Ceramic Leaf Bowls

Pottery and the use of clay was the focus of this lesson.  Each student was given the choice of multiple different leaf patterns to use for their leaf bowl.   After smoothing out the clay, we were then instructed to trace our chosen pattern into the clay and cut it out.  Once the leaf is cut out, we were shown how to smooth the edges using water and our fingers.






Unlike some clay, this clay did not need to be fired in a kiln so we were able to paint our clay immediately. While we painted them, the leaves were put into styrofoam bowls so that the clay would keep the shape of a bowl. 

Because of the use of leaves, this could be used for younger children to talk about the different seasons.  For slightly older children, you could talk about the uses of clay in the past.  The clay we used was clay from the earth so you could also talk about the parts of nature that might be in the clay.