Vacation Craft for Kids with Clay
Taking crafting supplies on vacation is such a great idea. Some days are rainy and you might find yourself indoors looking for something to do. Crafting is also super fun outdoors and around the pool. I love this Vacation Craft for Kids with Clay! Often times the most difficult part of starting a story (whether for telling or writing) is coming up with the basics. By creating clay story starters, kids are offered a large variety of possibilities to support their creative thinking. Doing it on vacation is perfect because the surroundings and experiences are often new. To create this, you will only need one supply and a little imagination! That one supply needed is Bake Shop clay from Sculpey and let me tell you — it is easy and awesome to work with!
Directions
Start by setting up an area for the creating of the pieces. This should include:
- Flat Work Surface (Cutting Boards Work Great)
- Bake Shop Clay in a Variety of Colors
- Clay Tools (Optional) — Roller, Cutter, Etc. – They come in the set.
Next, explain the different components to a story and request that all of them have pieces made to fit. There are three categories for this.
- CHARACTERS: People/Animals
- SETTING: Places (Indoor/Outdoor) and Time (Day/Night)
- SUPPORTING ELEMENTS: Could Be Anything
Be sure to instruct them to make their creations SMALL enough to fit into a compartment in an egg carton. This creates a great way to store the story starter pieces!
Bake the pieces according to the directions in the package. Most vacation homes have an oven. Toaster ovens work great too!
Story Telling Suggestions
Once they are completed and you have baked them following the instructions in the packaging, you have the pieces to start stories. Don’t worry about the details regarding size proportions or colors. The kids will be more likely to access their imagination if they are allowed the freedom to make what interests them. You might end up with a flamingo pool float that is five times the size of a sun. That is okay. It makes for a great story. Here are some of the fun things we saw on our trip in Costa Rica.
Active Play with Clay Pieces
Leaf cutter ants were one of the favorite sightings in the rainforest on our day hikes.
These are the real ants in action.
The night hike was filled with frogs and lizards so making them was a must.Here is the lizard in the rainforest.
Here he is made from clay.
There were TONS of frogs in the forest. The red eyed tree frog and the glass frog were my favorites.
The little clay frog is pretty dang cute too.
Story Telling with Clay Pieces
When you get home, this might be a good addition. This printable (download FREE HERE) is a great tool for supporting the process. It is a great start for a written piece for older kids or an organizer for story telling.
Why to Use Sculpey Clay with Kids
Kids love clay. It is a great supply to use for so many reasons. Not only it is it fun, it also offers many developmental benefits to growing and learning. Here are a few.
- Clay encourages sensory development. The act of “playing” with clay is a multi-sensory hobby: touch, sight, smell—and even sound.
- Working with clay develops coordination and motor skills.
- It’s therapeutic and lessens anxiety.
- Molding with clay extends attention span.
- Playing and creating with clay builds imagination.
- Creating with clay boosts self-esteem.
Classroom Pack Clay Giveaway
I am excited to be partnering with Sculpey to give one lucky winner a classroom pack of Bake Shop clay! This would be great if you are a teacher or to use with a scout troop! Enter to win!
Yay for Clay! Yay for Learning through Play! Cheers to Kids that Make!
Laura
PS: Here is another ENTIRE POST about Clay in the Classroom and Story Starters!
My youngest son loves playing with clay and making things with it
create all kinds of animals
My husband works with adults with disabilities they would love this pack of clay and to make these projects!
My daughter and I love making clay creations. We would love to bake some of them and make gifts for family members. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.
Would love this for my classes at the small rural school I teach at!
I would love to use this for my kids and all my nieces and nephews to make something together.
I’d give it to my daughter for her daycare.
My Daughter would love this to make little animals
good for students with special needs
We want to create a zoo of animals.
A fabulous way to work on what “characters” are in a story.
I love the story starter idea! They could make a sculpy of their favorite activity this summer.
We had some air dry clay that my college age daughter enjoyed creating with when she came home… we have a mini house/ cafe in mind for her creations which were predominantly food.
My sister-in-law teaches full time and I often substitute for her … having another media to introduce creativity would be beneficial! Making Christmas themed ornaments would be a nice project for them next school year.
During the summer I babysit for my neighbours and keeping the children occupied during the summer will be a challenge so I will want to do some art projects that even the four year-old can do.
I really like the story starter. I would prob do that with a story or after a zoo trip. Thank you
Love the idea!
I would gift this to a teacher friend, so her kids can tell a story to her.
i have 6 kids plus their friends who would love to be creative with this kit!
I would ust it for crafts with the kids.
I would have a fun day with the grandchildren.
I would let my students make beads to go on keychains or a zipper pull. It would be a cute gift to give to their loved ones for Christmas or Valentine’s Day.
I would use some to craft with my grandchildren, and give the rest to my daughter for her classroom.
What a creative idea for retelling stories!
I would let our grandkids have so much fun.
I would donate this to a local school!
Have fun with the grandkids
Your clay creations are so fun and inspiring!! We teach life cycles, so I think the kids in class would love creating animals that they are learning about!
I would love to make characters for church preschoolers
The options are infinite. The imagination of a child always amazing me when they create. Would let them just run with all their ideas!!!
My granddaughters would want to make flowers out of it.
I would organize a neighborhood Play date and Let the kids get creative. I would send home preprinted notes about how to bake SCULPEY.
I have a friend who is making ends meet by make the most darling earrings for sale. She is so talented and I would love to help her out!
We would use it for a day of crafts in our preschool/daycare.
I was a teacher and used lots of little things like this to stimulate stories in my classrooms. Now my stepdaughter is a teacher for special needs kids. She also teaches English Language Learners online. She loves to use things that kids can make or do with her – in the classroom or online – to stimulate their ownership of the learning process as well as their imaginations. I can just see her going wild over this set…
This would be great for my son to get creative with
I love this. 🙂
That is a great idea!!!
Perfect for a rainy day! Thank you for sharing at Party In Your PJ’s.