Children’s Clay Projects

In a land and time far, far away, I taught children’s clay classes. I taught at an after school enrichment program in Denver at an elementary school and I also taught a few kid’s art camps at the Art Student’s League of Denver and Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, CO. Recently, a teacher friend asked me for some clay project advice for her students and I was reminded of the variety of children’s clay projects I taught over the span of 3 years.

I had a ton of fun teaching these projects and classes. Kids are innately creative and are not afraid of breaking the “rules” when it comes to art making. 

After I pulled out a number of photos for my friend as reference, I decided that I should probably make a page on my website that features the variety of  children’s clay projects that my students made. Teaching also benefitted my own clay practice. 

Children’s Clay Class Age Ranges

The kids I taught ranged from five to thirteen years old. Typically, I broke the classes up into K – 1st grade, 2nd – 5th grades and then 6-8th grades. I find that the younger children have less dexterity and need more hands on help than older students. Also, some projects were just too complicated for the really young students.

A Sample of Children’s Clay Projects

References

Some of the children’s clay projects that I taught are ones that originated out of my own clay practice. We made a variety of functional items like soup can mugs, plates and other items. I also referenced a book titled, Ceramics for Kids by Mary Ellis. Often, making a project would spark new ideas and of course the kids made suggestions for projects that they were interested in making. 

Ceramics for Kids by Mary Ellis
Ceramics for Kids by Mary Ellis

If their suggestion was reasonable, I usually tried to make it happen. I would generally make the project ahead of time to use as a reference and then develop a lesson plan around the clay project. 

My classes ran 2 hours after school. We typically made the project one week and then glazed the next and allowed plenty of time for a snack and clean up since we used the art room in the elementary school. 

Other projects ideas:

  • rattles
  • whistles
  • fairy houses
  • marionettes
  • bowls
  • cupcake jars
  • and more

Stay tuned for a website update. I’ll add a page along with lots of photos of children’s clay projects.

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