Clay Beads

I love using clay for art projects for little kids and multiple complex needs students. It's good to give them sensory experiences that help improve fine motor skills. For the clay bead project, I had my students pinch of tiny pieces of clay to roll into balls. Some started with a coil and cut off uniformly sized chunks as well. Something the size of a Tootsie roll or smaller is a good place to start.  I taught them that to make a ball they could put their hand on top of the clay and roll it in a circular motion, but to make a cylinder, they would roll forward and back with the same piece of clay. We poked a hole large enough to allow for shrinkage, and even went back with tooth picks when the beads were leather hard to make sure the holes hadn't closed up. 

Kids pushed cards, metal embossing tools, or skinny paint brush handles into the sides of the beads to make interesting textures and patterns. One day we worked with porcelain and another we worked with terracotta. The colors were so beautiful that we decided not to paint or glaze them. We used Twisteezwire to string them, and it was the perfect size to fit over an adult head )with some overlapping twisted part int he back) for a necklace. The moment that a child realizes that they just made a piece of jewelry out of basically mud.

Clay Rattles

Even little kids can learn out to make a pinch pot from a small ball of clay, and a pinch pot is just a couple steps away from making a clay rattle or shaker. The first step (after rolling clay into a ball) is to push a thumb into the center the clay. I recite the Little Jack Horner nursery rhyme as I do it.  Demonstrations are hard to do for blind students. So much of what is learned is learned from observation.

I have students pretend their hands are hand puppets that they make talk with their fingers close together, fairly straight and pushing against their thumb, that way I can see if they're ready to start pinching the edges of the clay to stretch the walls thinner and make a bigger hole.

Once the pot is big enough, they can add tiny balls of clay made the day before by a previous class. I find that dried out pieces of clay are much less likely to stick to the fresh clay, but another technique involves wrapping balls of clay in some newspaper inside the rattle to prevent sticking. The paper will burn in the kiln, freeing the balls to rattle. If the students didn't make the pot opening small enough to easily pinch close and smooth out, a small lid can be used and blended into the edges.

The first batch ended up looking like a bunch of rocks, waited to be painted after firing. But by the second class, I figured out that students enjoyed carving a little texture, or adding small ornaments like a clay worm, a bee, a butterfly, a heart, a flower, or a favorite letter.  A few added handles, but the shaker fits so nicely in the palm of the hand, that almost everyone felt happy with their little treasure. The fact that it makes sound adds another layer of pleasure, especially for my students, who hear much better than they see.

Clay Heads

Having never made a life sized clay head myself, I was a little apprehensive about assigning it to my students. But with the thanks of YouTube and a little playing around, I managed to get the courage. I had students start with with a ball of newspaper, with a little newspaper roll or empty paper towel roll attached to the bottom. Then we made slabs of clay to wrap around the bottom for a solid neck and then  more for the head.

A line of symmetry helps provide guides for where the eyes, nose, and mouth should go.

Then, clay is added and shaped in those areas. The hair is the crowning touch. Even students with cognitive impairments can pinch and place little pieces of clay, or roll coils for braids and dread locks.

Once it looks finished, we slice the top of the head off with a wire cutter, to remove the newspaper. One problem we found was that the clay was still too soft. I was taking some of the students on a multiple-day field trip, so I was trying to fit a week-long assignment into 3 days. A few of the heads started to collapse. It's better for the clay to be almost leather hard before taking this step.

We smoothed out the inside and then slipped and scored to rejoin the top of the noggin.

Then we bisque fired the pieces. 

Some of the heads were painted with acrylics and a few of them sold at a silent auction fund raiser. Others were glazed. I think the students really enjoyed this project and I love that little their personality comes through with each face.Students glazed or painted their pieces