From Lines and Colors to Mondrian: A Montessori Approach to Preschool Art
How simple experiences with straight lines and primary colors can prepare young children to look at art with new eyes.
Piet Mondrian’s work has long been a favorite in preschool art classrooms—and it’s easy to see why. His bold straight lines, geometric shapes, and striking palette of red, yellow, and blue are visually engaging, accessible to young children, and wonderfully suited to creative exploration.
But in order to more fully appreciate Mondrian’s art, children should first be introduced to two of its most recognizable visual elements: straight lines—horizontal and vertical—and primary colors.
Rather than simply pointing out these features once a Mondrian painting is in front of them, we can give children opportunities to experience each concept for themselves.
They can discover how a horizontal line travels across a space and how a vertical line moves up and down. They can match, name, find, and sort red, yellow, and blue. They can experiment with what happens when lines cross and begin to divide a space.
These seemingly simple experiences give children a visual vocabulary they can later bring to the artwork.
When Mondrian is finally introduced, children are prepared to do more than look at a painting and hear an adult explain what is there. They can begin to analyze it for themselves:
I see horizontal lines.
Those lines are vertical.
He used red, yellow, and blue.
The lines made rectangles.
Some of the spaces are still white.
And from that recognition comes appreciation.
Children begin to see how Mondrian used familiar elements in unfamiliar ways—arranging lines, colors, shapes, and white space to create a composition.
Then, when it is time to create their own Mondrian-inspired artwork, they aren't simply copying the appearance of one of his paintings. They already have some of the tools and concepts they need to make artistic choices of their own.
First we experience. Then we recognize. Finally, we create.
And our journey begins with the simplest element of all: A Line
Before children can recognize horizontal and vertical lines in a work of art, they need opportunities to see them, feel their direction, trace them, and create them for themselves.
And we can begin very simply—with a line.
Place a long strip of black paper across a work mat and slowly trace it with your finger from one side to the other.
“This line goes across.”
Then place another strip so that it travels from top to bottom. Trace it slowly again.
“This line goes up and down.”
Invite the child to trace each line with a finger. This simple movement is important. As the child's hand travels across the line or moves from top to bottom, the direction becomes something they can feel, not simply something they can see.
Once these directions are familiar, we can introduce their names:
A line that goes across is horizontal. A line that goes up and down is vertical.
Then…
We invite the child to create one.
Offer black paper strips, craft sticks, pieces of yarn, or another simple loose material.
“Can you make a horizontal line?”
“Can you make a vertical line?”
The child can place the materials, move them, turn them, and try again.
Now they are no longer simply looking at a line—they are constructing one and intentionally choosing its direction.
Children can experience these directions with their bodies, too. Stretch both arms from side to side to create a horizontal line. Reach from the floor toward the ceiling to experience vertical movement.
Once they have experienced the direction of a line with their hands and concrete materials, we can begin transferring that movement to paper.
Start big.
Provide large horizontal and vertical lines that children can first trace with a finger. Then invite them to follow the same path with a thick crayon or marker.
Down.
Across.
Large sheets of paper allow the whole hand and arm to participate in the movement. As coordination develops, the lines can gradually become smaller and more controlled.
Children can explore line-making with different tools:
Crayons • Markers • Colored Pencils • Pencils • Paintbrushes
Each requires a slightly different amount of pressure and control.
These simple experiences also support early writing development. Long before children form letters and numbers, they are learning to control a writing tool and intentionally guide it in a particular direction.
The goal isn't to produce perfectly straight lines. It is to give the child repeated opportunities to connect what the eye sees with what the hand creates.
And paper isn't the only place to practice.
Try tracing horizontal and vertical lines with two fingers in a sand tray. Paint long strokes at an easel. Draw giant lines with sidewalk chalk. Make them on a chalkboard. Create them with sticks outdoors.
The concept stays the same while the sensory experience changes.
SEE → TRACE → MAKE → DRAW
Once children have experienced horizontal and vertical lines concretely, paper activities can provide another opportunity to recognize, trace, and create them.
Explore more Horizontal & Vertical Lines Printable Activities
Find the Lines Around You
Once children know what they're looking for, lines begin appearing everywhere.
Look at a window frame.
A bookshelf.
A doorway.
The edge of a table.
A picture frame.
Ask:
“Can you find a horizontal line?”
“Can you find a vertical line?”
A simple line hunt around the classroom or home helps children discover that horizontal and vertical aren't just marks on a worksheet. They are directions and relationships that exist throughout their environment.
As a next step, allow children to explore what happens when their horizontal and vertical lines begin to touch and cross.
Place two vertical black strips on the work mat.
Add a horizontal strip across them.
Then another underneath.
Without necessarily setting out to create anything in particular, a familiar shape begins to appear between the lines.
A rectangle.
Move the lines. Bring them closer together. Experiment with strips of different lengths.
Another familiar shape might emerge.
A square.
Children can make these discoveries with paper strips or craft sticks, or simply experiment by drawing horizontal and vertical lines with markers, crayons, pencils, or paint.
Children can also explore these familiar shapes with Montessori materials such as the Geometric Cabinet and Metal Insets, tracing and working with the square and rectangle.
There is no need to turn this into a formal geometry lesson. We are simply allowing children to discover that lines don't always exist by themselves. When they meet, they begin to define spaces and create shapes.
This small discovery will become meaningful later.
When children eventually look at Mondrian's compositions, they won't only recognize the horizontal and vertical lines.
They may begin to see what those lines are doing.
Creating spaces.
Creating squares.
Creating rectangles.
And soon, we'll add something wonderful to those spaces: Color
Before children encounter the bold red, yellow, and blue in Mondrian's compositions, we can give them opportunities to experience these colors on their own.
These three colors are known as the primary colors.
For young children, however, we don't need to begin with a long explanation of color theory. We can begin with something much more concrete:
seeing, matching, naming, sorting, and creating with color.
In a Montessori classroom, the first box of the Color Tablets provides a beautiful introduction to these three colors.
Place one red, one yellow, and one blue tablet on the work mat.
Name each color slowly.
“Red.”
“Yellow.”
“Blue.”
Then invite the child to match the corresponding tablets.
At first, the experience is simply about noticing that two colors are the same.
Later, we can begin naming them and asking the child to identify them:
“Can you show me red?”
“Which one is blue?”
“Can you find yellow?”
Through these simple experiences, color becomes something the child has had an opportunity to observe carefully and discriminate visually, rather than simply memorize.
Once the child recognizes the primary colors, take the exploration beyond the tablets.
Place a few red, yellow, and blue objects in a basket and invite the child to sort them by color.
Buttons.
Pom-poms.
Beads.
Blocks.
Small classroom objects.
The material itself can change while the visual concept remains the same.
Then take the exploration into the environment.
Hold up a red color tablet:
“Can you find something in the room that is this color?”
Suddenly the classroom becomes part of the lesson.
A red book.
A yellow flower.
A blue pencil cup.
Color is no longer something that exists only on a tablet or worksheet. Children begin recognizing it everywhere around them.
And then comes one of the most important steps:
Let children create with the colors themselves.
Offer red, yellow, and blue crayons, markers, colored pencils, paint, or play-dough.
Let children make marks, draw lines, fill spaces, paint broad strokes, roll and shape play-dough, or simply explore each color on its own.
At this point, there doesn't need to be a finished picture or a predetermined result.
The experience can simply be:
What happens when I put red on white paper?
How does blue look beside yellow?
Which color do I want to use next?
This gives children something that looking at a color tablet alone cannot provide—the experience of making choices with color.
And now, with all of these experiences behind them, comes the exciting part:
Show the children a work by Piet Mondrian.
Give them a moment simply to look.
You may begin to hear discoveries:
“I see red!”
“Those lines go up and down!”
“There’s a blue square!”
Suddenly, the concepts the children have been exploring appear together in the work of an artist.
They are not being told what makes Mondrian's art interesting.
They are recognizing it for themselves.
And that is what makes this moment so powerful.
Then, look a Little Closer .
Once the children begin sharing what they notice, follow their observations.
You might ask:
“Can you find a horizontal line?”
“Can you find a vertical line?”
“What shapes do the lines make?”
“Which primary colors can you find?”
“Did Mondrian color every space?”
There is no need to rush through the questions—or even ask all of them.
The goal is not to quiz the children about the painting. It is to invite them to look more carefully.
And because they have already explored these concepts for themselves, words such as horizontal, vertical, square, rectangle, red, yellow, and blue now have meaning.
They can use what they know to talk about what they see.
Meet the Artist Behind the Lines
After spending time with the artwork, introduce the artist himself.
Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist born in 1872. His work did not always look like the bold geometric compositions we recognize today. At first, he painted landscapes and scenes from nature, including trees, farms, rivers, and windmills. Over time, his paintings became increasingly abstract as he explored how lines, shapes, colors, and space could work together in a composition.
Eventually, straight horizontal and vertical lines, areas of white, and carefully placed primary colors became some of the most recognizable elements of his work.
For young children, we don't need to turn this into a long art-history lesson. A photograph of Mondrian, his name, a few simple facts, and—most importantly—several examples of his actual artwork are enough.
In fact, I would show more than one painting.
Ask:
“What do you notice that is the same?”
And then:
“What is different?”
Children may notice that the colors move to different places, the rectangles change size, some paintings contain more white space, or the lines divide the canvas differently.
That begins to introduce another important idea:
An artist can work with the same elements again and again and still create something completely new.
And Then... Let Them Create
Now the creative activity feels earned.
The children aren't being handed a “Mondrian craft” and asked to reproduce a sample.
They have explored lines.
They have worked with primary colors.
They have discovered squares and rectangles.
They have observed Mondrian's paintings and noticed how he used those same elements.
Now we can say:
“Would you like to create a composition inspired by Mondrian?”
And this is where your Build a Mondrian activity comes in beautifully.
Offer a sheet of white paper along with black strips and red, yellow, and blue squares and rectangles in different sizes.
But don't bring out the glue just yet.
Encourage children to arrange, move, turn, add, and remove pieces as they experiment with their composition. A black strip might travel across the entire page. Another might stop halfway. A red rectangle may move from one corner to another several times before the child decides where it belongs.
Invite them to notice the spaces they are creating.
Which spaces will have color?
Which will remain white?
Some children may create many small spaces. Others may prefer just a few large ones.
Some may use all three primary colors, while others may be drawn strongly to one.
When the child is satisfied with the arrangement, the pieces can finally be glued in place.
There is no model to copy and no single “Mondrian” the children are expected to reproduce.
Mondrian provides the inspiration and visual language—straight lines, geometric shapes,
primary colors, and white space—but the artistic decisions belong to the child.
Another Way to Create
Children can also explore these ideas through drawing and painting.
Invite them to draw their own horizontal and vertical lines with a black marker or paintbrush, creating spaces across the paper. Then offer red, yellow, and blue crayons, markers, colored pencils, or paint and allow them to decide which spaces they would like to fill—and which they would like to leave white.
For children who would benefit from a little more structure, Mondrian-inspired coloring sheets can provide another entry point. Children can choose their own arrangement of red, yellow, and blue rather than following a predetermined color key.
Whether they build and glue, draw and paint, or color, the important part remains the same:
The child observes. The child experiments. The child chooses. The child creates.
Introducing children to an artist does not have to begin with a finished project.
Sometimes the richest art experiences begin much earlier—with a line drawn across a page, a child discovering the difference between horizontal and vertical, or the first time they intentionally choose red, yellow, or blue.
By giving children opportunities to experience these visual elements before encountering Mondrian's work, we give them something important to bring to that first observation.
They can recognize.
They can make connections.
They can say, “I know that!”
And when they eventually create their own Mondrian-inspired composition, they are not simply copying an artist's painting. They are working with artistic elements they have already explored and making choices of their own.
That is where art appreciation and creative expression come together.
If you'd like to bring this progression into your classroom or home, I've created two resources that can be used alongside the activities in this article.
Explore Lines: Begin with hands-on practice exploring, tracing, drawing, and painting different types of lines—including the horizontal and vertical lines children will later recognize in Mondrian's work.
→ Explore the Lines Printable
Meet Mondrian & Create: Continue the journey with a complete Montessori-inspired art experience that introduces Piet Mondrian, invites children to observe authentic works of art, and provides opportunities to build, color, paint, and create original Mondrian-inspired compositions.
Both resources are designed for young children and can be used in Montessori classrooms, preschool settings, homeschool environments, or at home.
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