WEDNESDAY & CLAY

"Have you ever heard of leather hard?" Jen asked the children as she presented them with a leather hard slab. Clay of this type was new and familiar to the children this morning at our meeting. (We did point out the leather on our shoes.) 

As the day progressed, our hands and minds were intently working with leather hard clay. A clay with increased dexterity due to reduced moisture content.

Jen also demonstrated how to safely use the cutting tools (shaved down xacto knife) and to use a ruler to support cutting a straight line. The focus was then given to the technique used to attach clay pieces. First is to  score the clay then add the slip and a bit like velcro, the scored piece adheres to the piece of with the slip.

OUR WORK WITH CLAY CONTINUES

We observed that this work was a greater challenge for the children than we initially anticipated. The fine motor agility of handling the cutting tool, the strength to cut through the quarter inch thick leather hard slabs, and the next steps of scoring first, and adding slip second, as a mandatory measure for attaching were not as simply executed as we thought they might be. With this as our observation, we will continue to develop the skills of using the clay tools and building individual  hand strength as together we share  more clay experiences.

Jane, Lucia, and Giacomo apply slip to their clay work.

Maxon, Janie, and Giacomo cutting pieces from their clay slabs.

Lucia, Maxon, Jane, and Janie shape, score, attach, and play!