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