Clay and the Power of Imagination

As young hands shape clay into a tiny world, that world suddenly ceases to be tiny. Through imagination, it becomes the world. It is now a place you can enter and explore. Anything can happen in this new world - there are no limits. Playing with clay seems to release a child's fantasy life instantaneously, and when two or more children play together they weave a common storyline as the clay takes on new forms. The language and excitement build with each addition. New characters arrive, new environments appear, new adventures are begun.

In class, we often start with a simple provocation: "Can we make the forest in clay?" Soon the children are experimenting with different ways to make trees, mushrooms, snails, worms, birds, hillsides, and squirrels. A miniature forest magically grows beneath their fingers. One only needs to crouch down and peer through the clay bushes to see what the children see.