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Montessori Child Development Series: Art

Art in the classroom of a Montessori school is used in different ways. At the most basic level, art will teach the child to use a pencil and draw lines. But many of the exercises placed on the shelves of practical life are artistic in nature; which often include cutting, weaving, sewing, and stenciling.

Art is one of the many ways that children express themselves. Art is a way for children to communicate their feelings and emotions. In a Montessori setting, they offer open art activities that help children explore and use their creativity.

Art, along with all areas of the classroom, provides children with a solid foundation for future growth. Through art, they are exploring, creating, expressing and developing themselves. The Montessori learning style provides a rich art area in the classroom, giving children the opportunity to choose their medium: paints, pastels, clay, pencils, and / or crayons.

When it comes to art, it is the process, not the result, that is important to the child. A child interacts with the world differently from adults, children work to develop themselves rather than developing a product for some kind of monetary gain. Your goal is to have fun and grow. Once a child creates something, they don’t feel the need to keep the product. It is the process that gives you satisfaction and inner joy.

Many teachers receive artistic “gifts” from their students all the time. But for students it’s more about moving on to the next artistic expression than creating something specific for a certain person. That is why the art of a child is always so unique and, at times, very strange.

Montessori training programs emphasize the process of creating art versus the product. This means that children should be encouraged to explore and experiment with a variety of artistic mediums without being made to feel like they must complete a specific project that looks a certain way.

An important difference in the way the art rack is presented in a Montessori classroom compared to a traditional preschool classroom is that all children have access to it at all times and can freely choose which skills to practice at any given time. In a more traditional setting, art materials may be available only at certain times and / or their use may be directed more by adults than by children themselves.

Montessori used the term “cosmic education” to indicate both the universal scope of the lessons to be presented and the idea that education in the background should help the child to realize the human role in the interdependent workings of the universe. Classroom materials and lessons include work in the arts. Through Montessori, a child can express himself to the fullest.

“The human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself, but allows the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment … man ‘takes possession of his environment with his hands.’ His hands, under the guidance of his intellect, transform this environment and thus allow him to fulfill his mission in the world. “- María Montessori

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