In this project, students discover the beauty of textures found in a surprising place… on the soles of their shoes! Textures are all around us. Find some textures in this room!

Grade Levels: I did this lesson with Kindergarten, but it could be done with any age level. I would even use it with older age levels to test things like glazes on kiln fire clay.

Materials Needed:

·      We used Air Dry Clay for this lesson, but kiln fire clay would also work beautifully

·      Watercolor palettes

·      Crayons

·      Twine

·      Pony Beads

·      Wooden Beads for watercolor (optional)

Preparation:

 1.     Divide the clay into 2" square pieces, one for each student.

 2.     I use a large sheet of paper with all of the student’s names on it, for placing air dry clay to dry on the drying rack. Each student will place their clay piece onto their name.

 3.     After air dry clay is dry, tape masking tape onto their clay artwork, write student’s names on the tape.

 4. Cut twine into necklace lengths (one for each student), around 15” in length. Tie a string onto one end to keep beads from sliding off.

Lesson DAY 1:

 Read the book, Many Shapes of Clay: A Story of Healing, by Kenesha Sneed

 Talk about Clay. Where does it come from? Have you ever dug your hands into the mud by a lake or riverbed, that’s clay! Clay comes from the ground, usually in areas where streams or rivers once flowed. It is made from minerals, plant life, and animals—all the ingredients of soil. Over time, water pressure breaks up the remains of flora, fauna, and minerals, pulverizing them into fine particles.

 CLAY VOCABULARY:

Clay artists throughout the ages have invented many ways to shape things out of clay.

PINCH – Use your fingers to pinch and poke a single lump of clay into any shape.

SLAB – Roll the clay into flat sheets (like a pie crust) to cut apart and assemble.

COIL – Roll out long snakes of clay and twist them into coils and shapes.

What is Texture?

Texture is one of the Elements of Art. Just like a chef uses ingredients to follow a recipe, an artist uses the elements of art to make an artwork. The Elements of Art are Shape, Color, Form, Space, Line, Value, and today, we are going to talk about Texture. Texture is what something feels like.

“Feel your hair on your head, feel how soft it is? Feel the floor, is it smooth or bumpy? What does it feel like? That feeling is the TEXTURE.”

 Take it further: Show pictures of different textures, and ask students to describe what they think those different textures would FEEL like.

Demo:

 Explain by demonstrating how to take a small piece of clay to create an IMPRINT of the TEXTURE from the bottom of our shoes! Our shoes have really interesting textures, use your ball of clay to create a TEXTURE PENDANT.

 Hand out small pieces of clay to each student. Allow them time to roll clay into different shapes, coils, and forms.

 Then after some time exploring the new medium. Ask them to roll their piece of clay into a ball, and create a print into the clay using the soles of their shoes.

 Remove one shoe and observe the patterns on the sole. With the larger balls of clay, make an impression of the most interesting patterns by pressing the clay onto the sole. Continue pressing until each ball is flattened into a disc. Students can use their own shoe or exchange shoes with a friend.

 Make a hanging hole in the upper part of each clay disc (now embellished with an interesting texture). Make sure it is large enough to fit the twine through.

Day 2:

 Review TEXTURE and CLAY. Explain that the clay is now hard like a rock, but very fragile, so we need to handle it with care.

 Explain how to create CRAYON and WATERCOLOR RESIST. Resist, means that the crayon will repel the watercolor away from it. Teach students that Oil and Water don’t mix, and that the oily-waxy substance of the crayons will show through even after painting with watercolor, resulting in a BEAUTIFUL effect!

 Have students color clay with crayons before adding watercolor paint. I like to spray their watercolor palettes with water so they don’t need to really add a lot of water to their brushes. You don’t want them getting their air-dry clay terribly saturated or it will start to get mushy again. I also strongly recommend tiny brushes for this. We didn’t run into any problems with clay getting too wet.

 I also gave each of the students some wooden beads to watercolor, as well. They absorb the watercolor BEAUTIFULLY!

 I give each of the students a small bowl to keep their clay pendant and their painted wooden beads in, the piece of tape (with their name on it) on the bowl.

Day 3:

On the third and final day of this lesson, we get to string our necklaces and wear them home!

 We first looked at and discussed Native American Jewelry Making, as it is November and Native American Heritage Month.

  I also reminded them to string a few small beads, before stringing their big clay TEXTURE bead, then adding more small beads. This way, their biggest bead is close to the center of their necklace and we have some BALANCE of small beads on either side.