Art with Modeling clay/Plasticine for preschoolers

When in-between projects or inquiries, the twins spend time exploring a new art medium or work on developing their skills such as drawing, painting, writing etc. They use these skills to express their understanding of a subject. These skills also help them express or communicate their ideas in many dimensions.

One such developing skill is clay work. It is our favorite and helps tremendously with fine motor development.We have recently started exploring Modeling clay. Modeling clay is very similar to play dough. It is a bit firmer and doesn't dry up or crumble. The main idea behind introducing this clay is to help them develop the skill of building models.

The twins started to use clay just like play dough - rolling, stamping, making balls etc. Slowly 3D structures started to emerge.

A bird's nest by Nidhi

They were presented with a box of  spicebox's "Fun with clay" for their fourth birthday by their dear friends. It contained few boxes of clay,  few sculpting tools,few wacky body parts such as eyes, feet etc, and an instruction booklet. They had great time making robots, monsters, race cars etc. It was a go to activity for many days.

Sid's race car

A squirrel by Nidhi

I came across a famous author Barbara Reid's tutorial on Plasticine art and thought Sid and Nidhi might enjoy this art.

We watched Barbara Reid's tutorial videos and they were excited to make their own.

Here is a mini tutorial.

Materials Needed:

1. Work surface - Use a thick surface such as canvas board, cardboard, wood, plexiglass, cd case etc.
2. Modeling clay - Different colors - I provided the clay in small bits to help them manipulate it easily.
3. Sculpting tools
4. Pencils for sketching

Instructions:

1. Decide on the design. A pencil sketch of the art to be created will be helpful. Nidhi decided on creating a group of friends on a lawn. She sketched her plan on her drawing book.

Nidhi's design sketch

2. Draw outlines of the design on canvas board. Sid decided to create vehicles and drew them on the canvas using pencil.

3. Decide on back ground colors and apply the plasticine as thin layer. Required colors can be made by mixing and kneading basic colors.

Sid's outline of vehicles

4. Roll out snakes of clay to form outlines.

Rolling out outline for road

5.  Mould required shapes first and apply them wherever required.  Layer them as required.

Nidhi's depiction of sky with white clouds

6. Textures can be applied by using pencils, toothbrush or modeling tools. Sid uses similar techniques to add facial expressions to his characters.

Applying texture to soil with pencil

A few pictures of their finished art.

Nidhi's cast of Cinderella story

Nidhi's "group of friends in a ground"

Sid's "parade of cars"

A car with driver

A dumptruck

A boy riding a car

A girl driving a truck

An excavator with crawler tracks

The complete picture by Sid

Have you tried a different technique with a known art medium?

"The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences." - Loris Malaguzzi