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The adventures of Lori Buff, a studio potter and teacher, as she makes ceramic art and enjoys life with friends, family and some dogs. Travel and other interesting stuff is also discussed.
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Pottery Kids
Last Thursday was the last day of our Kids Clay Class at Callanwolde (try to say that three times, fast). They had built some clay projects, fired them, glazed them and fired them again. So for the last class, they got to see the finished projects, which were really great. The class is two hours long and I wanted the kids to continue to have fun so I gave them a little tour of the pottery studios and showed them the kilns. We talked about how they worked. We even found someone in the raku area doing a sawdust firing. It would have been more exciting if she was doing a raku firing but that was not the case. Maybe next time it will work out that way. I brought them to the wheel room and showed them around there. Then I took out some clay that I had wedged up and did a little demo of how to make a pot. I also demonstrated how to squish a pot. Demo pots aren't always keepers. My best work doesn't always come out while I'm talking and kids ask a lot of questions which is wonderful but my pot was not.
Demonstrating Wheel Throwing |
After showing them what to do I let each child take a turn on the wheel.
Teaching Centering |
Helping Throw a Pot |
The kids were great about taking turns and being supportive of whoever was throwing at the time. The hard part was getting them to clean up and go when it was time for their parents to pick them up.
I tried to allow the kids lots of freedom to play and express themselves however they wanted through the clay. I feel like kids seem to have too much structure in their lives and a little play time is very healthy. The children seemed to enjoy it. I think the best compliment was hearing "This is his (or her) favorite day of the week."
The Kids Clay Classes are off for the summer but will be back in the fall. I'm looking forward to them.
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Comments
I am sure you gave those kids memories that will last a life time! I completely agree with you that a lot of kids have too much structured time and not enough time for free exploration.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I like your now blog layout!
I hope so, they were great kids and really seemed to enjoy the class. Thanks.
DeleteThanks also about the blog layout. I updated my website and tried to make the blog match.