The cost of homeschool supplies can add up quickly. Multisensory education means having lots of hands-on materials, but fortunately, with a little outside-the-box thinking, you can create beautiful DIY Montessori materials for free. Paint chip samples are a wonderful place to start. You may already have some in a drawer from a recent remodel. If not, head to the hardware store or visit your favorite paint company's website and request a few. Local stores will sometimes put together a small package for educational purposes.
Gather up your bundle of paint samples to create dozens of beautiful manipulatives, decorations, and projects. Making these materials together is a wonderful arts and crafts activity for the whole family. Children take great pride in creating their own learning materials. Take a look through this list and see what stands out to you. We have included ideas for children of all ages.
12+ DIY Montessori Activities with Paint Chip Samples
🎨 Color Box
This is a classic Montessori Sensorial work and easy to make as a DIY material. Separate the paint samples by color and place them in a box. Introduce one color at a time, allowing the child to explore shades of that color until they are ready to move on.
🎨 Color Matching
Dozens of options exist depending on the child's age and ability. Provide two sets of the exact same color to match, match household objects to the proper color, or match items from nature to the right color. Older children can explore the detailed nuance of shade as well.
🎨 Color Books
This works best with larger paint samples. Glue samples back-to-back and use binder rings to create a book. Children can draw, use stickers, or cut out and glue pictures that match each color. Older children can write poems or short stories about each color on the pages.
🎨 Color Tablets
Another classic Montessori work. This requires two sets of the same paint samples with different shades. Cut one card and keep one card whole. Children can then place the colors in light-to-dark or dark-to-light order, checking their work against the whole card.
🎨 Crafts
Once you begin to view paint samples as craft supplies, the sky is the limit. Use them for mosaics, scrapbooking, card making, ornaments, homemade games, and more.
🎨 Puzzles
Use a larger paint sample to make a puzzle. Draw a simple design or write a large word on the card, then cut it into puzzle pieces. Use just a couple of pieces for young children and more for older ones. The color gradient helps children match pieces more easily, making this excellent for children who find puzzles challenging.
🎨 Stamping
Get out the stamps and have fun. Children can work open-ended or complete stamping tasks, such as stamping words or stamping in a specific order based on the shade of the color.
🎨 Punching
Children love using the hole punch. Paint samples are a good thickness for practicing punching and building hand strength. Try larger craft punches in shapes as well. The punched-out pieces can be used for color matching or crafts.
🎨 Cutting Practice
Paint samples are perfect for cutting practice. Lines are already printed on them for cutting, or you can draw a pattern or shape for the student to cut out. These are especially popular for seasonal shapes and objects.
🎨 Mosaic
Put punched-out pieces and cutting skills to good use with a mosaic. This is a great way to use up paint chips after other activities. Add images clipped from magazines or photos to make it pop, or attach magnets so children can create art on the refrigerator.
🎨 Rainbow
Provide the child with one paint sample of each color. They can create a mosaic rainbow or arrange the cards in rainbow order.
🎨 Make Blocks
This takes a little extra effort but is well worth it, and these blocks become well-loved homemade toys. A hardware store can cut the blocks for you. Measure the size of each paint sample first to get just the right dimensions. One option is to cover each side of a block with a different hue of one color. Another is to create a full set of blocks, each a different shade of the same color.
🎨 Color Clipping
Similar to the color tablets, this activity develops shade discrimination. Take a paint strip with several shades on it. Cut a thin strip from one side and glue or tape one shade of each onto a clothespin. The child clips each clothespin onto the matching shade. Colorful binder clips or paper clips work as well.
🎨 Mini Books
Square and large rectangle samples make the best mini books. Use them as book covers with plain paper inside, alternate paint samples and paper, or combine with construction paper. These are a fun way to make little spelling books, alphabet books, number books, or short stories.
🎨 Bookmarks
Use long, narrow samples for bookmarks. Children can decorate them with ribbon or stickers and enjoy using them. These also make an easy and thoughtful gift project.
🎨 Schedule Cards
Bring color to your daily schedule. Write one activity per section, or use single-color paint chips and write one activity per card. These also make nice small desk-size schedules for children to reference throughout the day.
🎨 Math Manipulatives
Cut the different shades apart and you have the perfect size math manipulative for little hands. Use them in any Montessori-inspired math project, number matching, or counting activity.
🎨 Spelling
Many options exist for using paint samples for spelling. Write one letter per section on a paint strip, cut the sections apart, and children can piece them back together by shade. Write one word on each color chip, or place an entire spelling list onto a single paint strip.
🎨 Word Families
Write common word endings such as -ing or -all on one color. Use a paint strip of the same shade to write beginning letters on. Children match the beginning letter to the proper word ending. For example, B + all = ball.
🎨 Decoration
Create colorful classroom and home decorations. Cut samples into letters to spell your child's name, cut out shapes to create a one-of-a-kind art piece, or make a colorful rainbow display.
🎨 Busy Bag
Put paint samples into a busy bag and see what your child creates on their own. For older children, include scissors, glue, tape, and a hole punch.
🎨 Sensory Box
A few samples inside a sensory box add extra color and texture. Add paint samples that match the current theme of your sensory box. You may wish to laminate them or cover them with packing tape to make them more durable.
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