Teaching art appreciation, and the skills associated with artistic expression, is an important part of the Montessori Art Curriculum. This is because the study of art is fundamental to children’s creative, visual, sensorial, and emotional development.
Doctor Maria Montessori didn’t believe that you could “teach” a child to become an artist; however, she was a strong believer in nurturing children’s creative abilities and teaching them to develop “…an eye that sees, a hand that obeys, and a soul that feels.”
At Montessori Academy, our students are exposed to the world of aesthetics and visual arts daily though an array of learning experiences that incorporate: art study and creative expression, themed art projects, science and culture, recyclables, nature, and sensorial experiences.
Art Study
By learning about the great artists and creative expression, children develop an understanding of different styles of artwork, experiment with artistic techniques, and develop a strong vocabulary focused on classifying visual and tactile senses.
Themed Art Projects
Through themed art projects, such as those focused on children’s interests, Mother’s Day, and Book Week, children learn to creatively express their emotions through process-based art. These artworks are often displayed in the classroom gallery at the child’s eye level.
Natural Materials
By incorporating nature and recyclable materials into art and craft, students learn the importance of caring for the environment, and sustainability. Using nature and recyclables enhances children’s creativity as they must use their imagination to create a new use for the material.
Sensorial Curriculum
The Sensorial Curriculum directly links to the study of the arts by providing children with the opportunities to refine their visual and tactile senses. For example, the Geometric Solids, which involves the study of 2D and 3D shapes, provides children with the ability to understand and identify the shapes that make up their world.
Art is a powerful subject that provides students with endless opportunities to use their imagination to lead their thought processes, express themselves, and capture their unique perspective. Montessori Academy is focused on providing children with the creative tools, opportunities, materials and lessons as a strong artistic foundation.
As Doctor Maria Montessori Stated: “Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.”
These lessons directly link to the below learning outcomes in the Early Years Learning Framework:
• 1.3 Children develop knowledgeable and confident self identities.
• 1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect
• 2.4 Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment
• 3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing
• 4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.
• 4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials.