Children in Chestnut and Beech Rooms at Hartcliffe Nursery School have been exploring clay this month, learning how to manipulate this natural material with their hands, with tools and even with their feet.
Adults follow the children’s lead and allow them to explore and follow their own ideas and imagination. Some children want to make models like dinosaurs or frogs, learning to create different shapes like rolling balls and snakes to represent different features, whilst others want to experiment with adding materials like water and sticks, noticing the changes and effects that occur as they use their hands to shape the clay.
Clay is a natural substance, quite similar to mud, and lasts for a very long time as long as it’s looked after properly. The children are learning that certain things can’t be added to it like paper, paint or glue because these materials will ruin the clay. Giving children the responsibility of caring for their resources is a great way to foster independence and teaches them to slow down and think about the effect they have on the environment around them.
Some children were fascinated by how sticky and slimy the clay became as they added more and more water, which became so fun they started splatting it on the floor! In order to continue this exploration safely, the team explored throwing the clay into a tray instead, seeing who could use the most force to make the biggest splat. Next, the children will put their wellies on and make a mud bath up in the forest, so they can notice the similarities, explore what happens next and enjoy splatting that doesn’t need to be cleaned up!
Exploring different media and materials, noticing changes and beginning to learn new vocabulary to describe what they see develops early scientific exploration, language, curiosity, problem-solving and imagination.