How to Set Up an Environment and Lessons That Inspire Montessori Students to Paint
Painting is one of the most creative, fun (and sometimes messy) forms of visual art. If you look at the most basic concept of painting, anyone can do it. From simple finger painting to multi-layered brushstrokes, painting can be experienced by little artists of any age or level. My objective with this ultimate guide is to give you all the tools and information you need to create Montessori painting lessons and activities for your students.
The resources included in this Ultimate Guide should be beneficial to Montessori teachers of early childhood (3-6), lower elementary, upper elementary students, and even Montessori-at-home parents.
Montessori Painting
One of the most common domains of art, especially visual art, is painting. Children love playing with paint; it’s a very tactile medium. However, it’s important to remember that children lack the ability to paint realistic images in the beginning years, but they can still enjoy the creative process and learn basic brushstrokes to build lines, shapes, and textures to eventually make great imagery. Students in early childhood and elementary grades should be exposed to painting lessons and activities on a regular basis to improve their artistic skills and strengthen their art literacy as they age.
What is painting?
Painting is the action of making brush strokes marks with a paintbrush, hands, sponges, paint rollers, or stampers. Brushstrokes are made with a liquid pigment, called paint.
How Montessori Painting Lessons Benefit Children
Children can develop and strengthen their fine-motor control by learning to make brush strokes with their hands and by holding paintbrushes. By showing young students how to use a paintbrush, you’re helping them reach critical milestones that are directly related to other areas of childhood development.
Painting Builds Vocabulary (Art Language)
Montessori painting activities teach young students how to communicate what they see in their artworks and how to describe their personal artistic process. More than likely, their inquisitive little minds will start making connections (such as, “if I use this color paint and this paintbrush, I can make something that looks like this”). They’ll also start asking questions (such as, “what color is this?” or “why did this do this?”). Read more about art language here.
Where to Start: Montessori Painting Tips
Let Children Explore First
Don’t try introducing young children to painting through lessons; if they’ve never painted before, just let them explore and discover what paint is naturally. If you’re uncomfortable giving them a potentially messy medium without any guidance, then you can take the lead by dipping a paintbrush into paint and painting alongside them; kids love to mimic the actions of adults!
Keep Painting Lessons Simple
Give your students painting projects that are process-based and open-ended. This means your students do not have to follow directions to get an expected, specific result. Process-based activities give children freedom to explore the various paint mediums and design their own artworks in any way they desire.
Start with Few Options
Give your students just a few color options at first—maybe even limit it to one color. Too many options can be overstimulating, and cause them to lose focus (which could lead to messes).
Minimize Messes by Making Materials Mini
If you don’t want large messes, shrink down the paints and paintbrushes. Use the smallest available size of paintbrush and put paint into small containers (as opposed to giving students the entire bottle). This is one of the major tricks I share in my book Kids Painting.
Focus on Brushstrokes
Once your students have a grasp on how paints work and can control their movements a bit, move your focus to teaching brushstrokes. Read this article for tips on teaching kids how to create brushstrokes.
Use Painting to Teach Color Theory
One great way to teach color theory concepts is through painting! Start by giving your students a single color to paint with, but create different tones and hues for them to use. For example, start with a dark green, then add drops of white paint to it to make lighter and lighter shades.
Choose the Right (Safe) Paints
Only use paints that are safe, non-toxic, and intended for young children. If products carry a non-toxic seal or claims the product “conforms to ASTM D 4236,” that means all of the potentially hazardous components of the art product have been evaluated by a qualified toxicologist and clearly labeled on the product packaging. Most adult fine artist supplies don’t have this seal, so be very careful when purchasing.
The surface your students are using will determine the best paint for their project. For example, acrylic paint has the sticking power to help it adhere to canvas; watercolor paints need a thicker, more absorbent paper; finger paints and tempera paints will work on most regular paper.
Here are some other paints to consider:
- Dry watercolor cake palette, 36 colors – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor finger paint – best for ages 3+
- Acrylic paint (kids/student-grade only) – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor pencils – best for ages 5+
- Watercolor Crayons – best for ages 5+
[Visit Nature of Art for Kids for more non-toxic, eco-friendly, kid-safe painting supplies!]
Tip: Using watercolor paints, which can be diluted to near transparency, makes it easy to manage stains; start with these until you and your class get more familiar with painting and its clean-up.
Dress for a Mess
Young kids lack fine-motor skills to keep paint on in the palettes and on their paper, so be prepared for some mess. It takes many years for kids to stop making frequent spills. Anytime kids are painting make sure they’re wearing “paint clothes,” or old large t-shirts, a smock, or some other type of cover up. Even if the bottle says paint is washable, it can still soil clothing. Plus, there’s no real guarantee that the pigment is not going to stain…trust me!
Designate a Painting Area
Before painting starts, designate a painting area for the kids to work. Make sure they know that this is where paint will be set-up, activities will be completed, and the materials will stay. Never let kids get lazy about this rule! Remind them that this is the only place where painting is allowed. If necessary, put down tarps, rugs, or towels in this area to keep floors clean during any painting activities.
One Step Further: Download My Painting Materials Checklist and Check Out This Montessori Painting Lesson
Now you have a basic understanding of how to set up a painting area, what kind of painting activities your students can do, and an idea of what paints to use. Before you start teaching painting in your Montessori classroom, make sure you download this FREE Painting Materials Checklist; it has all the materials you need to be able to confidently and successfully teach your students! Click here to download the checklist.
As a bonus, you can also check out this FREE Northern Lights painting lesson demonstration. This art project uses two paint techniques: wax resist and wet-on-wet. This project is best for elementary students, but can be adapted to be suitable for younger ages as well. Watch the video by clicking here!
A Short Cut Just for You
I’ve actually created an online training that delves deeper into teaching young students how to paint. Painting Key Lessons 101 gives you the foundation for demonstrating and presenting painting lessons in your Montessori classroom, even if you don’t feel like you have the skills or experience. In the 1.5-hour video training, I also cover the types of paints that are best for children, and how to set up lessons so they’re integrated with other subjects and allow kids work independently. It truly is a shortcut to becoming an expert in teaching your students how to paint; AND, even better, you can earn 1.5 CPD hours once you complete the training and complete a quick survey! To enroll and get started, click here.
If you want more information, instruction, and tips for teaching kids how to paint, check out my book, Kids Painting. It includes everything you need to know about how young children learn how to paint, and gives you lists of kid-friendly paint supplies, art project/lesson ideas, and ways to set up your classroom to provide inspiration and avoid messes. To purchase Kids Painting, click here.
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