2nd Grade Clay Birds

I love doing clay, but at my school where I am finishing up 4 more days of class before I move, the kiln is at the high school.  So it is extremely inconvenient to do clay projects with my K-8 kids, but I try to put in the effort every now and then.

The art show theme for 2nd grade I chose was called "It's for the Birds!"

I started off with the pinch pot bowls that became a bird nest or bird bath.  I've seen several times on Pinterest how you can add in marbles, like those in flower vases, etc. in clay projects and they melt in the kiln.  After the students glazed them they chose from the various colored marbles I had and then we let magic work!  The students thought they were so fun!

I was running out of time before the art show, so students used air dry clay to create a small bird.  We stuffed them with feathers and painted them with watercolor paint.  Although they were "cute" they were rather unsuccessful in that the pieces kept falling apart.  I would have much rather used regular clay for the kiln but my alternative was to not have them in the show, so I chose the lesser of the evils so to speak.

Here are some photos (forgive the coloring from the flash, the colors seem to be a bit more harsh/vibrant than in real life):

My high school students helped to set up the art show and several students loved these too!  So much so that they inspired a fun clay project by my Freshman...photos to come after finals and the end of the school year!