We’re very happy to welcome back Kylie from How We Montessori as a regular contributor on Hellobee!
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One thing most Montessori families agree on is the benefit of rotating toys and materials. Sure, children have their favourites and these can be left out for as long as you like. However rotating materials is a great way to continually engage and challenge the child. We also apply this principle to our art materials.
Our art cupboard is in a tiled open-space area where the children are easily supervised. They have low, child-sized tables to work on. We usually have three to four art activities out at a time.
We also present most of our art activities on a tray, Montessori style. This makes it really easy for the child to see what is in the tray and helps them to select which tray they would like use. Using these little trays also makes it easy for the child to carry the activity to their table and to pack it away.
1. Pencils and paper | 2. Collage | 3. Chalk and chalkboard | 4. Crayon rubbings | 5. Water color paint and water color paper | 6. Natural Clay and tools | 7. Soft pastels with pastel paper | 8. White poster marker and black card | 9. Water colors with pipette and water color paper | 10. Natural charcoal and card | 11. Pasting on card | 12. Markers and card | 13. Animal stamps | 14. Cut and paste | 15. Dot stickers | 16. Other (dinosaur) stickers | 17. Hole punching | 18. Black marker on colored card
Many of these activities promote hand strength and coordination, which prepares the hand for writing. Using scissors is a skill most children will be ready for sometime between two and three years. Art activities encourage creativity and often promote color identification and recognition. Most of all – these activities are a lot of fun!
blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts
I love these!!
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
Such a great collection, I love the tray idea too!
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
I like this idea! We are getting a toddler table for our 2 year old and I hope to have more art supplies ready to go. I love the idea of the trays for a quick and easy project set up!
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
I love these! Definitely saving for when Baby Carrot gets a bit older.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts
I was actually just looking up Montessori activity ideas for my toddler a few days ago, these ideas are great, thank you!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Fun. How many trays do you usually offer at once?
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
Great ideas! I need to get some trays.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Love these ideas
DS would love it!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
Such great ideas, and so prettily laid out!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Wow great ideas!
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
One of the things I love about this is the simplicity of the presentation: we have lots and lots of art supplies, but this really invites exploration and creativity. There’s just something about Montessori presentation that allows meaningful exploration by getting rid of clutter to focus in on materials and what they can do. Mind expanding. I can’t wait to try laying out some of our materials using your ideas and see what great art the girls make!
GOLD / grapefruit / 4555 posts
This is so incredibly timely for me, thank you! Our cubs (18 m and 31 m) have just started their Montessori journey and I’ve been searching for inspiration to continue their lessons and ‘work’ at home. I look forward to more posts from you!!
blogger / apricot / 424 posts
What great ideas! I have been struggling with how to set up art activities and this is the perfect mix of structure and creativity! Thanks for sharing!
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
this. is. amazing. hearted.
your blog is also kind of amazing. i look at your kiddo at 13months where my kiddo is at and there’s no way she can do any of that stuff!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
What a great idea!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Lovely!! LO is about to start a Montessori school next month. I’m so excited! Love your blog.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Do you keep the supplies on the trays and have little cubbies for the trays to be stored in or do you just have a tray per child and places for all of the supplies? Also, how do you keep the kids from writing ON the trays?
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Great ideas! I need to incorporate some of these at home!
blogger / apricot / 367 posts
Thank you for this post! We were involved in a montessori co-op for awhile but i’m glad that i can try some of these at home now with my younger daughter..
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
these are amazing ideas! i love the variety and all of the skills they teach!
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
I love the idea but I still cringe about the inevitable mess my LO would make (esp w/ charcoal on carpet – eek!). I know it’s all part of the learning process but how do you handle that?
olive / 58 posts
@autumnlove: We usually have 3-4 activities/trays out at once. Sometimes more and sometimes less but that’s the standard. We don’t have poster paint on a tray and a few other art activities the children have to ask for up on the next shelf.
olive / 58 posts
@mediagirl: We have the trays on a shelf, these are generally for my now three year old. I also have a six year old however he usually uses other materials on a higher shelf. My kids have never drawn on the tray – they have access to lots of paper, I am not sure if this is the reason. My youngest has drawn on the table however, when he does this I make a point of him helping to wipe it down but generally he’s ok. Also these trays are coated so I’m sure they would wipe down easy.
olive / 58 posts
@BabyBoecksMom: I like to think I’m realistic, I would not offer many of these materials on a carpeted area. Charcoal is a lovely natural material, but I would wait until you can use it outside/on a tiled area or when being very closely supervised. Our art cupboard and the area when the children use these is completely tiled and is an open area for supervision.
olive / 64 posts
Where are the trays from? I love your blog!!!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
I also really like the trays themselves. Lots of great projects!!