Creating an environment where my young children have access to a variety of materials is important to me as a Montessori parent. But, as a parent with five kids, access to paint has been a harder one for me to implement. While I know there are so many great benefits to painting at an easel - creative expression, opportunities for crossing the midline, cause and effect - the potential mess sometimes outweighs my readiness to make it available.
And, full transparency, I don't make paint available all the time. Instead, I choose when I have the capacity to be an available and prepared adult. While I hope that is often, access does ebb and flow based on other factors in our lives. But, I have found a few easel painting hacks that have made painting a lot easier. A few simple changes and I'm much more willing to let my toddlers paint.
Montessori Parenting Tips for Toddlers and Painting Easels
Like many things in a Montessori environment, a few quick changes make all the difference to making a material accessible to a young child. Here are a few hacks that I've been using that make painting so much easier in our Montessori home:
- Boot Tray: Use a boot tray under the front of the easel to catch drips and provide a visual reminder for where a toddler can be with the paint brush/paint
- Scissors and Tape: keep an adult scissor and painters tape near the easel at all times. This makes changing the paper a lot easier when you don't need to scramble around to find tools to remove big sheets of wet paint. I keep ours on tray behind the easel.
- Apron: Store the apron right with the easel so that it's easily accessed when your toddler wants to paint. Apron will save the shirt a lot of the time! We just usually hang right on small hook on the wall.
- Sponge: Put a moist sponge out right next to the paint. Anticipate that fingers, floor or easel will need a wipe down and just have it ready to go. Toddlers love to help clean drips. Plus if you have sensory sensitive kids like me, you can find that the sponge saves them wiping paint onto clothes.
- Each paint cup has a brush: This just makes it so much less messy. No need for water to clean the brush and less spills.
And, that's it! Simple changes that make a big impact in reducing the stress around painting. Will you try these simple Montessori friendly changes?!
