Creative play for children is an important part of any child’s development and growth, as it helps to increase their motor skills, imagination, concentration and cognitive capabilities. It will also help to increase the child’s hand eye co-ordination, planning and ability to follow instructions.
There are lots of things that you can do to encourage this, such as arts and crafts, drawing, painting, building bricks and clay work. All children love being active and when they are not able to get out in the fresh air then these activities are great and children can often be enthralled for hours.
Creative play and in particularly clay work, is an ideal medium for children that find it difficult to pay attention, sit still or communicate easily, such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or Autism. Clay enables the child to occupy their hands and provides a focus on something without having to look at someone directly and/or express their emotions and feelings in non-verbal communication. Clay work is often a favourite with play therapists and can been found in most therapeutic centres.
In order to preserve your beautiful creations it’s a good idea to
coat your clay in a glaze or varnish once it has been air dried, baked and/or
decorated. Some clay’s such as cold porcelain and stone air dry clay have to be
glazed to ensure it keeps out moisture and dirt. Other clay’s such as polymer
don’t always need to be glazed but by adding the right type of varnish it can
produce a professional finish or shine to your creation.
There are many different brands including Fimo, Sculpey, Gedeo
and many others, which all offer different finishes for your clay work.
Some leave a matt finish others a satin finish and others a glossy finish. Not
to mention the different sizes and prices of each product. If you use the wrong
type of varnish the finish may look fine to start with but could soon start to
peel or become sticky later. Others may start yellowing or cause the paint or
clay to react and loose the colouring.
Cold Porcelain is similar to most air dry clay’s and is great for
making different clay projects, especially flower sculptures, jewellery,
figurines and cake toppers. It is also great to use with moulds as it retains
fine detail and is easy to remove from the mould. It is now becoming more and
more popular with professional clay artists and craft people. It is also a great craft clay to use for beginners for their clay art projects.
This
clay is perfect for making delicate flowers and petal sculptures as it can be
stretched and rolled extremely thin, which results in very realistic looking
floral effects.
Air dry clay is a fantastic medium to work with for
anyone from young to old and beginner to professional. It is available in a
huge range of consistencies and textures and is great for very detailed fine clay work, through to large clay sculptures. It is usually a water based clay
that will harden when it is exposed to air. Due to the vast variations in this
clay, the strengths, durability and curing processes varies considerably with
each one. Here are a few of the more popular air drying products and which clay craft they
are ideally suited for making.
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Activa Activ-Clay is 100% natural fine grain material
for finer detailed creations. It is lightweight, moist clay that can be carved,
sanded, drilled and painted and is available in white or terracotta. This is
suitable for children and adults and all skill levels. It is ready to use
straight from the packet, is non toxic and accepts multiple finishes.
According to the manufacturer it air cures to a good strength, will not
crumble, and features a low amount of shrinkage and can also be cured in a
kiln.
Ideally suited for: hand building, wheel throwing,
sculpting and kids clay.
