About this material

Clay is fine earth that holds water, dug from riverbanks and hillsides and worked wet. People everywhere have shaped it for thousands of years into cooking pots, water jars, bricks, tiles and figures, from the potters of Oaxaca to those of China and West Africa. Fired in a kiln or an open pit it turns hard and lasts, which is why pottery shards are among the oldest things we find.

Invitations

• A whole 25 lb block of clay set on a low table or a canvas cloth on the floor, with nothing else, so hands meet it first.
• A big block outside on a stump, in a log or stump area if you have one, where children can push, punch, stand on and lean into it.
• Clay beside a basket of natural tools such as sticks, acorn caps, pinecones, feathers and smooth stones.
• Small bowls of water and sponges beside the clay, so children find out what water does to it.
• Clay pressed onto textured bases such as bark, leaves, burlap, bricks and a tire to see what marks stay.
• Slabs rolled out flat for printing, cutting and building small walls, houses and bowls.
• Clay in different states side by side, a dry chunk, a soft piece, a bowl of slip and a jar of dry powder.
• A shared clay piece on one large board that a small group adds to over several days.
• Clay set near a lamp or flashlights so children can watch shadows on their forms.
• A fist-sized ball of clay for each child, so every child has their own piece to squeeze, poke and pat for a long time.
• Labeled boards on a drying shelf where finished pieces wait and children can visit them.
• A color study in slip, with three small jars of white, buff and red clay slip and wide flat brushes, offered on a gray clay slab and a white tile side by side.
• Leather-hard tiles carved with loop tools, forks, nails and pencil ends, so lines show as light marks on a dark surface.
• Clay on a canvas-covered board, a slate tile, a mirror, a metal tray, a wooden round and a smooth river stone, so children feel how each surface grabs or releases the clay.
• A tool tray with wooden paddles, a rolling pin, a fettling knife, a loop tool, a fork, a garlic press, a cut wire, a sponge on a stick and a spray bottle, offered a few at a time.
• Clay in the class atelier on a low table near the window, with the same boards and tools as the studio, so a child can return to clay any day.
• A clay table under a large tree on a warm morning, with a bucket of water, a cloth to keep the block damp and leaves falling onto the work.
• Observation clay beside a real object, such as a pinecone, a snail shell, an egg or a small branch, set on a black cloth so its edges stand out.
• For threes and fours, short coils and balls on individual boards, with a wooden tool or two and a small dish of slip for joining.
• For fours, fives and TK, a slab roller or two guide sticks and a rolling pin for even slabs that become tiles, boxes, masks and story scenes.

Together or alone

Both. We offer a whole block explored together and a ball for each child. A big block on the floor draws a group into pushing and talking together. A child alone with a small piece can follow an idea for a long time.

Good to know

Store clay wrapped tight in plastic in a lidded bin and reclaim dry scraps by soaking them in a bucket of water. Wipe tables and floors with a damp sponge and never sweep or brush dry clay, because the dust is not good to breathe. Pieces dry slowly on boards away from sun and can be fired by a potter in our community or left as air dried work. Wedge or knead clay before it goes out so it is soft and free of air pockets. Keep slip in lidded jars and mix it from dry scraps and water to the thickness of yogurt. A damp cloth over unfinished work and a plastic bag over the board keeps it workable for days. Air dried clay stays fragile, so we tell children it can crack and that cracks are part of the story. Wash tools in a bucket first and pour the settled water into the garden, never the sink, because clay clogs drains. Keep wet towels close for wiping hands. Keep the block out for weeks, so the work can become a thread or a project. The youngest children may bring clay toward their mouths, so stay close, name what they are doing and offer the clay again for hands, such as Clay is for our hands. You can squeeze it. Stay close whenever a clay wire is in use. Label stored pieces with the child's name and the date, and talk with children about how drying clay grows lighter and more fragile.

The child's role

• Wedge and pat the block ready with an educator.
• Choose tools and decide when a piece needs water.
• Name and label their own board.
• Show a friend a way they found to make a coil or a hole.
• Decide if a piece is finished, still growing or going back to the bucket.
• Help wrap the clay, sponge the table and soak the scraps.
• Tell or draw the story of their piece for documentation.
• Mix slip from dry scraps and water and decide when it is thick enough.
• Choose a surface for their work, such as canvas, wood, slate or stone.
• Cover unfinished work with a damp cloth and check it the next day.

Closing it together

Children press scraps into the reclaim bucket, sponge the boards and the table, and lay a damp cloth over unfinished work. Tools go into the wash bucket, then onto the drying rack and back to their photo-labeled tray. The settled bucket water goes to the garden later in the day, carried by children, so no clay reaches a drain and no educator stays after.

Your presence

Sit at the low table with your own small piece of clay and let your hands get as wet and gray as the children's. Keep your face soft when clay reaches sleeves and floors, and narrate what you see, such as You pressed with your thumb and it made a deep hollow. Leave their forms as they are, even when a piece slumps or cracks. Notice how the youngest children poke, pat and press, and how older children use force, fists and elbows with growing intention. Watch for children beginning to work together on one form, such as digging a tunnel, and for how a child solves a problem, such as a bowl that holds things or an animal that stands up.

Wondering alongside

• I notice the clay holds the print of your thumb.
• I wonder what will happen to it by tomorrow.
• How did you make it stand up?
• Tell me about the slip you mixed.
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• I wonder what would happen if you pushed it with your elbow.
• Your sculpture is a lighter gray today. How does it feel now?
• How does the clay feel different from mud outside after rain?

Ways it can grow

1. Hands only with the big block, many times over, until children know its weight and smell.
2. For twos and threes, keep clay to hands and a few natural tools for many weeks, with soft clay and plenty of water.
3. For threes and fours, add one wooden tool at a time and small boards each child can name.
4. Add natural tools gathered from a garden, a park or a walk.
5. Add wooden tools, the wire cutter and rolling pins, one at a time with a short story about each.
6. Offer water and slip and let children find out how pieces join.
7. Explore balls, coils and slabs and the shapes children invent from them.
8. Press textures from around your setting and make a texture wall of clay tiles.
9. Build up tall and hollow forms, then wonder together about balance.
10. Look at clay with magnifiers and a microscope to see what is inside it.
11. Dig a little soil from the garden, soak it and sieve it to find out if our own ground holds clay.
12. Offer clay with other materials such as wire, sticks and loose parts.
13. Make a group sculpture or a clay village that grows over many days.
14. Look at pottery made by Maria Martinez and Toshiko Takaezu in books and large prints, and invite a local potter to throw on a wheel.
15. Watch pieces dry, change color and maybe come back from a kiln, then compare wet, dry and fired.
16. Paint leather-hard pieces with white, buff and red slip only, so children study how a few earth colors sit beside each other.
17. Model techniques without making a product, such as scoring and slipping a join, smoothing with a wet finger and hollowing a thick form so it dries without cracking.
18. Make observational clay from real things, such as acorns, a snail, a fig leaf or an animal your program cares for, and keep the object beside the clay.
19. For fours, fives and TK, plan a piece in a drawing, make it in clay and compare the drawing and the form.
20. Open studio, where children take clay from the shelf when an idea calls for it.
21. When ideas grow bigger than hands can manage, quietly set a small basket of natural tools nearby and watch.
22. When a child wants to keep a piece, show how to pull the clay wire taut and cut it from the block.
23. When children begin to shape faces and bodies, offer clay self portraits beside drawing, paint and wire, as the Seeing Ourselves module describes.

Every child

For a child who seeks more, offer the whole 25 lb block on the floor to push, punch, lean on and wedge, and a wire cutter to slice thick pieces off with two hands.

For a child who finds it too much, offer a small piece of firm clay on a board with a wooden tool or a stick, so hands stay clean, and a damp cloth close by for wiping.

Connected cards

Playdough, Beeswax, Plaster and casting, Mud, Natural materials, Wire, Studio and class ateliers, Light and shadow

What you need

A small bag of air dry clay or earthenware clay from a craft store, a bowl of water, a sponge and an old placemat or cutting board. A spray bottle, a fork, a wooden spoon and a few smooth stones make good first tools.

Ways to try it

• Give a big lump and let hands squeeze, pat and pound it with no plan.
• Press leaves, keys, shells or fabric into a flat piece to see the marks.
• Roll snakes and balls and see what they turn into.
• Make a little home for a toy or a bowl for treasures.
• Make a small pinch pot by pressing a thumb into a ball and turning it slowly.
• Sit outside with clay and a leaf, a pinecone or a shell and try making what you see.

Your child's role

Your child decides what the clay becomes, and that it might change many times. Let them help set up, add water and wipe up. Your child can also choose what surface to work on, such as a board, a placemat or a flat stone. Your child can drop scraps back in the bag, sponge the board and table and rinse tools in a bowl of water. Pour the water outside on soil, never down the sink.

Wonder together

• I wonder what happens if we add a little water.
• How did you make that?
• Tell me about your clay.

What your child is learning

Strong hands, patience and the idea that a material can change and come back again. Squeezing and pounding clay gives the hands and arms heavy work (proprioceptive input), which helps many children feel calm and organized.

Bring it to school

Send a photo of a clay piece or a texture your child loved pressing. Extra clay, clay tools or wooden boards for the studio are welcome.

Good to know

Wipe clay with a damp cloth and never sweep dry clay dust. Keep leftover clay sealed in a bag so it stays soft. Clay that will not be kept can go back into a bag with a splash of water to soften for next time.