Art
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Art is one of the many ways children express themselves. Art is a way for children to communicate their feelings. It is through art that children develop their fine motor skills. In the Montessori environment, we provide open-ended art activities that help children explore and use their creativity.
When it comes to art, it is the process not the product that is important to the child. As adults, our goal is to produce a product. The child interacts with the world differently. The child works to develop self. The focus is on the process not the product. Once a child creates something, he does not feel the need to keep the product. It is the process that gives him satisfaction and inner joy.
In addition to having an "art" area in the classroom, we prepare children for both writing and expressive drawing by providing materials they can freely choose throughout the entire classroom. Children are encouraged to explore outline and colour with the Metal Insets. Children spontaneously decorate the borders of their papers (in Math, Language, Sensorial). When children write in their journals, they often illustrate the story. When they do research, children draw a picture of their subject.
"The human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enables 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 enable him to fulfill his mission in the world."
—Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child
