Are you looking for a super-successful clay project for 3rd-5th grade? Our third graders loved making these sea turtle pinch pots. Check out the video tutorial!
I’ve included a short video of our school’s Skutt kiln. I’ve found that young students don’t understand the process that transforms their soft, gray, clay creations into a pale-colored, hard ceramics. I show this video in class to all grades, no matter what clay project I’m doing.
Materials: clay, a popsicle stick, a toothbrush, and water.
This spring I collaborated with our third grade teachers on an identity project. These clay picture frames were a perfect fit: they are personal and fun to make. The parents and grandparents absolutely loved these.
The frames require only a single bisque firing and it generally takes only one session to paint them.
Let’s get started!
Materials:
To make the frames
Clay
Rolling pins and slats (or slab roller)
Cardboard templates
Pin tools
Textured items
Small cookie cutters
Letter stamps (like these)
Toothbrushes and water
Drinking straw
Optional: gallon-size Ziplock storage bags and damp paper towels if you need to store for a second class period.
Create two rectangular cardboard templates: a larger rectangle for the outer frame, and a smaller rectangle for the interior window. Your smaller template should be slightly smaller than the printed photo (ours were 3.5″x5.5″). This will allow you to tape the photos to the back of the frame. I made one set of templates for each table.
Cut a mock frame from cardboard. Test each photo by placing it behind the frame. Be sure the student’s face is visible. Keep in mind the actual clay frame will have a slightly smaller window, as the clay shrinks as it dries.
Directions
Cover tables. Set out clay, rollers, and slats (or set out pre-rolled slabs if you have a slab roller). Distribute pin tools and both large and small templates.
Roll the slab (rolling pins/slats or a slab roller). Position the larger rectangle template on the slab and cut around it with the pin tool to create the picture frame (Note: we were able to get two cut rectangles from each slab). Center the smaller window template on the clay frame and cut around it with the pin tool. Set scraps aside and don’t squish them!.
Rotate clay frame to portrait position. Stamp name at bottom using letter stamps. Texture frame using texture tools. Optional: use cookie cutters on to create decorative shapes. Attach shapes to the corners: dip a toothbrush in water and gently scrub clay to create slip. Press on the decorations.
Make the hanging holes: an adult should do this. Punch the top of the frame with the drinking straw to make two holes. The straw will fill with clay – don’t remove it, just keep going.
Air dry for 10 days. Bisque fire.
Tips:
Make sure the hanging holes are big enough. Really twist the drinking straw in the holes and make sure it goes all the way through the slab. I had to Dremel out a couple of holes in the fired frames because I wasn’t perfectly diligent in this step.
Build the template around the printed photo. Roll and fire a clay sample and make sure the cut window is a just a little smaller than the dimension of the photo. Be sure you can see the student’s face clearly in the photo. Remember, clay shrinks as it dries. That window will shrink…
If you are doing this project after school picture day, you could use a standard school pictures to create your template.
I found that showing an instructional video is the best way to teach a clay project like this. The kids have a clear view of my hands. I can show it over and over each class period, and share it with kids who were absent on the day we did the clay project. Plus, I get to show it next year, or whenever I choose to do this project again.
I created a YouTube playlist with the whole process. Here you go!
If you are looking for a super-successful clay lesson for Kindergarteners-second grade, you’ve come to the right place. These functional clay rattles only requires a single bisque firing, and are finished with a fast and easy warm and cool color process. Students, parents and teachers loved them. I’ve included an instructional video at the end of this post – all my kindergarten students watched it and created the rattles independently.
Materials:
To create the rattles:
Clay
Rolling pin and slats (or slab roller)
Circle template or bowl to trace
Pin tool
Texture tools (we used LEGO)
Toilet Paper
Toothbrushes and water bowls
Prep:
Roll the slab and cut the circles. Cover the tables. Each table should have a tray of LEGO, one toothbrush for every two students, and small water dish. They also need a couple of squares of toilet paper and a little scrap clay.
Process is in my instructional video. This was a very effective video: 100% of KINDERGARTENERS did this project correctly and independently the first time. I strongly recommend showing this.
Coloring the rattles:
Materials:
crayons/construction paper crayons, sorted into warm and cool colors
individual pans of water color
brushes and water cups
Process:
Students scribble on the textured ceramic with their crayons. Ideally, one side could be cool color crayons and the other warm. Then they paint over the crayons with (ideally), the opposite color scheme. This was kindergarten….some did it, some didn’t, but they all looked great.
This was a great end of year project: all my water colors had just about run out. Yet we had enough for this project. I sure look tired in this video, though. Typical for end of year…
Enjoy!
Do you have a sure-fire clay project for kindergarten?
The first graders made these clay self-portraits earlier this year. They were fun to make, required a single firing, and surely will be treasured by the students and their parents for years to com.
Materials:
clay
marker or glue stick caps
dull pencils
alphabet pasta (available in the Hispanic foods section of Walmart, and through Amazon)
I used a multi-slab cutter to easily cut the clay block into identical clay tiles.
Making the face:
Students first used a dull pencil to draw the face, nose, smile, and neck. We stamped eyes with the glue stick caps. Then we added wagon wheel pasta for eyes. Curly-haired students pressed in Chinese egg noodles for hair; kids with straight hair pressed in broken lengths of spaghetti. Some kids added bow tie pasta.
Next I passed out plates of alphabet pasta. The kids spelled out their names and pressed the letters into the clay.
Finally, I added the date with an old-school rubber date stamp from an office supply store.
Allow clay to dry, then bisque fire.
Note: we did not remove ANY of the pasta before firing – we just let it burn out in the kiln.
Painting the clay:
After bisque firing, we painted them with tempera cakes. For the skin tones, I offered multicultural tempera as well as peach tempera cake. The first graders painted their faces in a snap.
Within a few minutes, the tempera settled into the porous bisque. Then the kids added mouths with crayon (or construction paper crayon). Some kids used crayon for the eye color and even for make up.
As a last step, I sprayed the clay portraits with glossy ceramic sealer.
Tips:
Live and learn – here’s what I found out:
don’t press to hard with the pencil when drawing the portraits. Some students cut right through the slab (but came away with nice face-shaped clay portraits!)
the pasta may attract rodents.
egg pasta leaves a yellow tint on the clay even after firing.
don’t press extremely hard with the wagon wheel pasta. If you do, the fired clay eyes will end up as a shallow well.
