Clay Necklaces

Miss Binger and Mr. Desai introduced an art project in which the class created clay necklaces.  The lesson, which was intended for first grade students, would be used to introduce students to using clay.  The lesson began with the teachers showing the students a PowerPoint that shows different necklaces made out of clay.  The teachers also showed the class the necklaces that they made.  Next, the teachers went through the terms students needed to know in order to work with clay.  Before beginning the project, students will need air dry clay, a dowel, yarn and tempera paint.  The students were shown how to knead their clay and were able to practice that for a short time.  Finally the students made beads from the clay by rolling small pieces of clay into balls or ovals.  Once they had made as many beads as they wanted, the students would then poke a hole through each clay bead with the dowel.  Finally, the students painted the beads with paintbrushes.  Once the beads were dry, the teacher instructed the students to string the beads onto a piece of yarn to make a necklace.

An extension activity that could be done with this project is to find out if any other cultures make beads out of clay.  The teacher could show the students jewelry from ancient and modern cultures and find out if the technique they used to create their  necklaces was the same as any in the past.  Students will be interested in finding out whether or not people have actually done this before.  This project with integrate social studies and art.