Painting Clay… and everything else

For our last class of the session, I offered the children paint to decorate their clay sculptures. I used small glass (baby food) jars to mix and store the paint and then lined them up on the table before class. It is important to me to present the materials in a simple, aesthetically pleasing way so that the children respect them and appreciate their unique qualities. In this case, the clean glass jars allow the children to focus on each of the brilliant colors that they will be working with. There is something so beautiful and appealing about a simple glass jar filled with vibrant paint!
I think Grace agrees…
When the children sat down, I brought them their clay sculptures from last week which were finally dry and ready for paint. The table was covered with white butcher paper, which proved to be much more interesting to paint than their sculptures.

With paint jars in hand, Grace and Karuna soon moved to the easels to work.
Kirsten was more interested in painting with the cars at the table.
Once I brought out some more tools to paint with, the table became very exciting.
Grace was very interested in painting new surfaces- after first painting the wall, she was re-directed to the easel where she worked on painting the easel itself!
Kirsten and Karuna worked together at the acrylic easel, making monoprints.


I love that the kids are now comfortable enough in the studio to go to the shelf when they want to work more materials.

Then they bring the materials back to the table to work with.



Busy, busy, busy!
Kirsten has found something interesting in the fabric bin.
See you next session!