Posted on

Are You Ready to Teach Montessori Art?

How do I Teach Montessori Art?

Are You Ready to Teach Montessori Art?

When was the last time you thought about how to present Montessori art lessons in your classroom?

Maybe you’ve tried leading an art project once, and chaos ensued, leaving a huge mess behind. Or maybe you started pulling ideas together only to get overwhelmed at how much you thought you actually had to do. Or maybe you’ve completely shied away from teaching your students art altogether because you have no idea where to start.

First of all, I want to commend you for even thinking about adding art to your Montessori lessons! It’s a big deal, and you’ve already taken the first step!

I’ve been teaching and working in visual art for almost three decades, specifically focusing on helping Montessori teachers bring art programming into their classrooms over the last 10 years or so, and I’ve developed a truly unique method for teaching students.

I dive deeper into how my art teaching method was developed and how it works in this blog post, but today, I want to share the one thing you really need—even without any prior knowledge—to bring art into your classroom.

  • Are You Ready to Teach Montessori Art?

Where to Start

Sticking with the basis of the Montessori, you want any art lesson in your classroom to allow your students to work independently and explore the joys of art on their own. That’s why you always want to make sure you’re providing your students with independent projects that engage their imaginations.

Instruction should be minimal. While you want to give material presentations and demonstrations, beyond that, students should have the freedom to explore.

It helps to have an art shelf or inspiration gallery in your classroom, as well as a space that’s been designated specifically for art projects. You can look at these as tools to help students find ways to create art even without specific lessons or guidelines.

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

One Step Further

Of course, you want to add some level of structure or reason to the art projects your students create. Ideally, I’d recommend finding ways to connect the Montessori art projects you teach to the Great Lessons.

Using art as a tool to supplement other things you’re teaching—such as the The Story of the Universe—helps instill the concepts in their minds. Creating art can offer a different perspective and larger context on different subjects, such as history, science, and communication. And the more you introduce art into their world the stronger their art literacy grows, helping them become curious, courageous artists and learners.

One reason I encourage tying art back to Montessori Great Lessons is because they offer so much inspiration! They tend to excite students and spark their curiosities, imaginations, and creativity. Take a look at the books that are in your classroom—the art within those pages can lead to project ideas. Check out this blog post for more ideas on incorporating the Great Lessons into your art lessons.

how to teach kid montessori art lessons and crafts

A Short Cut Just for You

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!

Posted on

Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

By Spramani Elaun

Inspiring children to be creative is my business! I’ve spent more than 20 years observing how they learn and teaching them visual art. In my experience, one of the most essential components of students exploring and learning art is their environment. Luckily, it’s actually so easy to set up your Montessori classroom art space!

If you’ve been following this blog, then you know I believe every Montessori classroom should have an inspiration gallery and an art shelf, so I bet you’re wondering what else you could possibly need. I can go on and on about all the things you can use to set up an art space, but to keep it simple, I’ll just share the five basic necessities with you. (Of course, you can dive deeper and learn about all the fun, unique, colorful, exciting things that you can add to your classroom by reading my books Introducing Visual Arts to The Montessori Classroom and Defining Visual Arts.)

The most important thing to understand is that making a space for art means making space to get creative and have fun. Now, when I say that, I know a lot of teachers think fun means mess. While that’s the case sometimes, if you set up a designated space for making art, it’ll contain the mess, while still giving students the freedom to create as they please.

Setting Up an Art Space

Kids need an art space to doodle, draw, write, paint, craft, sew, knit, cut, glue, build, construct, and play with clay. For kids to make these types of art projects successfully, they need the proper space. Here are the five basic necessities for creating a place for art in your classroom.

1. Rugs & Floor Coverings

Spills are inevitable, so it’s important to consider the flooring of your art space. If your classroom has wood, tile, or linoleum floors then spills will be an easy, worry-free clean up. However you may still want to a rug to lay out that will protect your floors—especially if your floor is carpet.

Rugs come in many sizes and can be inexpensive or pricey. If you don’t want to invest in a rug, then you can use a drop cloth or tarp while your students are working, and then fold it up and put it away when they’re done.

Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

2. Table

Table size will not affect your students’ ability to be creative, but the sturdiness of it will. I’ve witnessed kids create beautiful works of art on a surface as large as their lap, so don’t feel like you need a huge, glorious art table in your classroom.

When I’m hosting events and teaching art classes I’m usually setting up on the fly and rely on a small (but sturdy!), cheap, portable fold-up tables. These are great—not just for my events but in the classroom as well—because you can set them up when you need to and not be limited to a full-time art table since they can be folded up and tucked out of the way when not in use.

3. Chairs

Along with a sturdy table, kids need a sturdy chair or stool to sit on safely. A bench or folding chair can work just fine, as will pulling a chair from elsewhere in your classroom. Having a table and chairs available makes invites a child to create and lets them know art should be made in that specific place (containing any mess to that space as well).

Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

4. Light Source

I’ve spent many years observing children making artworks, and the ways in which they visually perceive their work is key to developing their artistic skills. That’s why a good, bright light source is important—it helps them identify pigments and color hues. Natural sunlight is the best, but a lamp light source can work just as well.

5. Art Supply Storage

Every art space should have a place where art supplies are stored. I’ve found that children can be overly stimulated or even get bored if they’re given total access to every art supply in your classroom. The best way to keep them excited and engaged with art is to keep rotating the materials that are available to them. You can use jars, baskets, or closed plastic containers to separate different types of art supply and store them away from the art space when necessary.

Setting Up Your Montessori Classroom Art Space

Creating your Montessori classroom art space doesn’t need to be fancy or complicated; it’s really not that different from the areas you have set aside for other lessons.

If this has you inspired and eager to start teaching art in your classroom, you should definitely sign up for my online training, Art Teaching Blueprint. It’s a quick, seven-week course that takes everything I’ve learned about teaching art to students and breaks it down into 43 short, easily-digestible videos. It’ll help you build a foundation for teaching a quality visual arts program in your school or classroom. I’m so excited to offer this course to you and I really think it’ll empower you and give you invaluable teaching skills. You can click here to 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.