In Reception, this half term, we have been taking a trip through the wonderful world of the traditional tales. Over the last two weeks we have enjoyed sharing the story of the Gingerbread Man. Last Thursday, both classes visited the ceramic studio for the first time in order to make and decorate a ceramic gingerbread man. Dressed in blue painting smocks, the children’s excitement was palpable as we approached the Art block.
Art teacher, Mr Jones, welcomed us into the studio and he explained how to handle the clay and to use the wooden spacers and rolling pins effectively. He demonstrated forming the gingerbread man and modelled decoration techniques with various clay tools. You could hear a pin drop as each pair of children rolled out slabs of clay from which to cut their gingerbread man. Not only did we watch the children learning skills of collaboration, but they were developing their shoulder and arm muscles when rolling out the clay, which benefits handwriting. By the end of the session, we had an eclectic array of uniquely decorated clay gingerbread men ready for the kiln.
A week later, we returned to the ceramic studio to glaze the children’s fired creations. They were astounded how their men had changed from being soft and flexible to being hard and brittle. A creative hush descended over the studio once more as every reception child was engrossed in painting their gingerbread man with a variety of colourful glazes. We are all impatient to see how these will turn out after their final firing.
"They are not soft anymore they are brittle."
Daisy
