Some times it’s hard to think about how you’re going to teach art to Montessori early childhood children, but I promise it’s much more fun and easier than you think. And if you use a fun book to tell a story it becomes even more exciting
In this blog I want to share a fun idea I came up with in my art class. I have shared this idea on instagram and facebook and many parents, bloggers and Montessori guides have shared their inspired stories of how children loved this Montessori art activity using the story book Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Some Montessori parents have written me to say…
“We read the book together and I created a fun art space for drawing with different types of purple crayons, thank you for such a great idea, my daughter loved it!’
“My son loves doodling and this book was an instant hit, in fact he started to draw parts of the story!”
“My child loves purple, and this was such a fun adventure for them”.
“I loved how this was so easy to set up by just reading the book, and choosing purple art supplies we had around the house.”
One of my favorite things to do is combine children’s story books with art activities. If you would like to learn more on how to do this check out this free training How To Theme Art Activities With Story Books. This Montessori video training will show you how simple this concept can be.
Recently I had a chance to to take this into an 3-6 classroom in Vietnam. Wow what fun we had after story time.
To set up this Montessori art activity, all you have to do is find some purple drawing mediums like:
Crayons
Oil Pastels
Dot Stampers
Markers
Color Pencils
Paint
Ink Stamp
Tempera Paint Sticks
You can start with a purple crayon, but you can also use any color you want. Typically when I share this activity, my young students will sometimes choose other colors they like. Let your students choose any other color they like even if you only offered purple. You want to promote the idea of doodling and drawing.
Watch my mini video
This is a great way to stage a montessori toddler art shelf and introduce the color purple.
If you are currently teaching your students colors, they will love this story.
This book is fun for all ages, not just for little kids. I use this book also with lower and upper Montessori elementary kids.
Children love reading the same story over and over, so you could read this book, and introduce a new color like orange, red or green.
Try to use lots of different mediums easy for children to control.
You can choose to use one color to isolate the concept.
I have a tray with lots of different color purple mediums in my examples above.
You can guide children to make lines, textures, patterns and simple shapes.
This is just a fun creative way to introduce an isolated color.
You can find this cute book Harold and The Purple Crayon – Story Book in book stores, barnes and nobles, amazon, used online book stores.
Order square block crayons here!
Order purple colour paint here!
Learn why I make square block crayons here!
Love to hear your feedback!
Blowing purple with a straw creates so many fun shapes.