Do Montessori early childhood education programs emphasize process or product art? If your child is new to this type of preschool program, take a look at what you need to know about process art, product art, and the Montessori method.
What Is Process Art?
Like the name implies, this type of art activity focuses on the process. This means your child will explore different ways of creating — such as painting, drawing, sculpting, and collage.
In process art activities the teacher acts as a facilitator, supervising the child as they experiment and make their own discoveries. The end result of a process art activity won't necessarily look like something you'd expect. Instead of a family portrait, painting of a dog, or sculpted coffee mug for mom, your child may create a paint-splattered piece of paper, a glob of glue and paper, an abstract marker drawing, or other similar types of artwork.
What Is Product Art?
This type of art activity centers around an end result or, as the name says, a product. Product art activities are teacher directed and typically include a set of steps the child must follow. While product art activities do include processes (such as painting, drawing, sculpting, or collage), the child isn't encouraged to explore. Instead, the child must use the process to make something specific.
It's unlikely two children will make process art that looks identical. The same isn't true for product art. Even though you might see slight variations, you won't find major differences.
What Type of Art Do Montessori Students Create?
Montessori preschools typically use process-based art activities. These programs encourage exploration, independence, and student-led learning. Teachers in Montessori early childhood classrooms encourage their students to work and grow at their own pace — and in ways that make sense for the individual child.
Process based art works or meshes with the Montessori approach to early childhood education. Instead of standardized teacher-led projects, art in Montessori is child-directed, experimental, and filled with opportunities for the preschooler to express themselves in meaningful ways.
A Montessori teacher won't lead the entire class in a paint by numbers or color inside of the lines type of art activity. Instead, the educator will carefully place art materials in an art area or a part of the room the children can easily access. Each young student can choose the materials they want to explore, experiment with the processes, and create at their own pace.
Reach out to a preschool in your area for more information.
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