Sensorial: Presenting A Great Artist To Your Child

Art is essential – it is a way for children to express themselves, to communicate and to develop their fine motor skills. And it is fun! At St Andrew’s Montessori, we celebrate creativity and have art and craft supplies at the ready for children to explore and get lost in. In her book The Absorbent Mind, Maria Montessori writes:

“If we try to think back to the dim and distant past… what is it that helps us reconstruct those times, and to picture the lives of those who lived in them? It is their art… It is thanks to the hand, the companion of the mind, that civilization has arisen.”

As well as encouraging children to create, we also enjoy teaching them about art and artists as a way to inspire their imaginations. The below tutorial by My Montessori Works has some great ideas on how you can talk about your favourite artists with your children at home. Have a look:

The example used in the above tutorial is Georgia O’Keeffe, who is best known for her paintings of magnified flowers, animal skulls, and New Mexico desert landscapes. Her big, bold, bright colours are a good way to get little ones excited about art in a theoretical as well as practical context.

You could print some Georgia O’Keeffe artworks or find a calendar with some nice quality pictures to show your child. Talk about the pictures – colours, lines, how it makes you feel when you look at it. Share some biographical information – when did the artist start painting and why? What did he/she love to create? Tell the artist’s story. Find some artist quotes to share and you could even get your child to so their own ‘inspiration piece’ based on the artist you are discussing.

And if you are lucky enough to live in city like London, with galleries and exhibitions a-plenty, you could take your child to see the real deal!
What we love to do in the classroom is nurture children’s innate curiosity, and you can do this by exposing your child to some of the world’s greatest artists.

If you’d like further information about this tutorial, feel free to contact us at info@saintandrewsmontessori.com. We’re happy to answer any questions.

Photo by Zaur Giyasov on Unsplash