Montessori art curriculum, how to choose for students

Montessori art curriculum teaches children The Elements and Principles of Design. Across various art domains such as painting, drawing, and crafting. Montessori art curriculum introduces different elements like line, shape, form, and texture. As children grasp the rich artistic language of the elements and principles of design, they learn how to observe and communicate what they see in their artworks, as well as how to describe their process.

Another crucial skill children gain from Montessori art activities in their curriculum is the ability to use their imagination, plan, and problem solve. These activities nurture a child’s imagination and problem-solving abilities. Incorporating Montessori art activities cultivates independent, creative thinkers for the 21st century.

Hi, I’m an artist, homeschool parent, Montessori art trainer and art curriculum developer for children. I’ve spent the last few decades teaching thousands of children through my art studio. Like you, when I first started out I didn’t know where to start teaching even though I went to fine art school! I didn’t know what art lessons to start children with, what area to focus on, or how to teach the art standards. Plus I couldn’t find any Montessori stand alone sequential art curriculum that scaffold correctly. In this post I want to help you understand how to decide on Montessori curriculum, and how to choose the right one for students. I will provide links to where to order Montessori curriculum and choose the right one for your classroom.

Montessori art curriculum how to choose the right one for students by spramani elaun

When I first started out teaching Montessori Students I became stressed and overwhelmed, I usually had to backtrack art lessons. I would later find out my students needed to understand a step better before we moved to the next step. I bought tons of art books, researched libraries and the web for hundreds of hours looking for Montessori art curriculum ideas. My deepest desire was that my students had joyful creative fun learning. In the beginning I taught too advance. I made things harder than they needed to be, and without realizing I took away creative choices.

montessori art training, art teacher spramani elaun — *Montessori art curriculum how to choose the right one for students*!

After a lot of observation and understanding the child’s sensory system things changed in my teaching. Over time my art curriculum came all together. With an invitation to teach at a Montessori school with a hundred students all in different grades, with limited time. I made the decision to give the same art lesson to all the grades, using the exact lesson. I gave them the same exact demonstration and isolated movement. I followed up with letting my students create what ever they wanted afterwards.

Montessori student painting with curriculum developed by spramani Elaun

I could not believe the results… every single student engaged from start to finish! I’ve explored this art curriculum with studio practice with huge success. Even my adult learners loved learning this way. I accomplished this by making my lessons more digestible to understand. And even created lessons to flow with common Montessori Great Lessons.

Montessori clay modeling art curriculum for early childhood and elementary. spramani elaun how to homeschool art

5 Important Montessori Art Curriculum Things I Learned Over Time:

All children need to learn isolated movements first.
You need to focus on easy step instructions that match the plane they are in.
Montessori guides should plan demos around each new concept.
Each lessons should build onto the next skill set you are teaching.
All foundational key lessons can be taught to both planes of development.

I have tested these curriculums with small to large groups of children of all ages. I now offer proper scaffold sequential organized art lessons in all areas. My curriculums focus on isolated foundational skills sets. I now offer my art curriculum for sale for parent and school guides.

Montessori art activities, art curriculum and lesson plans for guides

If you are a Montessori guide or parent you don’t have to figure all this out on your own!

No need to jump online to get a bunch of lessons that don’t scaffold leading you to overwhelmed or stress! I created easy to follow curriculum you can purchase. Plus you don’t have to be an artist yourself to follow these lessons!

Order sequential art curriculum, any time printed or digital from a Montessori art expert!

Montessori professional development by spramani elaun, international art teacher trainer

Buy the right Montessori Art Curriculum For Children, Painting & Drawing:

Drawing Curriculum For Elementary Grades

Drawing Curriculum For 3-6 years (Early Childhood)

Clay Modeling Curriculum For Children

Painting Curriculum For Children

Color Mixing Curriculum For Children

DOWNLOAD FREE Color Mixing Art Lesson

Homeschooling Art | Before You Plan Art Activties: Identify Your Desired Outcomes

July 15, 2021November 14, 2021

Painting With Primary Colors | How-to Montessori Art Ideas With Early Childhood

Painting With Primary Colors | What to start with?

Sometimes I get a lot of questions from teachers and parents wanting to know which colors they should first introduce to their students. So, I often recommend starting with primary colors red, yellow, and blue (water-soluble mediums).

Just start with these three primary colors if your student is new to painting. Learning to mix primary hues can teach lots of valuable secondary mixing lessons.

A book I published a couple of years back called Kids Color Theory is available in my store, and a recently designed Kids Color Theory Curriculum is now available too. You can order both in digital form or paperback copy here.

montessori art early childhood — Kids Color Theory Book

Painting With Primary Colors | How-to Montessori Art Ideas With Early Childhood

Primary hues can come in lots of different mediums.

If you look at my pictures I have primary hues in all of these mediums which can be used to teach color theory:

Acrylic
Watercolor
Watercolor crayons
Watercolor pencils

As you can see, there are many options to choose from. Many are available in my store.

I review each one of these mediums in my book Kids Color Theory and how they work.

Painting with primary colors is a lot of fun. My book will show you how you can teach your students primaries. It will show how they can mix their own secondary colors, and fun value color mixing ideas. In my Montessori Color Mixing Curriculum, I have over 37 color mixing lessons you can follow. Check out my color mixing curriculum here.

Excerpt from Kids Color Theory Book:

Water Tub Primary Color Play

Water tub color play evolved many years ago for me when introducing toddlers to primary color lessons. Watching the children, I noticed children getting transfixed on colors when pouring from bowl to bowl.

They became delighted when colors transformed into another different hue. Then, I even witnessed toddlers try to correct the colors by pouring other combinations of colors together.

Toddlers were no longer distracted by their surroundings and became totally absorbed by these color transformations. It was exciting to notice calmness and relaxation set in with the children as they painted. Although I knew they were not mixing colors intentionally, they were processing discovery. And, they knew something was happening because of their actions. Order my book Kids Color Theory Curriculum to help you teach your kids about primary colors while having fun!

Spramani Elaun

June 30, 2021November 10, 2021

Montessori Painting with Children | Tips

How to Support Montessori Painting with Young Children

I’ve been painting with many children in staged Montessori art spaces over the years, and I’ve also observed how they best learn to paint. So, I wanted to share some tips on how to support concentration and independence while kids paint. These tips can be helpful if you’re trying to create more Montessori painting activities within your classroom or home.

Here are some tips on how you can support creative painting sessions:

Flow & Concentration
Independence
Exploration & Discovery
Creative Experimentation
Freedom Within Limits

Support Flow & Concentration

Allow uninterrupted periods of creative time while your students are working. When you don’t interrupt children’s painting, they can enter more creative states of flow with heightened concentration. Children can concentrate and go deeper into learning new ideas when not interrupted. To help with these states of flow, try to observe your students from a distance. Too often, creative flow is interrupted by teachers or parents. You should practice more uninterrupted work periods by being conscious of how you are interacting with your child during their painting sessions.

Support Independence

You can support your students’ independence by preparing their art environment to support their painting independence. Think about how you have arranged their painting space. Is their working space aligned with their level of abilities? Is their drying area nearby and easy for them to hang or lay their paintings on? Are materials all set up and easy for them to reach so they can get to work? Have you given them the right amount of demonstrations so they know how to use all the materials properly? By revisiting demonstrations, you can support your child to work more independently.

Support Exploration & Discovery

Exploration and discovery can come in many ways. Allow your children the freedom to choose their materials, such as paint colors, and paintbrush sizes. You can even give them the freedom to choose the size of paper they want to paint on. Children flourish when they can explore how materials behave or even discover how they work in different ways. The process of exploration and discovery is the best way young children learn painting skills. Allow for lots of discovery time. Young children learn to paint over a long period of time. Try supporting more exploration and discovery rather than the outcome.

Support Creative Experimentation

When children go in different directions than you had planned, take a deep breath and allow their experimentation to happen. Example: If they do not use the paintbrush the way you demonstrated or do not choose the colors you planned in your example. You might be thinking, “Green would look lovely for painting turtles,” but your student thinks, “Purple turtles are better!” If your child uses their fingers to paint instead of the paintbrush you took time to stage, as long as they are safe and not disrespecting the art materials, simply allow this type of creative experimentation to go on. This is truly considered one of the artistic processes the National Core Art Standards supports; it’s called INVESTIGATE!

Montessori PAINTING with Children | Tips

Support Freedom Within Limits

YES, discovery and exploration are part of the creative process, but we can provide freedom within limits by presentations and demonstrations that support healthy limits. We can demonstrate where the painting will take place, where it’s accepted in the art environment, and where it’s NOT allowed.

One of the biggest lessons I learned early on, which I share in several of my kids’ painting books, is that you need to explain to children where painting is not allowed, like the walls, and how walking around with loaded paintbrushes is not allowed outside of their art workspace. I also explain to children how to set up and clean up when they are done painting.

As a homeschool mom, I even had to explain this to two of my own little artists. The freedom should be in what they want to express or paint but not where they want to paint. 😉

I hope these tips help you bring the joy of painting into your Montessori spaces.

If you want to learn more, I recommend learning more about my books, video training, and art supplies.

Spramani Elaun

Ultimate Guide to Montessori Painting

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.

June 3, 2021April 23, 2022

How-to PAINT PAPER like Eric Carle | Montessori Art

A fun Montessori art activity: Paint paper like Eric Carle

Every summer, I host art camps in San Diego, and my students’ top favorite project to do with me is to paint papers! In this post, we will teach you how to paint paper and collage like artist and author Eric Carle.

So I thought I would share this fun Montessori art activity you could introduce to your students.

I like to give my students unusual tools, bright paint colors, different colored papers, and crazy things to make interesting textures and patterns.

This also prepares papers for future projects that can be cut and collaged into interesting shapes.

Teach the Elements and Principles of Design concepts

This is also a great way to teach the Elements and Principles of Design concepts texture and patterns, a vital art standard topic children should learn in Montessori art lessons.

The artist and author Eric Carle is famous for doing this fun and vibrant method in his book illustrations.

Eric Carle is famous for PAINTED PAPERS and collaging them into beautiful creatures featured in all his books.

Eric Carle, artist and children’s book author

Paint paper like Eric Carle — How-to PAINT PAPER like Eric Carle | Montessori Art

What is paint paper?

Painted paper is basically paint applied onto paper.

You can paint plain white paper or colored paper.

Paper painting can be created with different mediums like watercolor, gel paints, tempera, or acrylic paints (any paint).

What can you do with painted paper?

Like Eric Carle, the famous artist, paint the papers first, let them dry second, then third cut them up into new collage artworks.

Eric Carle’s famous painting papers created The Very Hungry Caterpillar book with this unique painted technique.

What tools do you need to make painted papers?

Paint mediums
Paper
Paintbrushes
Interesting objects that make patterns and textures
Drying rack
Interesting tools

Painted papers can be taught in a process-based manner

Process-based painting is more about the experience rather than following directions.

When kids paint process-based, they are able to go in any direction they choose.

They can explore any texture, use any color, and have any outcome happen, but have very cool painted paper; they can later cut turn into another art piece.

Process-based art lessons and painted papers are a great way to start teaching Montessori art lessons.

Spramani Elaun

Early Childhood Guide – Book

You’ll learn:

The importance of early Art Literacy
How to speak the ‘Artist Language’
The art subjects students need to know
The characteristics of child artists
Methods and approaches to teaching
How to create art activity environments
The best art materials for your classroom
How to plan level-appropriate activities

Buy Guide Now!

December 13, 2020December 10, 2021

Montessori Kids Holiday Craft | Painting Ornaments

This time of year is a special one. It gets a lot busier, but we also tend to make time for more special moments—even in the Montessori classroom. Kids’ holiday crafts, like painting ornaments, are a wonderful way to let kids work creatively and independently. I’ve painted ornaments with thousands of kids in classrooms and workshops during the holidays and they all love this holiday craft so much! And it’s something students and their families can keep for years to come! I have kids visit me every year to make a new ornament to add to their collection.

What makes this kids holiday craft great is that it’s simple to set up and you don’t need very many special items beyond a basic paint kit. I like using woodcraft ornaments because they’re better for the environment than plastic and safe to have around younger kids (versus glass ornaments).

Here are some tips for setting up this holiday art activity for your students (or kids at home too!).

Setting Up an Ornament Painting Station

Painting ornaments can seem like a messy project, but if you set up a special area for painting, it’s actually totally stress and mess-free—and really fun!

The space you set up should be in an area where children are allowed to get a little messy. I suggest using a drop cloth, especially if your students are painting inside. You should also provide smocks, aprons, or large old t-shirts for them to wear, so their clothes don’t get messy while they’re creating—some paints do not easily wash off clothes.

It’s much easier for kids to paint if their materials are at eye level and on a flat and sturdy surface (like a table). You may want to put a drop cloth or old newspaper on top of that too.

Ornament Painting Supplies

Here’s everything you need for this kids holiday craft of painting ornaments:

Wooden ornaments – while ‘holiday shapes’ are fun to use, any shape will work
Acrylic paint – you will get the best and longest-lasting results if you use acrylic paint
Paintbrushes – put out a few sizes, including very fine/tiny ones for details
Paint palette – any size palette will work for this holiday craft, even a paper plate
Glitter – you can use any color you choose, I personally love white glitter for painting ornaments
Smock – or another cover-up to protect kids’ clothes; acrylic will not come out of fabric
Napkins – for wiping paintbrushes between color changes
Jar – water jar to clean paintbrushes between colors
Hairdryer (optional) – for older kids or adults to speed up the drying process and work on details

A note on ornaments: You can find unfinished wood craft shapes at your local superstore or craft stores, or you can find them online as well. You can even use glass orb ornaments, I would just be very careful with younger children. It’s also a great idea to recycle old ornaments! Kids will love adding to the designs or completely “destroying” a design to create their own new one.

A note on paint: For this activity, you want to use acrylic paint, because it’s the most durable and it’ll last the longest. (I still have ornaments my kids painted when they were young and I pull them out every year during the holidays!) It’s very important to use kid-safe, non-toxic acrylic paint—you can buy some here.

Where to Start: Choose the Right Ornament Painting Color Palette

I really encourage you to allow children to paint whatever they want—they don’t have to stick with traditional holiday themes. However, more than likely, they will choose symbols of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other winter holidays. Most of the children I’ve worked with choose to paint shapes like stars, Christmas trees, Santas, and snowmen.

These are some great colors to start with:

Red
Black
White
Gold
Silver
Dark Green
Yellow
Orange
Pink
Purple
Brown
Burgundy deep red

If you don’t have all these colors, that’s okay; students will be able to make beautiful holiday ornaments with just three to four colors too!

Don’t forget, if students are using glitter for their ornaments, make sure they sprinkle it on their ornaments while the paint is still wet. If they wait until their ornament is completely dried, the glitter won’t stick and it’ll just fall off.

One Step Further: Download My FREE Kids Holiday Crafts Painting Checklist

If you haven’t done very many painting activities with your students, you’re in for a real treat—kids love this craft! It’s so simple to set up, you can do this with your students a few times during the holiday season. Or, you can expand on this activity and do rock painting and just painting on paper. The materials stay the same, the images, paint colors, and canvases are the only things that may need to change.

With any painting project, as long as children have the right painting materials, they will learn and have fun! If you want a free downloadable version of the paint materials listed above (plus a few more), get my Kids Painting Materials Checklist now by clicking here.

A Short Cut Just for You

Once you see how much your students love painting, you’re going to want to include it as a regular part of your curriculum. My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that walk students through everything they need to know to be successful at painting, from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals!

Each lesson is part of a sequence and includes all the components, tips, materials lists, and instructions you need to ensure you will be able to actually teach your students to become skilled painters. All you have to do is simply follow the instructions and easily present the activities to your students.

Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.

January 27, 2019February 1, 2020

Montessori Art Early Childhood Guides

Below you’ll find a general arts literacy guide for Montessori Early Childhood ages following the International Standards for the Arts Education & Sensory Visual Arts method that aligns with a child’s growth – Nature of Art®.

Children of all ages can be taught visual arts and guided through the artistic process.

Each developmental phase requires different teaching styles and approaches.

Resources

If you would like to understand more about which types of art projects children can work on, register for this free video course Phases of Arts Development discussing Early Childhood, 3 – 6, and 6 – 13 years age.

You can learn about Art Literacy Standards and the benefits of visual arts read Defining Visual Arts Paperback (paperback book).Get information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classroom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

Get information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classrom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).

Early Childhood, Toddler Art Teaching : 18 months to 3 years

For young children art making will be an exploratory and discovery based experience. Early childhood children do not understand the placement of visual arts, and are in a very curious state about mediums. Children should explore art mediums without any expected outcome.

So the best instruction method to introducing art lessons will be process based art, Process based art is about the experience and the process, and not focused on the child’s final piece of artwork, or whether it resembles art adults recognize.

And finally the important thing you want to focus on is giving children task for fine-motor skill development. Art creating helps develop muscles both small and large, which improves controlled movements. Be sure to provide plenty of opportunities to practice these skills.

Art Activities & Mediums For Early Childhood

Doodling – crayons, color pencils, tempera sticks

Painting – watercolor paints, tempera paints, finger paints, homemade veggie paints

Color Theory Play – water color paints

Clay Modeling – earth clay, homemade play dough

Simple Crafts – cutting paper and weaving string. I recommend waiting to do crafts with small parts till after age of 3 years.

Learn more by registering for this free mini digital course, Phases of Art Development Video.

September 30, 2018July 28, 2022

25 Art Supplies Every Montessori Classroom Needs

25 of the Most Basic Art Supplies Every Montessori Classroom Needs

By Spramani Elaun

I’m going to start off with a disclosure, by no means do you only need 25 items to fill your Montessori art shelf. However, because I break down visual arts into five domains—drawing, painting, crafting, clay modeling, and color theory—you just need to make sure you’re giving your students art supplies that fall into each category. There are so many more options and wonderful things to work with, I’d encourage you to explore and purchase anything that inspires you.

This is just going to be a sort of cheat sheet for what you need in your classroom. If you really want a detailed list of everything to include in your art shelf, make sure you register for my online course, Art Teaching Blueprint. I have specific lessons for each domain where I list out all the exact materials I use to teach each domain, where to find those supplies, and how to use them. It’s a ton of valuable information that makes teaching art and setting up your shelf so much easier.

For now though, I want to give you a brief understanding of the different learning areas of visual arts and help you figure out the basic item(s) you need to be able to teach each domain. Grab your shopping list, let’s get into it!

Drawing

The drawing domain includes doodling, drawing, sketching, and tracing. Many of these materials (like pencils and erasers) can be found elsewhere in the classroom, so I recommend making the items on your art shelf unique. Either buy completely different styles so they stand out or color code them so they stay specifically within your art shelf.

Basic:

Not so basic:

Oil/soft pastels
Watercolor pencils
Rulers
Compass
Magnifying glass
Stencils

Painting

There are several types of paints that kids can use, and each one has a different purpose and experience. Whichever you choose, just make sure it’s non-toxic and safe for kids.

Basic:

Not so basic:

Color Theory

Color theory is all about learning how colors behave. It can take years to develop a strong understanding of color theory, so it’s important to start teaching the subject when students are young. With color theory, I recommend you begin with primary colors (red, yellow, blue), then teach kids to mix those colors to create secondary colors, and so on. When you’re teaching color theory, the materials are the same as you’d use for the painting domain.

Basic:

Not so basic:

25 Art Supplies Every Montessori Classroom Needs

Clay Modeling & Sculpture

Clay can be a great way to relate art projects to other lessons you’re teaching. For instance, students can use stamps or natural objects (like leaves) to create imprints; they can also use the clay to create figures and animals to go along with what they’re learning.

Basic:

Not so basic:

Crafting & Constructing

There are so many possibilities when it comes to crafting and constructing. I tend to divide this domain into four categories: sewing, paper crafts, nature crafting, and wood/building.

Basic:

Sewing:
- String (yarn, threads)
- Fabric
- Sewing needle
- Scissors
Paper crafts
- Colored paper
- Scissors
- Glue
Nature crafting
- Glue
- Hot glue gun
- Natural found objects (rocks, sticks, leaves, etc.)
Wood and building
- Glue
- Wooden pieces

Not so basic:

Sewing
- Cross stitching fabric
- Recycled materials (sweaters, t-shirts)
- Buttons
- Wool
Paper crafts
- Origami paper
- Magazines (for collaging)
Nature crafting
- Purchased natural objects (feathers, pinecones, seeds, etc.)
Wood and building
- Nails
- Popsicle sticks
- Toothpicks
- Wine corks

I know this is a lot to digest and a lot more than just 25 items, but these are the tools that will help your students explore, experiment, and really experience art.

If you want more information, specifically on how each one of these supplies work and some ideas on how to use them, make sure you register for my course! I break it all down for you so this list makes sense in the framework of your classroom. And if you have any questions—about these supplies or my course—please feel free to contact me directly by emailing me at Info@Spramani. om.

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The Phases of Art Development is a quick digital course that explains how art making can help students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. More importantly, I share what types of projects students at every age are capable of completing safely, and without making a mess.

Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.