Art Postcards: Montessori Art Appreciation for a Variety of Ages

My 2-year-old granddaughter loves art postcards. Luckily, I didn’t have to search far to find art postcards for her. I have enough to last as long as she wishes!

 

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When I owned a Montessori school in the 1980s, I discovered the work of Aline Wolf from Parent Child Press, which is now owned by Montessori Services. At the time, I was able to purchase Mommy, It’s a Renoir! Art Postcards for Art Appreciation along with packets of art postcards for the steps in Aline Wolf’s art postcard curriculum. I have used those postcards and that book as a Montessori school owner and teacher, Montessori homeschooler, and now as a Montessori grandma.

Art Postcards – Child-Size Masterpieces for Art Appreciation at a Variety of Ages

Aline Wolf’s work with art postcards is simply brilliant! She has broken down art appreciation into a series of easy-to-follow steps that almost anyone can teach (and learn). You can see her entire art appreciation curriculum at Montessori Services.

Although I started with the art-postcard packets that were originally available, as a homeschooler I purchased the Child-size Masterpieces – Level 1 to see how it varied from using the packets of art postcards. The books are definitely the way to go! The results are attractive and much less work to prepare!

You can learn how to use Aline Wolf’s art postcard curriculum through How to Use Child-size Masterpieces for Art Appreciation, her book that replaced Mommy, It’s a Renoir. You can learn how to comfortably teach art appreciation with this one book. I’m assuming it still has art history and the pronunciations of artist names in the index like the earlier version. I used that information so many times over the years!

You can find many of Aline Wolf’s books through Amazon, too.

The program typically has easy, intermediate, and advanced activities for the steps. The curriculum is suggested for ages 3-9, although I think it’s a wonderful way to make art appreciation fun even for high schoolers! You’ll find a complete art appreciation curriculum in these steps:

• Step 1: Matching Identical Paintings
• Step 2: Pairing Companion Paintings
• Step 3: Grouping Four Paintings by One Artist
• Step 4: Learning the Names of the Artists
• Step 5: Learning the Names of Famous Paintings
• Step 6: Learning about the Schools of Art
• Step 7: Grouping Paintings from the Same School
• Step 8: Using a Timeline of Art

At many of the levels, you can individualize your activities, too. When we lived in South Dakota, my son started a collection of Harvey Dunn art postcards when he was 5 years old. We’ve often used art postcards as wall decorations, too.

Using Aline Wolf’s curriculum, here’s the very first step and first level: The materials shown here are from the book Child-size Masterpieces – Level 1.

Here’s an example from Step 3 (Level 1).

If your children or students complete the curriculum through step 8, they’ll will have an AMAZING art appreciation education … and it’s all hands-on!

Art Postcards for a 2-Year Old

My 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, was first introduced to art appreciation through the Montessori by Mom Art Appreciation toolbox for ages 3-6 (which is fabulous, by the way). Zoey fell in love with it at 20 months when I was reviewing the toolbox. She had a great time matching all the miniature art reproductions. That inspired me to dig out the art postcard curriculum so Zoey can add to her enjoyment of art masterpieces.

I got out the first folder. (Note: I’ve used the folder pattern for many 3-part card matching activities. Now you can even purchase the folders through Montessori Services.)

I added the folder to Zoey’s practical life/language/cultural shelving unit. (I don’t have a separate cultural area since I only have two shelving units. You can see my shelves for a 2-year-old.)

Zoey’s good at matching, but art postcards are so much more than matching. We had fun talking about each of the pictures, and Zoey enjoyed simply looking through them. It’ll be lots of fun to continue adding on to her steps (and continuing to use the Montessori By Mom Art Appreciation Toolbox, too).

More Montessori-Inspired Art Appreciation Activities

You’ll find many more Montessori-inspired art appreciation activities in my roundup post.

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning series!

12 Months of Montessori Series – Fine Arts

• Montessori Art Inspired by Nature (Free Printables)  Natural Beach Living
• 5 Great Ancient Civilizations: Art & Architecture (Activities & Free Printables) | The Natural Homeschool
• Art Postcards: Montessori Art Appreciation for a Variety of Ages Living Montessori Now
• Our Montessori Art Environment | Planting Peas
• DIY Art Cards for Montessori Learning The Kavanaugh Report
• Montessori Art Appreciation for Toddlers Mama’s Happy Hive
• Explore Writing Materials with Kids | Child Led Life
• Preparing Children for Their First Fine Arts Experience Every Star is Different
• Our Montessori Art Program  Grace and Green Pastures
• 10 High-Low Art Essentials for Little Artists from Study at Home Mama

Have fun! 🙂

 

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