Games Made with Clay
Tic Tac Toe, Ryan 5th grade
The second session of my kid’s after school clay class began 3 weeks ago and I aspire not to repeat lessons that I’ve taught for the past year, unless requested, because I have a dedicated core group of returning students. I’m a fairly democratic teacher and give the kids a vote, though I am allowed veto power if I feel strongly about a project – and I have one of those coming up on the horizon – kids were rolling their eyes at me. 
The kids had never crafted any games, so I put this on the docket for the first class of the session since the project is a little labor intensive.
I made some paper templates for classic games such as tic, tac, toe and chess & checkers, along with printing out the rules for each and also found a gazillion games on About.com, including many that use a 8×8 board like chess and checkers. I also allowed the students to make up their own games and that is what most of them decided to do.
Rolling ball labyrinth game, Jasmine 5th grade
My daughter made a variation on the classic wooden labyrinth puzzle that I used to play as a child. One of my great aunts kept this puzzle in her basement rec room and I would steal down the stairs while visiting and play this for hours.
Chess and Checkers board game, Natalie 4th grade
While I really encouraged the kids to make an 8×8 game because there’s so many games based on this template, only Natalie did. She made her pieces to be used either as checkers or as chess pieces. For checkers, she needed to make 24 playing pieces (12 each person different colors) and for chess, each player needs 16 playing pieces per player. Her solution was to make 32 flat pieces like checkers and then she stamped different designs into the pieces which signify whether the piece is a rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, and glazed 1/2 in lavender – 1/2 in pink. Pretty clever!
Made up game, Cole 3rd grade
Cole made up his own game with little animal playing pieces and one giant die. I’m not sure if he has actually drafted the rules yet or not, but his game sure is cute! Cole is my little owl obsessed sculptor – nearly every class, owl iconography makes its way into his work.
My daughter graduates from 5th grade this school year and I have warned my students that this might be the last year that I teach the clay class which is part of the after school enrichment program. After class on Tuesday, one of the parents asked me if it truly was my last year teaching clay after school – not very fair to get their kids addicted to clay, is it? Teaching the kid’s class is truly a labor of love – there’s a lot of work involved before, during and after class, and I don’t charge much since it’s one of the ways that I can give back to the school by making it affordable and accessible. The PTA also provides scholarships for kids who want to take enrichment classes and that might not be able to afford it otherwise.
Most public schools have some sort of enrichment program including, sports, arts and crafts, technology, foreign languages, drama, science and more. It wasn’t hard to get my class up and running once I proposed the class to the PTA and School Principal. I did have to go through security screening since I’d be working with children, but since I was already licensed to substitute teach through the state of Colorado, all that info was already on file with the district. If I didn’t have the license on file, it would have been easy to fill out the background check application, get fingerprinted and return to the school district.
There’s a demand for these kinds of kid’s activities and I could fill up my class 5 days a week if I had the energy. It’s something to think about for those of you who are interested in teaching, yet haven’t been hired by an art or rec center, many of which are often fully staffed.
Meanwhile, I just received an email from the programming director at the Art Student’s League of Denver yesterday. He put the call out for summer art camp proposals for next year – ack, I’m not sure I can project that far in advance. Last summer, I taught 4 clay camps — 3 at the Art Students League of Denver and 1 at Anderson Ranch Arts Center and I’m not sure I want to do more than one or 2 camps next summer. Teaching takes a lot out of me.
I’m almost current with my to-do list; though between yesterday and today, I’ve put in way more than my goal of no more than 2 hours of daily computer time. Sometimes, necessity calls and I just have to oblige her – it doesn’t hurt that we’re having a bit of freezing rain today and it’s colder than heck out in my garagio. I did manage to squeeze in a few studio hours, but it was more busy work cleaning up my kids stuff, loading their work in the kiln – but that frees up time for my own work this afternoon and tomorrow.
Toodles,
~Cynthia
November 20th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hi, Cynthia!
Well, first of all, you should move the ‘garagio’ down here. We’re expecting a very cozy mid-80ish afternoon.
It is November, isn’t it???
Second, your kids must love your classes. Those games are great!
November 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I can so relate to this post. Tomorrow I finish up a residency with the Montessori school in Pittsboro and once again I’m sick. I taught 4 summer camps and was sick from August through last week with Bronchitis and now I have a head cold and sinus infection. I love teaching kids but I just don’t have the energy to stay sick all the time! I have decided to cut my camps back to one or two next year. I also seem to be attracted to the most trouble making kids in the bunch and sometimes can’t remember the names of the well behaved ones. That takes a lot of extra energy too. I was thinking this week about pursuing some sort of art therapy path with kids, but I just don’t like getting sick so much. It is so rewarding though! I love the projects you post, I get some great ideas! I’ll try to post some of the projects I have done soon.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I love seeing the kid’s work from your classes! These games are fantastic! The kids you teach are very creative!
November 20th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
W.J. – I couldn’t handle the hot humid summers though…
I think they like the class, they keep signing up.
Tracey – I have considered art therapy before, but was dissuaded by a friend of mine who has a MA in Music Therapy, but is now a career counselor at a university. (that and I didn’t feel like going back to school) Very hard to find employment other than as a regular therapist. I was wiped from my classes and I totally get what you’re saying about the trouble kids vs. quiet kids. My class isn’t like that so much, but some of my art camps were + I had 20 kids vs. 10 which makes a huge difference. Get well!
Linda U. – They’re incredibly creative. Sometimes, it’s funny – they’ll be sitting there with a blank look on their faces and ask me to give them ideas. So, I start throwing out ideas and ways to approach something, and they’ll say, “no, not like that – I have a better idea” and they’re off and running.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
How fun to see the kids’ creativity here – I imagine it would be draining to teach (and prepare for) these classes, but it looks like fun!!
I’ve tagged you, btw – if you’re up for it, check out my blog for the details. =)
November 21st, 2008 at 4:31 am
Great Post! Thanks- I love seeing what kids will do with clay. Graet work and what a great concept you have given them.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:30 am
Stacey – This was a tricky year for teaching because it was my first, so I had to make up lesson plans. The week long classes were the hardest because I had to create a concept (okay that wasn’t hard), then make the project, lay out the tasks for 3 hour time blocks for 5 days that was age appropriate for the group. I probably put the stress on myself because I wanted to do a good job so that I’d be asked back. As with any first time activity, I quickly learned to be flexible and now know exactly what to expect and how to tailor my classes.
The weekly classes have a different rhythm because the 2 hours goes so fast. I also have almost a year’s worth of lessons for this one – and am never at a loss for ideas. The only hard part is that I’m mobile so I have to cart everything with me and haul it home to be fired and cleaned. The art teacher has requested a kiln, which would be helpful, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ll check out what you tagged me with…
Meredith – They do great things and sometimes not so great. I’m always pushing them not to rush and to pay attention to craftsmanship – but you know kids… Also the class is combined 2-5th graders. There’s a huge difference between the work of the 2nd graders and by the time they get to 3rd grade, I can see a huge leap. Even so, I love the 2nd graders work (not the blobs of stuff, but their inhibition). They’re never stuck like the 5th graders are occasionally.
I feel like I’m doing a public clay service – exposing kids to clay to keep the tradition alive.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am
These clay games are wonderful, what creative children and what a great teacher they have.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
You and your classes produce amazing stuff. I just love it.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Love the games….
My 8 year old is going to be busy… I bet… soon!