I wish we had a Kiln oven at my school, but this year I decided to make do with Air Dry Clay and I am so happy I tried out. I found inexpensive individual packages of it at a local store and it dries just like fired clay.
Grade 2 students started with 3/4 the package of clay, a ball the size of a large tomato, and rolled up into a ball. Once smooth and round, we placed on the table and gently pressed with the palm of our hands. I asked them to try to make an oval shape. I then handed the rest of the clay, and divided into 2 parts, then one of those parts again into 2. These last 2 parts we used for the eyes, nose and mouth and the rest of the clay for the hair. Some kids made braided piggy tails and it looked really cute.
We kept the shapes assembled but once dry, I asked them to try to peel the features off, to paint them more neatly. Most of them could, but 2 student’s sculptures were completely attached and they painted directly very carefully. We painted using tempera disks, for the sake of simplicity and it worked really well. Once dry, we glued everything up together using white Elmer’s glue, and I had a hot glue gun ready to attach a couple of portraits that had difficult to stick features (actually most of the cute piggy tails).
The experience was so awesome that I am sure next year we will do one air dry clay project per grade.
Enjoy!
1st Class Art 