Little P’s Montessori Work – Art & other Fine Motor (36 – 41 months)

I’ve talked about how I have been storing Little P’s fine motor Montessori work and art work done at home and at school in a clear pocket folder. You can check out a review of his work between 18 to 36 months in my previous blog post here.

This blog post reviews Little P’s 36-41 months work. I do intend to update again at the end of the year with his 42-47 months’ work so we get a complete review of the year. So I guess you can say this is an ongoing review. It’s really just easier and more sustainable for me to break up the digitsation work of his paintings, etc in a staggered manner so that it doesn’t become one whole big monumental project at year’s end.

Now here we go.

Toddler Painting

Painting at this stage remains an exploration of colour and strokes when I look at what he brings home from school.

But when I refer back to my experience of him painting at home, it becomes so much more an imaginative process. What was at first a red flower, a red sun soon turned into a robot. See the photo of himm painting below.

He asked me to join in, I try to join in minimally as I don’t want the experience to become overly adult-directed, so I started drawing lines across the top of our plastic canvas (to model crossing the midline). He soon interpreted my lines to be a cable for cable cars. And then it morphed into a tow truck that pulled his robot along. And then the robot became a tow truck too.

Speaking of crossing the midline, it’s something I read here and there when learning more about baby’s physical development. I started wondering until when is it applicable.

Some infants may start reaching at about 2 months, while others may mosey their way to the milestone at around 6 months.

This ability to cross the midline continues to develop until your child reaches 8 or 9 years old. At this age, they usually have sufficient core stability and also use both sides of their body.

Lewis, R. (2020, September 30). Crossing the midline: Activities, research, disorders, more. Healthline. Retrieved May 17, 2022

Back to Little P painting at home, after he felt done with the plastic canvas, he explored covering our paint palette with paint. Haha.

This set of washable paint enables easy cleanup and allows us to reuse our plastic canvas over and over again.

It’s available for purchase on Amazon.

Children form many connections and ideas of how the painting process works for them, as well as what they enjoy about it. Watch a child painting and you will see a fully engaged child. We can almost see children’s thoughts, such as, “When I push my brush flat, my line gets bigger”, or “I like stirring this, but I don’t want to put it on paper or touch it”, or “I mixed red with more red and orange, and got fire color red!”

While we listen and observe, we may begin to understand the way a child perceives his world, his developmental abilities, and his needs or interests.

The Pennsylvania State University. (2019). Painting with young children: There’s more to the picture (better kid care). Better Kid Care (Penn State Extension). Retrieved May 17, 2022.

The first week of school after the school break, Little P came back with a painting that looked vastly different from all the paintings he had done before.

This was also the time we noticed that he had gotten a lot comfortable with volunteering to speak with people he had only met the first or second time before. He had also gotten alot more imgainative when talking to us, regalling us with tales on when he flew to London to see the dinosaurs fight and how the Cheerios are cheaper in London and he will bring mom over there to buy them. So yes, somewhere around 41 months I do think was a developmental milestone for Little P.

Toddler Fine Motor Work

It appears Little P continues to enjoying punching holes in paper as pictured left in the photo below. Right beneath the piece of white paper with the punched holes and red dots is a cut up piece of paper that I have stuck back again (lol.) Anyway, on it is a trapezium traced out by poking pins into the paper . Half of the trazeium has also been penciled in so the right half is clearer than the left.

In the middle (photo above) is metal inset tracing work. (More about metal insets tracing work in my previous post here.) This is a new shape that he is tracing out so we can see he is progressing through the shapes from the more basic circle and oval to this curved three-pointed shape.

Still referencing the photo above, on the right we can see a stack of papers stapled together because it’s something he likes to do. Stapling things to make “a book”. The only work that is dated here is the gluing and pasting work inside the oval shape so that’s all I’m referencing.

More pasting work. He did not seem to glue the bits of paper on randomly. He appeared to be trying to cover the brown paper with the bits of paper he has access to rather systematically. There is minimal overlap even though he tried to filled in the gaps.

Colouring and drawing with coloured pencils/crayons

Pictured below on the left, Little P drew the outline of a green car with two round wheels and one car seat (right in the middle) for mom. He said it was an antique car (古董车) with only one seat for mom because mom doesn’t have a car.

He then cut it out and asked me to put double sided tape on it to make it into a sticker. I stuck it onto the write up so I can remember what he said. Haha. I felt this was somewhat a milestone as his car is looking more like a car and less like a blob of colours.

Besides fat colour pencil or colour pencil stubs, non-toxic crayon rocks like this are developmentally appropriate for young children. They help strengthen young childrens’ tripod grip muscles and improve fine motor coordination through use.

Read reaviews and buy on Amazon.

Cutting with Scissors

Last thoughts

I think my next steps would be to continue to spend time with Little P when he paints and draws at home. And maybe we will bring our materials and draw outside. What with covid, sickness, going outdoors more often during the holidays and other family events, it has been a long few months and I have been neglecting that somewhat.

Offer valuable painting experiences

The soothing process of painting is often what is interesting to young children. The pleasant feeling of painting over and over, possibly using two brushes or their fingers, is what is important. We need to encourage the experience where it interests the child, not the adult. As children develop, they become more focused on creating representations and conveying ideas.

Young children need large pieces of paper (to have full range of motion) as well as a variety of brush sizes to experiment with (find what works best for control). Consider offering smaller quantities of paint so children can manage fewer spills and can mix colors without ruining large containers of paint. Color mixing provides endless discoveries.

Painting areas should support the child’s physical abilities. Easels should be at correct height or sturdy platforms added to adjust height. Move chairs from tables to allow children to stand and paint if they wish. Very young children can be held in a lap or sit on the floor with an adult.

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY. (2019). PAINTING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN: THERE’S MORE TO THE PICTURE (BETTER KID CARE). BETTER KID CARE (PENN STATE EXTENSION). RETRIEVED MAY 17, 2022.

While we enjoy our plastic canvas set up on our balcony railing at home, I guess an easel would be a convenient alternative if we were living in a flat with no balcony.

Kidkraft is a pretty reputable brand with sturdy products. Read easel reviews and buy on Amazon.

Rich Conversations

Responding to and encouraging children’s painting is important. See if the invitation is open for conversation first. A good way to start may be to describe what you see; “Your painting has long blue lines and orange circles”. Wait to see if the child responds; she may want to share more with you or just want to return to her painting. Interrupting may interfere with the painting process.

When children seem ready to share, think of thought provoking questions… “This part of your paper is filled with pink and white spots. What do you want to do to your painting next?” or, “What are you going to do with your painting when it’s done?”

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY. (2019). PAINTING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN: THERE’S MORE TO THE PICTURE (BETTER KID CARE). BETTER KID CARE (PENN STATE EXTENSION). RETRIEVED MAY 17, 2022.

That’s all for our review of Little P’s Montessori Work – Art & other Fine Motor (36 – 41 months). Stay tuned for the next installment if you are interested. Check out the previous installment if it helps!  

---

Come :) Follow weliveinaflat.com on
Instagram @weliveinaflat |  Facebook donna.weliveinaflat |  Youtube Mutt Vlog