Painting is one area of visual arts that is a lot of fun and can be messy at times. If you look at the most basic concept of painting, anyone can do it, from simple finger painting to multi-layered brushstrokes. Painting is great for all ages. In this blog, I want to share my ultimate guide, giving you ideas on where to start with simple painting activities. The resources listed in this ultimate guide should be beneficial to Montessori guides working with early childhood (ages 3-6), lower elementary, upper elementary students, and even Montessori-at-home parents.
Montessori Painting
Painting can be a regular activity in the Montessori classroom with the right setup and key lessons staged properly on a shelf for independence. Children love playing with paint; it’s a very tactile medium. It’s a great idea for children to paint on a regular basis to improve their skill sets. However, it’s important to remember that children lack the ability to paint realistic images in the early years, but they can still enjoy the creative process and learn basic brushstrokes to build lines, shapes, and textures to eventually create great imagery. With painting materials staged properly, painting can be very joyous and fuel creative ideas.
What is painting?
Painting is the action of making brush strokes marks with a paintbrush, hands, sponges, paint rollers, or stampers. Brushstrokes are created with a liquid pigments – paint. Usually children paint on paper, canvas, cardboard and wood surfaces.
How Painting Benefits Children
Children can develop and strengthen their fine motor control by learning to make brush strokes with their hands and by holding a paintbrush. By showing young students how to use a paintbrush, you’re helping them reach critical milestones. Like using their hands for other subjects like writing, typing, crafting, and building.
Painting Builds Vocabulary
Montessori painting activities teach young students how to communicate what they see in their artworks and how to describe their process. They learn to identify the art elements and describe them to their peers using the language of an artist. Read more about art language here.
Start With Basic Brushstrokes
I recommend starting by introducing children to painting materials. Then follow up with basic brushstroke lessons. You can move on to using a paintbrush to create basic line and shape elements. If they’ve never painted before, let them explore and discover what paint can do through exploration. If you are uncomfortable giving them a potentially messy medium without any guidance, you can take the lead by mentoring basic paintbrush movements.
Stay nearby and demonstrate painting marks alongside them. Kids love to mimic the actions of adults! My painting curriculum can teach you how to teach basic brushstrokes and how to set up. My Painting Works art album can give you lots of ideas on teaching painting lessons for elementary grades. If you are working with early childhood, check out my Kids Painting Book with lots of information about choosing the right materials and setup for all painting activities.
Process-Based Painting For Beginners
Start painting projects by creating in process-based and open-ended lessons. This means your students do not have to follow directions to get a specific result. Process-based painting gives children the freedom to explore. Giving them the freedom to experiment with paint mediums any way they desire
Start With Few Colors
Give your students just a few color options at first—maybe even limit it to one color. Too many options can be overstimulating, causing them to lose focus (which could lead to messes). I typically start beginner lessons with just one color until my students get the hang of their materials and brush marks. Check out my painting key lesson training for guides and parents here.
Minimize Messes – My Signature Painting Hack
If you don’t want large messes, shrink down the paints and paintbrushes. Use the smallest available size of paintbrush and put paint into small containers (as opposed to giving students the entire bottle). This is one of the major tricks I share in my books and guides Kids Painting.
Learn Proper Brushstrokes
Once your students have a grasp on how paints work and can control their movements a bit, move your focus to teaching brushstrokes. Read this article for tips on teaching kids how to create brushstrokes.
Painting & Color Theory
One great way to teach color theory concepts is through painting! Start by giving your students a single color to paint with, but create different tones and hues for them to use. For example, start with a dark green, then add drops of white paint to it to make lighter and lighter shades.
Choose the Right (Safe) Paints
Only use paints that are safe, non-toxic, and intended for young children. If products carry a non-toxic seal or claims the product “conforms to ASTM D 4236,” that means all of the potentially hazardous components of the art product are safe. Most adult fine artist supplies don’t have this seal, so be very careful when purchasing.
What To Paint
The surface your students are using will determine the best paint for their project. For example, acrylic paint has the sticking power to help it adhere to canvas; watercolor paints need a thicker, more absorbent paper; finger paints and tempera paints will work on most regular paper. In my early childhood Kids Painting book and elementary Painting Works Album I give lots of great ideas of what to paint.
Paint Mediums Best For Kids
- Dry watercolor cake palette, 36 colors – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor finger paint – best for ages 3+
- Acrylic paint (kids/student-grade only) – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor pencils – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor Crayons – best for ages 5+
Visit Nature of Art for Kids for more non-toxic, eco-friendly, kid-safe painting supplies!
Tip: Use watercolor paints, which can be diluted to near transparency, making it easy to manage stains. Start with these until you and your class become more familiar with painting and its clean-up.
its clean-up.
Dress for a Mess
Young children lack the fine motor skills to keep paint in the palettes and on their paper, so be prepared. It takes many years for kids to stop making frequent spills. Anytime kids are painting, make sure they’re wearing “paint clothes,” or old large t-shirts, a smock, or some other type of cover-up. Even if the bottle says the paint is washable, it can still soil clothing. Plus, there’s no real guarantee that the pigment won’t stain…trust me!
Set-Up Paint Environment
Before painting starts, designate a painting area for the kids to work in. Make sure they know where the paint will be set up and where painting activities will be allowed. Never let kids get lazy about this rule! Remind your students where they can paint to avoid stains. If necessary, put down tarps, rugs, or towels in this area to keep floors clean during any painting activities.
One Step Further: Download My Painting Materials Checklist
Now you have a basic understanding of how to set up a painting area, what kind of painting activities your students can do, and an idea of what paints to use. Before you start teaching painting in your Montessori classroom, make sure you download this FREE Painting Materials Checklist; it has all the materials you need to be able to confidently and successfully teach your students! Click here to download the checklist.
As a bonus, you can also check out this FREE Northern Lights painting lesson demonstration. This art project uses two paint techniques: wax resist and wet-on-wet. This project is best for elementary students, but can be adapted to be suitable for younger ages as well. Watch the video by clicking here!
A Short Cut Just for You
I’ve actually created an online training that delves deeper into teaching young students how to paint. Painting Key Lessons 101 gives you the foundation for demonstrating and presenting painting lessons in your Montessori classroom, even if you don’t feel like you have the skills or experience. In the 1.5-hour video training, I also cover the types of paints that are best for children, and how to set up lessons so they’re integrated with other subjects and allow kids work independently. It truly is a shortcut to becoming an expert in teaching your students how to paint; AND, even better, you can earn 1.5 CPD hours once you complete the training and complete a quick survey! To enroll and get started, click here.
If you want more information, instruction, and tips for teaching kids how to paint, check out my book, Kids Painting. It includes everything you need to know about how young children learn how to paint, and gives you lists of kid-friendly paint supplies, art project/lesson ideas, and ways to set up your classroom to provide inspiration and avoid messes. To purchase Kids Painting, click here.
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