Phyllis E. Tilton on mon 7 sep 98

Brian: My teaching experience is limited to our grandchildren-now 6 and 8 yrs.
They have a longer attention span when they are with me in my studio but amaze
me at how quickly they work and are ready for the next project. Some the
things they have done: wall pockets;pressing flowers, crocheted doilies,
pieces of evergreen branches, leaves(or tracing around those on a slab and
applying them--all of these things on tile or other slabs; drape small slabs
over a small pillow or wadded newspaper(I secure that with masking tape and
cover it with plastic). They, then make a low coilled piece and when both are
leather hard, join the drape and base. We drape different sized slab pieces
over a tall glass or jar. Triangular is good with holes in the corners. We
tie some cord in those(I won't take time for macrme) and hang them with little
pot of flowers or vines,etc. Another thing they love-is pressing their hand is
clay but what they REALLY have fun with is their feet-especially if the clay
is gushy. I have plastic alphabet and numbers, stencils of bird shapes, owls,
flowers,and others that they use. I check the children's sections in my
pharmacy--or at the office supply super store where they have a section for
teachers or other and have some interesting things. I have a lot of
underglazes which they enjoy using. I put small amounts in the plastic dose
cups and let them play. If they contaminate it by dipping in with other colors
on their brushes, that's ok. Sometimes it makes for interesting colors, too.
I'm sure there are other things that we do, but they don't come to mind right
now. I hope this has given you some other ideas. Enjoy the children!!

Phyllis Tilton
Daisypet@aol.com

Grace Epstein on tue 8 sep 98

your projects sound different, Brian, mind elaborating ?
other ideas:
* slab animals- cut out animal looking like a flattened cyote , add texture
and bend legs etc to animate
* burnish, low fire ( 012 or acutally 06 seemed to be fine)and sawdust fire in
garbage can or bon fire the pieces
*swinging slab shapes ( cookie cutter stars )...cut holes to string to dowel
or stick so shapes can swing...a mobile in essence
*fill pinch pots with wax and wick and voila a candle
Grace

taube wilson on wed 9 sep 98

Hi all,
A favorite with an 8-year-old I worked with was a rattle
made from a hollowed out ball of clay. She rolled a ball
about 2" in diameter which we cut in half, hollowed out with a trimming
tool, filled with small bits of clay individually
wrapped in newspaper, and melded back into a sphere.
She then chose to form it into a cube by lightly pounding
it on the table. It was decorated with slip. (I poked a hole
in it with a needle tool before firing)
I suppose you could just put two pinch pots together
instead of hollowing out a solid piece.

At the rec center where I teach they have a "Castle class"
for children (although a number of teenagers and adults have
taken it). They roll out slabs and impress them with a brick
pattern (I'm not sure exactly what they use for this-some
kind of sheet plastic with a raised brick pattern in it, I
think) and form towers, etc. with it. Some of them are quite elaborate,
with turrets,little windows, etc. The towers are set
on a slab base, and there's usually a short "brick" wall around the
base. They'd be interesting even without the brick impressions.

There's an inexpensive book called "Ceramic Projects" which is
published by CM. Although most of the projects are too complicated
for young kids it's a good starting place. The 8-year-old I worked
with made a kachina doll after looking through the book. Hers was
*very* different from theirs but the idea of a kachina was what got her
going.

Hope this helps,
Taube Wilson
Annandale, Va.
tpottery@hotmail.com

P.S. - The Wakefield Rec Center in Annandale is still looking
for a Sunday night Beginning Wheel instructor. You don't have
to be a resident of Virginia. Please E-mail me for more info
if you or someone you know might be interested. Thanks.

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Rex Cornelius on wed 9 sep 98

Don't forget to take some bisqued bowls for forms so they can mold and
decorate... all the textures good for slabs are good for bowl outsides,
leaves, sawdust, cornchips etc etc. And it's good if they can end up with
something practical, cereal-bowl-wise.

drc
=================================================================
Rex Cornelius .yaw ym ti ees ot yrT
rexc@southwind.net
=================================================================

Cheryl L Litman on thu 10 sep 98

My favorite is to make miniature environments - sometimes each kid makes
several pieces and at the end we set everything up together, take
pictures and then the kids take their part home and I send them pictures
of the whole. Mixed media with most of it being clay. Sometimes they
each make their own. Some are relief pieces and some more 3D sets.

*Caribbean reef - fish, sharks, corals, crustaceans, ships, scuba divers,
pirates...

*African village - adobe huts, animals (wild and domestic), people doing
various activities, cooking pots...

*Parade scene - people and floats in the parade, people sitting on
benches and standing watching, banners, musicians, horses...

*Space station: ships and shuttles, store fronts, aliens, transports,
flora and fauna...

*Circus - animals, clowns, acrobats, highwire act...

*Prehistoric scene - dinosaurs, plants, volcanos (which they erupt with
baking soda and vinegar)...

*Their favorite place or them doing their favorite activity - we usually
do this in relief with the pieces glued onto a box top with a painted
scene behind it. (The supermarket loves me because I come in and restack
the canned goods to get the cut off boxes from veggies, soups, soda...

Other ideas:
*picasso pots based on some of the wonderful and weird sculptures he made

*Joman style coil pots

*had a group this summer make kid sized skeletons as a group project -
each kid did several bones - I had a small 32" model for them to look at
and a copy of a skeleton from a book. Highlighted their part and as
bones were done we arranged them on a board to keep track. Pictures for
the kids afterwards

*larger than life insects - beetles, spiders and butterflies

Cheryl Litman
Somerset, NJ
email: cheryllitman@juno.com

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998 22:14:57 EDT Brian Crocker
writes:
>----------------------------Original
>message----------------------------
>------------------
>I am writing on behalf of a fellow Potting Club member.
>She teaches 5-7 y/olds at various schools =5B3=5D on a part time basis
>and =
>is
>running out of ideas. She has created the following projects and
>would like=
> to
>try some new ones.
>Pinch Pots =3B frogs turtles owls
>Slabs =3Bowls faces suns sacks =7Bfor tea etc=7D
>Coils =3B made inside and outside plaster moulds, making bowls and
>dishes.
>Looking forward to hearing from you all.
>Kind regards,
>Brian Crocker.
>4 Erica Street, Tea Tree Gully, S.A. 5091
>AUSTRALIA.
>
>=7B e.mail address =7D crocker=40picknowl.com.au
>

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amy parker on thu 10 sep 98

At one time, Tupperware sold these kits for kids that had plastic texture
slabs in them. Each side had a different pattern - there are about 20
different patterns. I think they had in mind doing crayons rubbings, but
these have been a lot of fun for clay for my kids. Another project that
they really enjoyed was pressing seashells into slabs, creating trivets.

I have saved all these textures & many little cookie cutters, Play-Dough
rolling pins with designs, etc. The cookie cutters can be lightly pressed
into the clay, leaving an outline which can later be "painted". My kids
like the Mayco Stroke-and-Coats since they look sort of the same color
that they will get later - makes it easy to understand.

amy parker Lithonia, GA
amyp@sd-software.com