AIR DRY CLAY ACTIVITY

Let me tell you a little story. Last winter, I hopped on Amazon (shocker, I know) to get some polymer colored clay. The girls had been reaallly into making teeny tiny food for their mouse dolls and I wanted to replenish our stock. I accidentally ordered this super light air dry clay instead. Rather than return it, we opened it up and gave it a go. The rest is history.

This activity is pure process art. There is no end goal in mind. When I put his out my only objective was to engage the children in some sensory play, chat with them and provide a fun space to hang out with friends.

Here’s what we used:

Air Dry Super Light Modeling Clay

Here’s what we did:

There is no real ‘how-to’ for this because it was truly an exploration. I set out the clay, the tools, the pasta maker and a snack. The nine-year-olds excitedly starting talking about making a luna-moth and they ran off to get the book Animalium to give them some ideas.

Sloane, my six year old made mini food for her sweeties while her friend became utterly absorbed in color mixing. She used her hands to knead the clay and then she discovered putting two colors through the pasta roller resulted in some pretty epic results.

The kids worked for over an hour. They alternated between working collaboratively and getting lost in their own singular play.

This activity is not for very little children. I would say at least four to participate, but you know your child best.

FAQs:

You can reuse this clay. We stuff it back in the little bags it comes in and squeeze out all of the air.
This is air-dry clay. It is super light, almost like a foam. It dries over night.
We only use out pasta maker for play. I bought it at a garage sale for $10 and it gets used pretty often!! Great for play dough, air dry clay and also, polymer oven bake clay.