Montessori classroom is a very special place. You feel it when you enter the room. Everything you see around is beautiful, child-sized and very appealing for young children.
“…what is above all essential is that it should be ‘artistically artistically beautiful’. In this case beauty is not produced by superfluity or luxury, but by grace and harmony of line and colour, combined with that absolute simplicity necessitated by the lightness of the furniture. ” – Dr. Maria Montessori Dr. Maria Montessori
We try to make our classroom and materials so beautiful to give our children the best.
Sometimes when you look at some classrooms you see that furniture is child-sized, they have shelves, they have all the materials, but you still feel that something is missing there. You don’t feel that special atmosphere of aesthetical beauty. And though the classroom may be doing good, you understand that it doesn’t work at its full potential. Also when child is surrounded by such aesthetic environment he is more inspired to choose materials and to work. He feels himself better in this classroom in general.
The child absorbs all that surrounds him in early ages, all that he sees. He soaks it up irreversibly. These memories stay with him for the rest of his life and his early years form his way of thinking and his picture of the world. So being surrounded by nice things in childhood prepossess children in adulthood to environ them by nice things.
Also, children are big admirers of art. They love beautiful things, nice items attract them.
“The child should live in an environment of beauty”
Maria Montessori
How can we make the classroom or home environment beautiful?
1. Wall art
Montessori classrooms usually have beautiful pictures and paintings on the walls. We hang them on the child’s eye level. For infants, we hang them really low. It can be famous paintings, original art, family photos, old prints, handmade art. Putting paintings in nice frames will make them more attractive for children.
Also, you can hang in the frame some not traditional items such as:
– pressed flowers, so children can inspect them;
– embroidery, so children can touch them;
– clay paintings for children to feel them.
What having wall art will do for your child?
– he will appreciate art at anytime he wants
– it will inspire him on future creations
– it will show him different art techniques
Look at the
Lauren’s class at Creo Montessori in Arizona. They have a lot of different pictures in the class. All art is very interesting and natural. Take a look at this amazing school because they have so many tiny elements in the classroom that make it extremely appealing for children and very unique in general.
2. Beautiful furniture
Different kinds of child-sized furniture make a room comfortable for children and adds a special atmosphere to the classroom. It can be different tables and chairs, shelves and stands.
3. Handmade materials
Materials that are made by teachers or parents enrich any environment. We try to fill our shelves with unique, rare and uncommon items that will make the space around rich, engaging and inviting. Also, I will include in this section interesting items that were bought but then arranged in some kind of material by adding several elements.
Montessori school “Emerald city” in Russia has extremely talented, passionate and dedicated teachers. I see wonderful ideas from them in my feed every other day. This set of tea pouring contains gorgeous pot that was handmade from clay by teachers. They couldn’t find the appropriate pot to match to a nice cup, so they made it!
4. Baskets and trays
Different trays and baskets are not just an accessible way for children to move materials they also add aesthetics to the environment.
This is a wonderful set for napkins folding again from Montessori school “Emerald city” . Pay attention at the tray. It is made of a frame and napkin with the bright design.
They recommend having as many different trays as possible because it makes works attractive for children. This is another incredible tray from this school. What do you prefer all the same wooden trays or different unique trays? I find the beauty in simplicity and natural materials. Though this work looks gorgeous.
5. Cosy little things
Little interesting items add special atmosphere. I found
this table on Pinterest. It has the perfect combination of taste, simplicity, and beauty. There are table and chair of appropriate size, small art piece, real flower and no needless things.
If you haven’t yet seen the awesome environment of
Washington Montessori Institute in Baltimore you need to check it out. There are a lot of flowers and items that worth noticing. The area is very inspiring.
I hope this post will inspire you on future creations for beautifying learning and living areas for your kids. Next principle to learn about is Naturalness and Reality.
Nice post dear, Montessori materials are so helpful for kids. They can easily learn by help of these types of materials. A teacher can easily teach his students with help of these types of things. Now many types of Montessori materials are provided by a number of companies and a person can easily buy them ensure the progress in the skills of his child.