Working with the under two’s we first explored some natural materials that we might find outside.
We added clay and played with making marks in the clay using our hands and our natural materials.
We took our clay outside and explored the outside space. We put clay onto parts of the outside space such as the fence and the tree as a different way of exploring the material. Some children began to notice the clay when it was somewhere unusual, like on the branches of a tree.
We also dug mud and used our hands to form shapes like you would with the clay. We made balls and threw them!
Step 3
We chatted a bit about using cement to cover our clay patterns which will then dry and go hard so we can keep them in the garden.
When asked if they know anything that was made of clay, the children answered ‘bricks and houses’
To begin with we started mixing the quantities of sand and water, which kept 8-10 children interested in mixing, pouring and sharing for 40 minutes.
We looked at a cement piece to get the idea of how ours will work.
‘Are we making bricks?’ one child asked.
I (the adult) mixed in the cement powder last and together we poured the mixture on top of our clay patterns, making sure we didn’t put our hands in the cement mixture.