Friends, this project is less of one with an intended outcome and more of a reminder to just. let. the. kids. make. things. for. the. joy. of. making. things. I make play dough as often as I can but nothing can compare to clay. Good ol’ clay has a texture like nothing else and is just delicious for your hands!
Clay = From Nature
Play Dough = Man Made
MATERIALS
- Clay
- Any Collage Materials (I linked everything from our photos)
- Toothpicks
- Shallow Bowls of Water
DIRECTIONS
Just let them make things! Small things, big things, all things. We set out the various collage materials in little bowls around the table and let them create open-endedly.
Clay smooths out when it’s rubbed gently with water which is a whole sensory experience in and of itself! Model dipping your finger in water and rubbing it on the clay to “erase” lines and imperfections. I usually take a toothpick and carve a shallow line then model the “erasing” trick with water.
Sometimes I have kids who spend their entire time just drawing and “erasing” with water. Sometimes I have the super-sensory-seekers who plunge their whole hands into the water and cover their clay with water and rub it around and get clay all over their hands and thats just FAB. I always tell myself that never again in their education will they get the chance to just play with clay without having to make what Ms. Art Docent is teaching, so if they want to just rub it and smoosh it and poke it then I enthusiastically encourage it (and love it). When the kids take their pieces home at the end of the day some have 100,000 collage materials pushed in and others have literally nothing and are sculpted into nothing but were the medium for play and happiness.
