Project Day: The Language of Clay

Just about every week, we invite our two neighborhood friends over for some exploration on our back porch, aka our Outdoor Classroom. The two four year olds and the seven year old have a mini "school" time with journaling, read-alounds, and, best of all, art and sensory experiences. We usually spend the last half hour on a "story walk," meandering through the farm and telling stories about Elmer the Gnome and Finneas the Dragon. Many of art experiences are drawn from Ann Pelo's amazing book, The Language of Art. The sensory experiences are inspired by The Ooey Gooey Lady Lisa Murphy.

This week, we delved into one of my favorite explorations: real clay.
​Young children are often offered play dough or plastic modeling clay for exploration. These options are easy to play with and easy to clean up, making them favorites for grown-ups. Clay presents another level of challenge--as you work with it is changes from cold and stiff to a warm, malleable medium. Following Ann Pelo's book, The Language of Art, I introduced the children to the clay, asking the oldest to carry the huge 25 pound block of clay to the table. It made an impressive thump​ as he placed it on the table.

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Each child had a tray and a sponge for their work area, and I used a wire cutter to carve each boy a hefty chunk of clay. They got to work, realizing that the stiff clay required them to use their whole bodies to move it. Standing, they pushed into the clay using the weight of their bodies work the clay. As they manipulated it, it warmed and moved more easily. They used their sponges to moisten the clay. Soon they were able to squish it with their fingers, roll it with their palms, and making snakes, balls, and bowls. The oldest child in particular really wanted to make something. I encouraged them to get to know the clay first, to experience the different ways that the clay moved, held shapes, and changed. I promised that another day, we would make things to be fired in the kiln, but today was just for getting to know the new material. With this encouragement, the three children work intently for more than half an hour exploring the clay and learning about how to "speak" clay.

Have you used clay with young children? How is it different for them than play dough? What do you notice about how they work with it?