Mercy & Truth - nature appreciation necklaces

WE CALL IT ART CLASS BUT...
it's really an excuse to spend time with grandchildren.

I purchased Sculpey brand clay for the children to make Mother's Day gifts and they enjoyed it so much that I thought we'd try another project. I remembered seeing a "Dinosaur Art Project" making "Fossil Casts" on one of my favorite blogs - "that artist woman". Tailoring her basic idea to our materials and tying the entire project to our current topics, the children and I had a
good time, shared a bit of adventure, brought their recent Bible Study into play and ended up with necklaces for each of them.

Materials included: Sculpey clay, a drinking straw, acrylic craft paint & brushes, colored magazine pages, white glue, large jump rings and leather laces.

After rolling their clay into balls about the size of a small egg and pressing them flat to about 1/4" thick, we went for a Nature walk to find twigs and rigid leaves for making impressions.



The children used a piece of a drinking straw to punch out holes for hanging. The clay clogged one end of the straw with the first punch so we used the other end for the second punch. As the trapped air forced the first clay plug out of the end of the straw, I thought it would be a good time to teach about displacement so I asked if any of them knew why the first clay popped out as they plugged the second end. Without hesitation, the 6 year old replied, "air pressure" and the 8 year old chimed in to quickly give me a lesson in physics. I was impressed...Oh, did I fail to mention that the children are home-schooled? (continued - link here)