Here’s an easy Father’s Day craft if you need to throw something together at the last minute! Even the preschoolers got a chuckle out of this one! “He’s cute!” “He looks nothing like my dad!” “I love his nose!” We talked about how this was a “pun”. “A pun is a kind of joke where […]
Art
Draw Yourself Back to Nature- and a Giveaway!
Summer is a great time for Montessori parents and teachers alike to prepare for their ongoing work of educating the human potential, but it is also important to engage in activities that rejuvenate the adult’s wonder and inspiration. In this spirit of balance and Montessori’s emphasis on adult preparation I am excited to be part […]
Montessori Art Trays for Toddlers
by Simone Davies Setting up art trays for your child is a fabulous way to introduce different mediums to your child, encourage creativity, build independence, and allow repetition. Let me show you the art trays we have out at the moment in our classroom for children from 16 months to 3 years. You will see […]
On the Art Shelves in December
Here are some of the simple activities we have on our art shelves this month. Making little candy canes with left over pipe cleaner bits Lots of pinpunching variations out this month! Perfect for making Holiday cards. I love how sweet the santa hat and stocking look with the cotton glued on. This is a […]
On the Shelves in October
Fine Motor shelves with an October theme Pouring acorns Tweezing mini pumpkins into a pumpkin icecube tray Spooning and pouring corn kernels Spooning lima bean ghosts. Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration! Gluing-on-a-dot using Halloween themed confetti Making a jack-o-lantern with basic shapes We have these Halloween themed paper punches available on the art […]
Organizing Art Supplies
Organizing Art Ideas Pinterest is now my organizing tool of choice for all curriculum ideas. I have a board dedicated just to art, but I tend to add more art pins to my Unit studies boards. This makes it easier to decide when to use a particular activity. But before Pinterest, I had binders […]
Bugs! Fine Motor and Art Activities on the Shelf
We’ve been learning about bugs! Butterflies, ladybugs, grasshoppers, spiders, and cicadas! Affiliate links are used in this post for your convenience. Read my full affiliate disclosure here. The children have begun to bring bugs in that they’ve discovered on their walks. Here we have a black and yellow millipede in this critter case. Examining cicada shells in […]
Rainbows!
We decided to honor St. Patrick’s day with a rainbow theme this year. Who doesn’t love rainbows? (Since we have only preschoolers in the class this year, we won’t be going into the science of rainbows.) The Colors of the Rainbow The children can use these Montessori Color Tablets to sequence the colors of the […]
Working with the Easel
We love everything about painting at the easel! Over the last few weeks we’ve been exploring tints. What happens to blue when you mix it with white? I love how this little guy left the top right quadrant of his paper blank and declared his painting finished. Check out some of these old videos of […]
January- What’s New on the Art Shelves?
Pinpunching snowflakes and mittens. The mittens can be decorated with little dots or paper-punched snowflakes Pinpunching a snowman and decorating with various items Cutting coffee-filter snowflakes. I like to pre-fold and pre-draw the lines, then paperclip together to help the younger ones manage this work. Older children can be shown how to prepare the entire […]