For the longest time, teachers of early childhood students have been told, “toddlers can’t learn art.” And based on that misinformation, as well as out-of-date art teaching practices, you might be thinking that’s true too. I’m here to tell you that’s not the case! Toddlers CAN start to learn art! It all comes down to how you teach them. After years of observing art, I’ve developed my very own teaching method that engages and excites young children; it introduces them to art in a way that makes sense to their little developing brains. I want to share some quick ideas on teaching art to toddlers.
Process-Based
Montessori toddler art activities should be process-based only. Discovery and experimentation are key to process art activities for toddlers. Their learning and development of problem solving skills come from spending time making process art. Want to learn more about what Montessori toddler process-based art means? Visit Teaching Process-Based Art in the Montessori Classroom
Montessori toddler art is tactile
Art for toddlers is a very sensorial experience. Visual art learning can happen from direct sensory touching by hands. Tactile art making stimulates learning in different ways than visual or audio learning. For a developing child, tactile exploring can also lead to better fine-motor function and control.
Art Develops Early Motor Movement
In recent years science researchers have established that early motor movement develops better cognitive academic performance in the later grades. Children that practice motor movement early even starting in infancy can directly effect cognitive development and their readiness for learning.
Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography | aquarium.ucsd.edu
Toddler Safe Art Mediums
Start with safe non-toxic paints, homemade play dough, and safe doodling supplies like crayons and tempera paint sticks. Use only safe non-toxic art supplies for toddlers.
Create spill proof environments children can play and spill if needed. I recommend outdoors or rooms with no carpets.
Start with 15 minute art activities toddlers can explore, move to 20 minute segments. Be sure tables are short and children can move around easily. Only introduce 1-to-2 movements, like making a brushstroke, or rolling out clay.
Use colorful story books to make connections to art elements. Start with teaching very basic art elements like colors, shape and line.
I’ve spent years and years researching and observing how children learn art, and what I’ve found is that children are able to grasp different artistic skills at different planes. In this new blog series, I’ll be sharing my insight on the art teaching methods that work for each age group of Montessori students.
Children of all ages can be taught visual arts and be guided through the artistic process. Each developmental phase requires different teaching styles and approaches.
Below you’ll find a general arts literacy guide for Montessori Early Childhood, following the International Standards for the Arts Education & Sensory Visual Arts method that aligns with a child’s growth™.
Montessori Early Childhood Art Teaching Methods Resources
If you would like to understand more about which types of art projects children can work on, register for my free video course, Phases of Arts Development, which discusses teaching methods for Early Childhood Montessori students.
Get more information on how to bring art lessons into the Montessori classroom by reading Introducing Visual Arts into the Montessori Classroom (paperback book).
If you would like to understand more about the phases of art development, register for this free mini digital course.
Early Childhood, Toddler Art Teaching: 15 months to 3 years
For young children, art making is an exploratory- and discovery-based experience. Students in the Montessori art first plane do not yet understand the placement of visual arts, and are in a very curious state about mediums. At this age, children should explore art mediums without any expected outcome.
Learning Through Process-Based Art
The best instruction method to introducing art lessons is through process-based art. Process-based art is about the experience and the process; it’s not focused on the child’s final piece of artwork or whether it resembles art adults can recognize, but rather, it’s about exploring and using their own imagination.
When teaching by process art, you should give a brief introductory instruction on how mediums work and can be used. Give a few examples so kids can see different techniques for using the mediums.
That’s it though!
From there, allow Early Childhood students to explore their own techniques and ideas. Assure them that there is no right or wrong way to use the medium to create their artwork. Let them go back and add to previous projects and (reasonably) experiment with unique ways to finish their project using the medium you’ve introduced. Remember, process-based art is all about experimenting and discovering!
Developing Fine-Motor Skills
An important thing you want to focus on is giving children tasks that encourage fine-motor skill development. Creating art helps develop both large and small muscles, which improves young students’ controlled movements. Be sure to provide plenty of opportunities to practice these skills.
Typically, children who are in preschool to kindergarten have little to no finger or hand strength capabilities. It’s important to understand how fine-motor development plays a huge role in a child’s daily life—dressing themselves, tying their own shoes, eating without assistance, writing, even playing outdoors. They also help with healthy cognitive processing at early ages.
By providing specific activities in your Montessori art classroom, you can actually help young students develop and refine their small motor muscles. I will usually start young students off with clay modeling, paint brush stroking, and activities using safety scissors—each of these help them strengthen their fine motor skills more quickly.
Early Childhood Art Activities & Mediums
Here are some great Montessori early childhood art projects for your students who are at a toddler age up through primary grades. These types of art activities will help develop their fine motor control and small muscles in fingers and hands. (You can find non-toxic, kid-friendly art supplies needed for these art activities at Nature of Art for Kids.)
Doodling: crayons, color pencils, tempera sticks, etc.
Color Theory Play: watercolor painting, dropper painting, squeeze bottle painting, etc.
Clay Modeling: earth clay, homemade play dough, pressing sculptures, beeswax forming, etc.
Simple Crafts: cutting paper, weaving string, glueing, building with giant/jumbo Legos, large popsicle-stick structures, etc. (I recommend holding off on any crafts involving small parts until after your students are older than 3.)
A Short Cut Just for You: Buy Early Childhood Guide
Having the right art material for your early childhood classroom is just the first step. If you want more information on how to use each material, how to set up an art shelf with the materials, and how to teach lessons that actually help early childhood students learn art (YES, they can learn art at that early of an age!) then I have some good news for you!
I’m currently selling my brand new, Early Childhood Art Guide. It includes everything you need to know to successfully bring art lessons into your early childhood classroom—without the stress. I go into more detail about art materials (such as how to use them and where to find them), give you step-by-step art presentations, and a ton of other valuable information that makes teaching art and setting up your shelf so much easier. And, right now, you can order yours today!, so don’t miss out!
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
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 foreignlanguage 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.
