This Sunday, we will celebrate our planet and show our concern and appreciation for the earth’s natural environment. One of the most earth friendly ‘toys’ for children is clay. When your children pull out their clay to play, why not give them a little education about it. Clay is actually bits of earth, that over time, is carried from one place to another by water and deposited in areas where the water slows down to a trickle.
If you have ever gone digging by the
water’s edge, only to grab a handful of muck, that muck is clay. As the bits of earth travel with water, they
pick up all kinds of tiny rock and sediment, but by the time we pick up our box
of clay from the store, the muck has been cleaned and refined so it is ready to
use.
Even though the clay our kids play
with is smooth, they will delight in experimenting with different textures. Understanding how a
textured surface produces an imprint can be an aha moment for a child as they
press an object. One experiment fun to try is to use the end of things, like
markers, caps and even a cinnamon stick, to press texture into clay.
Go in the garage or show your child your workshop
or tool chest and let them press interesting objects into clay. Even better, go on a nature hunt outside to
find different materials.
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If you are looking
for an easy clay project to let your kids experiment with textures, just create
simple clay tiles, divide them into four squares and have kids press a group of
objects onto the tile. You can make a theme, like seeds, leaves or shells. Or
you can let it be more free-form and have them bring whatever they might find
in the house, their toy box or the yard together to try.
Then, you can talk about what the textures
remind them of - the scales of a fish, the bark of a tree or the hair of a
shaggy dog. You can use texture to create all kinds of animals … let your kids
imaginations soar. Give it a try! And
give thanks to the earth for our clay!
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