Pinch Pot Snow Men Don't Blow!

In celebration of winter, my third grade classes decided they would like to make clay snowmen. Three rolled "clay" balls stacked on top of each other with carrot noses, black to hats, and thin stick arms was the request. Hello...explosion? It would be a Snowman Apocalypse in my kiln with parts flying everywhere.

I wanted them to be able to do a 3-d snowman that would be manageable for their age level in our short time frame, and with less chance of destruction and disappointment. And then the pinch pot hit me! Brilliant!

Here is a quick overview of my steps in the creation of our clay snowmen for any of you out there interested in doing this kind of project in your art room.

1. Give each student a piece of clay. Size depends on your preference.

2. Have the student split the clay into 4 pieces. No these should not be equal.

3. Three of the pieces are going to be used for your pinch pots and the last piece for the details.

4. Ask your students to roll 3 sizes of clay balls...small, medium, and large.

5. Each one of these balls is turned into a pinch pot. Name goes on the inside of the biggest pot.

6. They will score and slip each pot together biggest on bottom, smallest on top.

7. We rolled tiny clay snakes to smooth into the creases for added protection.

8. The extra piece of clay can be used to make eyes, nose, mouth, buttons, hat, scarf etc...

9. Remind them everything they stick on has to be scored and slipped.

I poked a pinhole in the back of top and middle snow balls "pots" after the students were done to give it an even better chance of survival. Fire, glaze, and fire again and there you have it. Cute little snowmen perfect for a winter clay project. Check out the pics below to see what some of my students created. We chose colors not typically seen on snowmen since we were making "art"! 

Happy Baking!