Animal Pinch Pot

For this lesson, we learned how to create pinch pots out of clay.  We had to get rid of all the air bubbles in the clay and then shape the clay in a sphere.  Then we pressed our thumb into the middle of the ball of clay and pull out while we shape the outside of the clay with our fingers.  We learned about additive and subtractive, which are adding pieces of clay and/or carving out of the clay, and we had to use one of each techniques while creating an animal from our pinch pots.

An extension activity could be to create piggy banks out of clay.  The students would also have to create a type of pinch pot by opening creating an opening in the center of the clay, but then they would have to close off the top by adding a slab of clay and creating a slit at the top to put in change.  They can do the same concept as we did in this project by turning their piece of clay into an animal, so the students still learn about additive and subtractive techniques.

Example: