Exploringmontessori

We try to have a painting session at least once a week. Sometimes he paints on his easel, but most of the time he prefers painting on paper laid out in front of him.

Right now his paintings mostly look like colour spreading across the page. He enjoys moving the paint around with his hands and watching the colours appear on the paper. At this stage it’s very much about the experience rather than the final picture.

Luckily he’s quite careful with it for now. The paint usually stays on the paper and doesn’t travel too far beyond it. Of course that might change as he gets older, but for the moment I’m appreciating these relatively calm painting sessions.

What has surprised me the most is how much his concentration has grown. When we first started, a painting session lasted maybe five minutes. That was it. But slowly it has stretched a little longer each time. Our most recent one lasted almost twenty five minutes from start to finish, which felt quite amazing to watch.

One thing I try to be mindful of is not wasting paper, so the question always comes up: what do we do with all the paintings afterwards?

Instead of letting them pile up, we’ve been trying to reuse them in small ways. Some have turned into personalised greeting cards, others into envelopes. I also like the idea of using some as wrapping paper for small gifts.

I’ve been saving a small stack as well because I’d love for us to try making paper together at home one day using some of his old paintings.

For now, the paintings themselves aren’t really the most important part. What matters is the time he spends exploring the paint, moving his hands, and slowly building his concentration.