By Spramani Elaun

Have you ever wondered if you can use Montessori materials for art lessons? For example the Montessori color tablets. Montessori materials can support engaging art experiences. Montessori materials can help you engage your students for learning something new.

Let’s focus on the color tablet box that is typically used to teach chromatic sense. By staging a Montessori color tablet box, we can introduce dynamic art sessions. While Montessori children already have experience with color matching using color tablets. We can use this background knowledge to bridge the gap and teach new visual art ideas. You can use color tablets as an anticipatory set. These color tablets can be a creative and different way to peak our students’ interest. By connecting learned knowledge from tablet matching work, to brand new art color knowledge. So yes you can use Montessori color tablets for preparing children for art color lessons. This can be a fun creative format to open up new color mixing presentations. This is what I mean – to bridge the gap to new knowlege.

Dynamic & Static Color Mixing Work

Working with color tablets in the Montessori classroom is a valuable aspect of practical life education. However, when it comes to fostering art literacy, it’s essential to understand that art is dynamic and spatial in nature. Relying solely on color tablet work may provide a foundation for color matching, but it falls short in teaching color theory. So, think about using color tablets as openers for actual color mixing exercises.

In my books and training, I emphasize the importance between static and dynamic learning. Matching color tablets is considered static information, whereas color mixing entails dynamic learning. By incorporating color matching experiences, we can engage children’s prior knowledge. Then transition them into dynamic color mixing art concepts.

To delve deeper into this topic, I recommend checking out my books/curriculum/Training:

Defining Visual Arts – Book

Kids Color Theory – Book

Kids Color Theory – Curriculum

These resources explore the importance of integrating real color mixing activities into the Montessori curriculum to enhance art literacy. Remember, art should include learning the basics and trying things out to develop a better understanding.

It’s important to note that working with color has no right or wrong way of arranging or mixing colors. The focus shifts towards understanding how color mixtures behave. Like tints, shades, and different secondary color combinations. However, it’s crucial not to rush children into this phase. They need ample practice (play) in exploring color mixing and even experimenting with different types of mediums.

Building a solid foundation through color tablet work is a fundamental aspect of Montessori philosophy. In color mixing art lessons, it is equally important for children to experiment, record their experiences, and understand how different color mixtures came about. This knowledge will later help them achieve desired colors in their own artistic works.

Color theory lessons can be enjoyed by children of all ages. Color is one of the most important elements taught in visual arts. It’s a vital part of children’s artistic expression. These activities can be by experimenting just with watercolor paints. Children can learn to mix light and dark values of colors.

How-to Use Montessori Color Tablets For Anticipatory Sets

Here are some anticipatory sets ideas you can create using color tablets to engage your students. After engaging your students in a conversation, then follow up with color theory lessons using paint materials.

1. Set up a prism next to a box of color tablets and ask students to identify what they have in common and what they notice.
2. Display a color wheel next to a color tablet and guide a discussion on how they are related to artists.
3. Arrange two primary color tablets on a tray, add a drop of secondary colors (orange, green or violet) of paint, and ask students to find similarities or connections between them.
4. Place a variety of warm or cool color tablets on a tray and prompt children to share their knowledge of warm and cool colors. As well as compare them to colors in their environment or nature.
5. Encourage students to explore the differences between primary and secondary color tablets.
6. Discuss the concept of complementary colors by placing pairs of complementary color tablets together, such as yellow and purple, or green and red.
7. Discuss how artists achieve different shades from darkest to lightest in their paintings. Show examples of light and dark color tablets next to artworks that demonstrate this concept.

Don’t have color tablets? No worries, you can use color toys or blocks. You can paint and create your own color tablets.

Buy Kids Color Theory Digital or Paperback Book HERE

Buy : Kids Color Theory Curriculum Digital or Paperback HERE

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