Playing with Clay

Playing with clay. For Christmas we were given a huge tub of sculptors clay & my kids have loved it. I had every intention of teaching my kids a lesson from Deep Space Sparkle. They have wonderful lesson plans & instructions on how to teach our kids, but on this particular day we had just finished up a history lesson & used the clay to go as our additional exercises. The boys were to build a cup or bowl. My little dude, just made whatever his heart desired. We used the coil method. In which you make snakes & then coil them into the shape you want. 

After they are rolled out into long snakes you coil the clay into shapes you want. In our case cups.  Then if you don't want the coils you can smooth it with a little water & sponge.

             Then let them dry. It took our particular clay about 3-4 days of air drying. We did have the problem of having our handles fall of our cups, but I don't have a solution yet to this problem. I know there is one yet, but I haven't researched the answer. Sorry.

My little dudes Fish.

Once they were dry we added paint. It took ours about 3-4 days of air drying time, to be dry enough. I think you could add these into a warm oven to speed the process along, but we chose not to. 

We used an Acrylic paint that I had on hand already.  For my boys that wanted multiple colors on the same cup, we had a have a little drying time in between so the colors didn't mix.

They probably needed sealed once they are dry. We did have to wait patiently in between changing colors at 

times so that the colors didn't mix. They finished them & they looked fantastic. Sadly I don't have 

the finished pictures with me. (I will add them later).

All in all I would say the clay has been awesome for my boys. They are always begging to make things with it & have since created their own village. Creating cars, snow machines & a houses. Clay is something I will purchase more of & continue to use they have loved it.

Just as a tip, I always tape down freezer paper, (waxy side up) for any craft we do. That way my table is protected & it gives my boys a sense of their own working area. Once they are done, I rip of the freezer paper & throw it away & the mess is cleaned up. It works slick & my boys automatically get it out now.