If you have been a long time reader of our blog, you know that we spend a lot of time with process based art activities. This project allowed the children to assist in making clay dough, and in addition to creating our ornaments the children spent quite a bit of time playing with the clay.
I don't do a lot of product orientated projects with the children, but sometimes I like to help them create a keepsake or a product for their parents. As much as I value the process, I also know that there is also significant value in giving children the opportunity to witness and participate in creating a product. You can read more about our philosophy of art by clicking here, and you can read about why Sometimes We Craft by clicking here.
Our ornaments started out with a simple clay recipe. When the children knew that our clay was going to be made into Christmas ornaments, the clay was officially named "Christmas Clay Dough". (You can find the recipe for this dough in yesterday's post by clicking here).
After the dough had cooled, we rolled it out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Then the children were given red and green ink pads.
They "carefully" began to add their finger prints to the clay cut outs. We used a more permanent ink for this project (scrapbooking ink pads), but I'm sure it would work with the washable ink as well. Even without using the washable ink it washed off of the children's fingers quite easily.
The children were allowed to add as many fingerprints as they liked and to make multiple ornaments- choosing from red, green, or white clay and a variety of shapes. When the children were done adding their fingerprints the ornaments were ready to be dried. With the child's permission, I added their name, '13, and a small hole to each ornament with a sharp pencil.
This clay will air dry if you let it sit out. We weren't that patient, so I put our ornaments in the food dehydrator on the craft setting at 115 degrees Farenheit (46 degrees Celcius).
You will have to dry your ornaments based upon how thick they are. When they are dry, you can simply add a string and hang them on your tree! (Or if you want them to be a bit more shiny you can spray them with clear acrylic spray).
This post is part of the 20 Days of a Kid-Made Christmas: Ornaments hosted by Mama Miss
Would you like to join in on the fun too?!
Here’s how:
- Go to the landing page here, for this series that Melissa at Mama Miss is hosting.
- Just link a KID-MADE ornament you’ve created with your kiddos (limited to 2 a day).
- Add this pretty little ornament shaped button below to your blog post, or your sidebar, or somewhere on your beautiful blog letting me know you are joining in on the fun too!!
4. Label the ornament button: 20 Days of a Kid-Made Christmas: Ornaments5. Link the ornament button to: the landing page for this series.
The link up will be open from December 1st until December 21st for all entries.
Make sure to pop by these other fabulous bloggers too, that are participating in this series…
December 1st
December 2nd
December 3rd
December 4th
December 5th
December 6th
December 7th
December 8th
December 9th
December 10th
December 11th
December 12th
December 13th
December 14th
December 15th
December 16th
December 17th
December 18th
Discovering The World Through My Son's Eyes
December 19th
December 20th
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