Written by Michelle Donohue, Toddler Guide
“The child’s development follows a path of successive stages of independence, and our knowledge of this must guide us in our behavior towards him. We have to help the child to act, will and think for himself. This is the art of serving the spirit, an art which can be practiced to perfection only when working among children.” – Dr. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, p. 257
This quotation from Maria Montessori in The Absorbent Mind is at the heart of the Montessori method and lays the foundation for all that we do in our Toddler environments. Preparing an environment for children’s independent growth applies to every area of our curriculum and the way we teach, making our art curriculum look drastically different from that of other schools. Our toddlers paint, glue, and mold with play dough…but in a new way that helps them to create themselves.
Art for Montessori toddlers is always child-selected and child-led, as with all activities in our classroom. Freedom of choice allows children to develop independence. Children build the ability to complete a work cycle, from start to finish, without adult intervention. We place only one of each work on the shelf to assist them in developing the capacity to wait patiently for a work that may be in use.
Each lesson in our art curriculum is focused on a skill, rather than on completing a project. The purpose of our toddler’s artwork is to master the process, and learning to finish a masterpiece happens later in the preschool years. To teach the ability to create lines, we supply chalk or crayon shaped like a sphere or an egg, in only one color, and a blank chalkboard or paper. To teach gluing, we provide blank paper in a basic shape, small pieces of paper or other materials, and glue and a spreader. To teach cutting, we provide child-safe scissors, with small strips of paper and bowl to collect the pieces.
After a lesson, each child is free to choose this activity whenever she wants, for as long as she wants. This freedom allows her to work on perfecting her gluing skill for an hour (or even longer!) if she chooses. Toddlers and preschoolers are intrinsically driven to repeat tasks that they are developmentally ready to master over and over for as long as the need is there, thus perfecting a skill and developing concentration. When she knows that she is finished, and the skill has formed enough for the moment, she completes her work cycle by returning her tray to the shelf and pushing in her chair. Developmentally, our toddlers are ready to focus on perfecting the process rather than on completing a product, and often the finished product is forgotten. They are content to simply bring home their newfound ability to glue with precision and accuracy.
This is also the age in which the child is developing her locus of motivation – the one that she will carry with her into adulthood! To develop strong internal, self-driven motivation, we allow the child to focus on process at a young age, and if she does present us with her work, we respond with non-evaluative comments, such as “You glued today!” or “I see that you glued blue squares on green paper.” This lets the child’s focus on her own hard work, rather than rely on our evaluation of her work.
Though process and independence are emphasized in Montessori toddler classrooms, our toddlers are creating brilliant masterpieces. These works are already forming, and are beginning to shine in all their glory. The Montessori toddler’s medium is herself, and the beautiful person she is artfully crafting will surely change the world.
Learn more about the Greenspring Montessori School Toddler Program.
