The safe and effective use of basic materials and equipment (scissors, staplers, glue, etc.)
Basic Skills Basic skills activities are to the art education curriculum as practical life activities are to the general Montessori curriculum. Each skill needs to be practiced with a series of activities that require ever increasing levels of difficulty, and at the same time, present ever increasing levels of creative possibilities. These activities start the process of self-directed art making. It is important, when giving these lessons, that we as adults give what I call “classic lessons.” The lesson represents the minimum information necessary to safely do the work. There will be variations that your students can discover for themselves and will share with others. They may think they have made a mistake and bring it to you to correct it. They are so happy when you explain how clever they were to have discovered a variation. These may be some of the first art activities that need to have students’ names on them. Putting names on the work is an important part of the presentation. Keep on file all the work that you have made so that it can be used for future lessons. Basic Skills Introduction Judging how many or how much of each material to put out for the day is something one learns over time. Each activity will demand differing amounts. In general, it is wise to under supply until you ascertain the demand. The environment needs to have a recycle bin to collect colored paper. Good colored paper scraps can be used for paper making, coloring sculptures, or as material for another basic skill activity. Note: This section covers activities that require cutting paper with scissors, and the use of staplers, paste and glue sticks. After simple cutting and stapling, other cutting activities can include pasting or stapling, and other pasting and stapling activities will include cutting. These activities need to be together in the environment. Start with cutting. It will be up to the teacher to choose the order of introduction for the other skills.
Important: Please read the entire text of an activity before preparing each.