3rd Grade Clay Leaves

Fall is in the air and  in the art room! The third graders created these beautiful clay leaves.

Our first step was to knead the clay to remove any air bubbles. This was done by wedging the clay by using the palm of the hand to press the clay in, and lightly slamming it against the table (like kneading dough, if you are a baker!).

 

The next step was to roll out the clay to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Then the students pushed the plastic leaves into the clay to add texture and to use as a tracer to create the leaf shape. Once we had our leaves cut out, we wrote our names and teacher code on the back with a pencil and then placed the leaves to dry in a styrofoam bowl. To finish them off students were allowed to select from a variety of glazes to add their choice of fall color.