As a Montessori teacher, you are well aware of the significance of staging shelves for your students’ independence and learning. To assist you in this endeavor, I have created the “Ultimate Guide for Staging a Montessori Art Shelf.” This comprehensive guide provides valuable tips, advice, and resources to help you set up a properly staged art shelf that promotes art literacy in your classroom. It includes links to relevant articles and blogs, making it your go-to resource for all things related to staging an art shelf.

The resources included in this Ultimate Guide offer insights for Montessori teachers of early childhood (ages three to six), lower elementary, and upper elementary students. Montessori-at-home parents will also find it helpful. My goal with this guide is to help you understand why every classroom needs an art shelf, as well as give you staging ideas to create a shelf that excites and engages students.

A proper art shelf should provide Montessori students with the art materials and mediums to work independently and inspire creative thinking. A Montessori art shelf is more about giving students the opportunity for exploration and discovery, without you needing to lead or teach lessons.

I understand that setting up the “perfect” art shelf can be overwhelming; but here’s the good news—a Montessori art shelf doesn’t need to be perfect! And in fact, staging an art shelf is no different than any of the other shelves in your classroom. If done correctly, it’ll save you the time and stress of worrying about creating art lessons that might not support independent art making and art literacy—the art shelf will do all the work for you.

Where to Start: Read Through These Montessori Art Shelf Resources

There are a ton of Montessori resources all over the internet, but these are the cumulation of my years of experience as an art teacher and Montessori art teaching trainer. I recommend you read through these five articles in the order they’re numbered. Once you have your art shelf set up, I’d highly encourage you to continue your Montessori art journey by learning more about my own proprietary art teaching method, preparing art lessons, effective ways to introduce art lessons. If you want to read futher in my books about this topic, check out my art teaching books here.

Ultimate Resource Links for Staging A Montessori Art Shelf

1. 10 Items to Include on Your Montessori Art Shelf

A Montessori art shelf doesn’t need to be complicated. If I’m being honest, an art shelf really only needs 10 items to be effective. With a few basic art supplies you can encourage your students to be creative in a way that reinforces Montessori philosophy and principles. You can take these 10 items, and turn them into unlimited inspiration by restocking and refreshing them throughout the year.

2. Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

This article tackles the key features needed to set up a functional art space in your Montessori classroom. Kids need a space to doodle, draw, write, paint, craft, sew, knit, cut, glue, build, construct, and play with clay. In order for kids to make these types of art projects successfully (and without a mess), they need the proper art space.

3. Why Every Montessori Classroom Needs an Inspiration Gallery

An inspiration gallery goes hand-in-hand with a Montessori art shelf. They inspire students by providing them with ideas but giving them the freedom to create as they please (as opposed to needing to follow step-by-step instructions). You’ll find that some students may need a little extra push to create art, especially during the weeks you don’t give them a specific project to work on, and a fun inspiration gallery—plus a well-stocked art shelf—will help them find their creative spark.

4. How to Set Up Montessori Art Storage for Easy Presentations

If you want to keep your students excited about art making all year long, you’ll need to rotate and refresh the art materials on your shelf. Being able to store your art supplies when you’re not using them is important if you want to remain stress-free. This article provides tips and tricks for organizing your art material storage, so that you can easily access the supplies you need and pull them out for your art shelf or for art presentations. 

5. 25 Art Supplies Every Montessori Classroom Needs

While a Montessori art shelf really only needs 10 items to inspire your students, this article is a detailed list of everything you could add to your art shelf (and classroom). Once your art shelf is set up and your students begin to create, you can expand the materials they get to interact with.

One Step Further: Take this 1 hour Training, How-to Stage A Montessori Art Shelf

How to Stage A Montessori Art Shelf
In this 1-hour pre-recorded video, Spramani shares her: – Proprietary staging system for Montessori classrooms – How to stage to meet the arts standards – What types of materials to stage – How to support group and independent work, and much more!

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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.

One of the biggest challenges I hear from Montessori teachers is keeping their classrooms organized—especially when it comes to art. Many of them think that it can be messy, and, because there are so many cool art materials you’ll want to have in your classroom, it can become disorganized and chaotic fairly quickly. But that’s not the case at all! Once you know how to set up your Montessori art storage, you’ll be able to do shelf staging, presentations, and demonstrations without breaking a sweat! You’ll be able to teach your students fun art projects without needing to be an artist yourself, you just need to be able to master your art materials storage and set-up!

I’m all about organization! When I’m not training other Montessori teachers with how to bring art into their classroom, I’m setting up pop-up art lessons at museums, studios, workshops, and different classrooms all over the world. You can sometimes find me at local Montessori schools here in San Diego, and I’ve also taught art at the Children’s Museum in Seattle, in lower elementary Montessori classrooms in China, and at Montessori teachers conferences in Bali! I’m literally all over the world!

My key to success in being able to set up shop with everything I need is organized storage! Because I know exactly where all my art materials are within their storage containers, I can quickly grab what I need and set up an art presentation without any stress. And I’m sharing my storage secrets with you! (Click here to watch my video, How to Set Up Your Montessori Art Storage Stress and Mess Free.)

There are a lot of reasons to spend a little extra time unpacking your classroom and making your art storage a priority.

• It keeps your classroom and art shelf neat and tidy throughout the year.
• It allows you to quickly set up your art environment for lessons.
• Being able to see all your art materials while they’re in storage will make it easier to know what supplies you have on hand so you can quickly plan a lesson or project.
• You’ll be able to rotate art material out of storage and onto your art shelf, so students stay inspired all year.
• It models a good example for your students.
• It helps you know your art material inventory so you know what items should be added to your shopping list for future activities.
• Gives you assistant the ability to set up your art activities since everything is kept all in one place.

Where to Start: Understanding Art Shelf vs. Art Storage

It’s usually easier said than done, I know. At the beginning of the year you can start with a clean slate, but at the same time, you have all these cool new art materials you want to showcase and share with your students! Reel it in!  

Not everything needs to be on your art shelf. In fact, if you put every art material out on your art shelf, it’ll probably backfire! Your students will lose interest in all the amazing mediums and art-making tools you’ve provided them. Plus, more things out on the shelf might very well lead to more mess!

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

I know that you’re going to have your own preferences in how you like to set up your classroom and how you like to organize your storage. In my experience, every art storage area should:

• Include one container per art area, or domain
• Have clear containers
• Have containers with easy-to-open lids to access materials
• Be in an area near your staging containers
• Be in a place that’s away from your students’ reach
• Have everything you need to teach stored together (e.g., a container for watercolor painting should have paints, palettes, napkins, wash jars, paintbrushes, watercolor paper, inspiration, etc.)

Generally speaking, you want everything that’s in storage to be visible and accessible.

I’m a visual person, so I made this video for you to check out. I’m going to walk you through how I set up my own Montessori art storage place. 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’ll show you why it’s so important to have a functioning art storage system…I’ll 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 on How to Set Up Your Montessori Art Storage Stress and Mess Free.

A Short Cut Just for You

Staying organized is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to having art in your classroom. Yes, Montessori art storage is important, but you need all the other puzzle pieces—knowing how kids learn art, understanding the components of an art lesson, being able to set up an art shelf, etc.—to be able to effectively teach your students art.

I’ve been helping Montessori teachers all over the world bring art into their classroom; I’ve honed and perfected the training so that you can do it too. In my online course, Art Teaching Blueprint, I give you everything you need to start teaching your Montessori students art.

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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.

There are so many new art mediums and tools on the market this year, and I’m excited to share some of the products I’m currently exploring in my art camps, workshops, and classroom presentations this year. These are all items I found for teaching basic art literacy principles to young students. And, so far, the kids are responding extremely positively and really seem to love these Montessori art materials! 

Bringing a new product into your regular art lessons will excite your students and hold their attention. Think about how you cook in your kitchen; when you get a new gadget to do the same old task, it suddenly becomes so much fun again! Bringing one or two new products into your art lessons this year inspire your students and help them come up with beautiful new creations.

I make a list like this every year, reviewing some of the most popular products that kids, teachers, and parents loved at my events throughout the year. Sometimes these mediums are so good that they replace old ones and help me teach better. So, here are six hot, new items—that worked best for me—on my art shelf and in my online sales kits this year!

• Primary Watercolor pencils- water soluble
• Petite Pentora™ Wood Color Mixing Tray
• Watercolor Crayons water soluble
• Sumi-e Ink & Pointed paintbrush
• Tempera Paint Sticks
• Yarn Weaving Sheets 

1. Primary Watercolor Pencils – Water-soluble 

Learning to mix primary colors into an array of color combinations is the study of color theory. I like to think of it as an opportunity for scientific exploring for young students; it gives them a chance to see colors evolve and transform. And I usually start them with red, yellow, and blue pigments for mixing primary into secondary colors.

I know so many teachers who struggle with maintaining messes. Well, guess what? These water-soluble primary watercolor pencils are a great way to let students explore without needing to worry about paint creating a mess. These simple three colors can make a full color spectrum color wheel. Definitely a hot product for teachers!

Tip: Keep the pencils sharpened for precision drawings, and crisp, clean lines.

2. Petite Pintora™ – Color Mixing Station

My new favorite product is also for color mixing! It’s this fabulous wooden Color Mixing Station by Petite Pintora™. This item was my most popular at the AMS education conference among teachers!

After understanding how specific pedagogy teachers need materials to function in the classroom and on their art shelves, and as an art teacher who knows what needs to be learned for advance painting skill sets, I decided to bring this product to market this year. I’ve found that it really helps children to securely carry their work station from the shelf to a table without knocking things over or creating a mess.

This beautiful wooden color mixing station is handcrafted in Turkey and designed for 3-12 year-old students. It comes with glass droppers, and non-toxic primary paints for mixing the perfect 12-step color spectrum wheel, which helps students properly learn about secondary color mixing. The set also comes with a wash jar, paintbrush, and laminated visual color wheel chart.

3. Watercolor Crayons – Water-soluble

Watercolor crayons were so popular this year among my upper elementary students because they are simple to use, easily glide across paper, and are super rich in pigment. When you wash over them with a wet paintbrush it instantly turns into paint—making them two mediums in one! Even the teachers I demonstrated these mediums to during training fell in love with them. 

Drawing lines then adding color is a dominant activity kids regularly do while creating art. I love these crayons because students can draw or doodle with them, then use a wet paintbrush to turn their drawings into paintings. It makes these crayons a mess-free alternative to keeping wet paints in palettes during art presentations. 

If you’re struggling on what Montessori art materials to invest in for the 2021 school year, I recommend opting for these, since they do the job of two products in one (drawing and painting), and last a really long time. 

4. Sumi-e Ink & Pointed Paint Brush

My last visit to China gave me the opportunity to investigate the art of sumi-e ink painting and learn all about the materials and methods ink-painting artists use. This year, I took what I learned and now I’m so thrilled to be offering a new curriculum for teaching kids how to make proper brushstrokes, Level 1. Painting for Montessori Children, which will be available this fall!

I found that teaching kids these basic skills and brushstroke lessons with sumi-e ink is easier than traditional paints. Sumi-e ink is perfect for isolating brushstroke movements and last long on the paintbrush. I love this product and highly recommend using it when you’re starting your students with basic brushstroke lessons.

Tip: Sumi-e ink can create messes so be sure to check out the painting presentation method I introduce in my books and trainings for how to set children up for working with this product.

5. Tempera Paint Sticks

Oh my, to say my early childhood kids loved these would be an understatement… they loved loved loved these! Tempera Paint Sticks are a great addition to your students’ process-based painting experiences. (But don’t replace traditional painting experiences; young students still need to be exposed to both types of tactile painting.) The paints glide smoothly across paper, offer bright pigmentation, and are safe and non-toxic without leaving behind any large messes. 

The smooth paint sticks are actually in a solid form and no paintbrush is required. They’re super easy set-up and use—just open caps and doodle the paint on paper. I’ve observed hundreds of kids this use these and have noticed the instant gratification they get seeing bold colors appear even when they’re still developing their gross to fine-motor control and hand strength. These tempera paint sticks are great for making basic line shapes like zig zags, and straight and curved lines. 

The best part (at least, for teachers) is that these tempera sticks are not messy; as soon as they’re applied to paper, the pigment won’t smudge as long as they’re used on smooth, uncoated paper. I don’t recommend using these on other surfaces like canvas or wood.

Tip: These paint sticks have caps that may be a choking hazard for children under 3 years of age. I usually remove all caps while arts in session, then replace them and store the paint sticks away from my young artists until next time.

6. Yarn Weaving Sheets

I’m always on the hunt for creative ideas that help young students build and refine their fine-motor mastery. I found these fun yarn weaving sheets for kids to learn the basics of weaving yarn with their hands. Hand-crafts are important for helping students develop their fine-motor skills, and these sheets are like blank canvas waiting for kids to come up with creative ways to weave colors or designs into them.  They can be used with a cross-stitch needle or yarn needle. I found these to be a great calming tactile experience. 

One Step Further: Learn How to Use These Montessori Art Materials 2019

The majority of these art mediums might be self-explanatory, but I think it’s important to see them in action. I spent some time earlier this week gathering up all the items in my round up so I could demo them for you.

Click here to watch my video demonstration and review. Once you have access to the video, you’ll be able to watch it as many times as you’d like. That way, you can choose the 2019 Montessori art materials you want to bring into your classroom, then rewatch my demo for it so you can easily present the medium to your students and get them started!

A Short Cut Just for You

These cool art materials are just the tip of the iceberg! While new mediums come out every year, having a foundation of art materials as well as an understanding of their general purpose, is crucial. I’ve developed an online teacher training, Art Teaching Blueprint, that gives you everything you need to bring art lessons into your Montessori classroom.

The course is an accumulation of everything I’ve learned and observed while teaching art for the last almost 30 years! In seven lectures, I show you how to use a wide variety of art materials, plus how to set up an art shelf and how to teach lessons that actually help Montessori students learn and appreciate art.

I’m currently doing a special summer enrollment for my online course, Art Teaching Blueprint, and offering it at a discounted price! But not for long! Click here to learn more and register.

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.