PBL: ClayTales — Day 2

Date: 12th October 2022; Wednesday.
Facilitators: Auindrilla, Sonai, Sanmoyee, Drishti, and Priyanka.
Participants: Aarush, Dhriya, Divit, Hazzel, Meher, Nitara, Parth, Rishit, Ruhani, Shannaya, Sharlav, Shivansh, Shivanshika, Shivanyaa, Vaanya, and Yuvaan (Mehra).
Tags: art, sensory, exploration, pbl

Welcome back to another episode of ClayTales! The Arthlings have been introduced to a magic material, and are in the process of investigating its properties!
On Day 1, they observed how water turns dry, powdery earth into wet, sticky mud! In this instalment, they will discover a variety of techniques they can use to manipulate moist, pliable clay!

PLANNING AND SETUP

The activity was divided into the following steps:

1. Actions with Clay: Flashcards depicting various actions with clay, and the corresponding action words, were printed and stuck in different parts of the class.

2. Experimenting with Tools and Techniques: Moist clay was divided and kept ready for use. Trays were arranged with hammers, rollers, string, wooden knives, safety scissors, and cookie cutters. Jute sacks were provided as a surface to work on.

3. Building My ClayTale: Brown card was cut into rectangles to make bases for the children’s ClayTales.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Actions with Clay: The children sat down in a circle to warm up for their exploration session! They exercised their finger, hand, and arm muscles. Then they joined the instructors to chant their new action rhyme! They practised pulling and pushing, pinching and poking, rolling and twisting, and a new pair of action words!

Squeeze and stretch, squeeze and stretch,
Squeeze the lemon — squeeze squeeze squeeze!
Squeeze and stretch, squeeze and stretch,
Stretch the rubber band — stretch stretch stretch!

Experimenting with Tools and Techniques: The children sat down at their tables and were greeted with their lumps of clay! Sonai Didi called the clay ‘magic clay’. She explained that the children could make anything they wanted out of the ‘magic clay’… all they had to do was use the magic tools!
Aarush began his exploration with hammers! He was curious to know why the hammer left circular marks on the clay. Drishti Didi solved the mystery by showing him that the end of the hammer had a pattern of circles! The Arthlings also investigated with their hands. Divit found that the clay felt wet; Rishit thought it was hard. The children felt the clay was cold too! The Arthlings discovered they could poke, poke, poke the clay to make holes, and clap, clap, clap to flatten it!
Rolling pins were next on the scene! The children took inspiration from their rhyme and rolled their clay like they were rolling chapatis. Some of the rollers had raised ridges which left lines in the clay after rolling! These rollers quickly became a coveted tool. Yuvaan (Mehra) used a special roller to make a criss-cross pattern on his clay!
Patterns also appeared by accident! Parth turned over his clay to reveal a strange texture on the back. Hazzel and Vaanya flipped their clay and found the same pattern; they discovered that it was an imprint left by the jute surface!
The children were introduced to a variety of techniques to cut their clay. String could be used to slice the clay into two, but so could knives, and scissors! Divit, Meher, Nitara, Rishit, and Shannaya took turns holding a string with Sonai Didi to cut the clay! Aarush, Dhriya, Hazzel, and Vaanya pushed and pulled their clay to make a cake. They then cut their cake with a wooden knife!
Finally, the children used scissors to cut their clay. Vaanya found that she could roll a long noodle, and then chop it using safety scissors. She made her own rhyme — roll, roll, roll, cut, cut, cut. Meanwhile, Sonai Didi challenged the children to make tiny pieces with their scissors. She promised a point to the person who made the smallest pieces!
The final magic tool of the day was the cookie cutter. The selection included cutters in the shape of a house, heart, circle, start, flower, square, and man! Ruhani used a cutter to make a heart, which she gave to Drishti Didi! Meher made a flower, while Shannaya made a little man!

Hazzel, Dhriya, Vaanya, Ruhani, Aarush, and Parth explore their clay.

Building Forms for My ClayTale: The children were presented with pieces of brown card on which to place their art! They added their pictures to their boards to label them, and then made different shapes to save for later.
Meher saved the flower she had made with a cookie cutter! Vaanya saved one of her clay noodles. Divit built a tall tower on his board, while Rishit made a dinosaur!

SKILLS USED

Fine motor skills
Hand-eye coordination
Cooperation
Creativity
Curiosity and exploration

Rishit and Meher add finishing touches on their boards!

OUTCOME AND FUTURE

This instalment of ClayTales encouraged the Arthlings to dive deeper! The PBL method emphasizes on deeper inquiry, which is made possible by exploration over an extended period of time. As the children spend more time with this ‘magic’ material, they will accumulate observations, techniques, and vocabulary, which they will carry with them going forward!
Don’t forget to join us for the next episode of ClayTales!