Clay Animals in the Atelier-By Kitah Gimmel

The children were offered clay again. This time they were asked to choose from an assortment of plastic animals to use for inspiration. “I like wolves,” said Dylan as he selected the wolf figurine.

“I rubbed it so it could get smooth.”-Zev  

They were each given a ball of Crayola Air Dry Clay to recreate their chosen animal.

The children softened the clay by pounding it with wooden mallets and rolling it with rolling pins. “He has 1,2,3,4 legs," said Carmi while counting her cows legs. The children used cutting tools to section out smaller bits of clay to create various body parts. “First I roll it,” says Noa while making her sheep’s tail. “The ears are hard to make,” said Casey.

“I drew the body parts.”-Barak     

“He’s sleeping, then he’s going to eat someone’s food.”-Jackson

“This horse can fly.”-Racheli 

After pressing the bits of clay together to attach the body parts, the children used skewers and other carving tools to add details like facial features and fur to their sculpture. “The smaller holes are ears,” said Shiloh.

Many of the children made their animals stand upright. Some children sculpted their animals laying down. “He’s flat because he’s sleeping,” explained Rae. Kira says: “He’s resting because he was running a lot,” about her donkey.

The children painted their sculptures with natural colors such as black, gray, brown, white, orange, gold, and yellow. 

“I put his trunk right on his mouth.”-Dov

“I wanted to make the eyes.”-Mia

Kitah Gimmel finished off their clay with a coating of Mod Podge and a sprinkle of glitter.