The world of art is a wide and wonderful experience!

In the Montessori classroom the materials aid the child in the development of skills in order that the child may creatively express himself through various media.  In addition to art expression for its own sake, art is an integrating factor for the rest of the curriculum.  Such areas as practical life help to fine tune the fine motor skills necessary for holding a pencil or a crayon. 

Moreover, the sensorial area helps the child with visual discrimination of color.  The child may utilize art in such things as geometrical drawings, geographical maps, mathematical graphing, or illustrations for history, botany, zoology, social studies, geology, geography, architecture, physics, etc.  With a variety of techniques taught and media at his disposal, the child may choose appropriate forms of artistic expression for other areas of the curriculum. 

Many of our art ideas come from around the world.  Some are based on customs, some on celebrations, others on discoveries or inventions and still others on native materials used in open artistic expression.  We combine the fun and creativity of art with the mysteries of history, the lure of geography and the diversity of the cultures of the world.  This helps the child to process the learned information more concretely.  Holidays are an important part of our North American culture and craft projects appear during these important times.  Our projects allow children to explore the world through art with a process, not product, approach to artistic outcome.