“I’m Bored!” Clay Creation Station

Are you sick of the kids saying 'I'm bored!'?  Keep them busy with a Creation Station!

I have a few stations set up on trays in my outdoor shed and rotate them inside.

Since I'm about to put away the Clay Creation Station, I thought I would share what's in it and how we use it. (Australian Curriculum, Foundation - Year 2)

People all around the world have been sculpting the Earth for thousands of years.  Playing with clay gives us a greater appreciation for the Earth's precious resources.

With clay you need to be careful to clean up properly, not combine it with food and drink, and most of all keep dust to a minimum (or you risk developing the amusingly-named but horrible disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - say that three times fast).

Here's what we keep in our Clay Creation Station:

Clay. Don't mix different types of clay because they have different shrinkage rates.

A jar of slip.  Take some clay and mix it up with water to make a paste.  This is to glue parts together.

A board and cloth to cover the board.  One for each person.  Some people prefer tiles, but I find them too small and they scratch my table.  Our boards are about 400 x 400 x 8 mm.  You could also use an old chopping board.

Optional: Specialised clay tools, natural items, a rolling pin, a skewer, a knife.  If your children are younger, a breadknife will do.

A sponge and dustpan to encourage tidying up.  (Hey, we can only try!)

Sometimes I also put a book on display that might inspire creativity.

You can fire your creations or do what we often do and just reconstitute them after enjoying them for a while.  Transient art!

Here is the video if you're more of a visual person (low quality iPhone footage):

Thanks for reading and watching.  This is just one way to encourage your family to be more creative.  What are your suggestions?  Please write them in the comments and we'll be sure to try them!

If you liked this post, try making some clay Aboriginal Story Stones or a clay dig-and-discover kit!  You could also check out our STEM Playroom Tour for more set-up ideas, or see which resources we use to Keep Piano FUN!

Friday Favourites: 10 Maths Games You Don’t Want to Miss

We are a nerdy maths-loving family ("I'll love you til the last digit of Pi...") so people tend to give us maths games.

These are my boys' favourites:

1. Fraction Snap
2. Pass the Pigs
3. Yahtzee
4. Cribbage
5. Canasta
6. Geometrical Riddles (Note: once done, they're done and can't be done twice)
7. Blokus for spatial skills
8. ThinkFun Math Dice, great for times tables
9. Dragonwood for probability (Even I enjoy this one, and that's saying something!)
10. Four Strikes 

Four Strikes is like hangman, but with numbers!  Great family bonding game, or a boredom buster when you're twiddling your thumbs waiting for your child's bubbacino with sprinkles, mini-marshmallows and olives.  (I know a kid who requests this, seriously!).

The first person thinks of an equation and writes it out with dashes replacing the digits.

___ + ___ = ___ ___

The other people guess any digit from 0 to 9.

If the digit is not in the equation, they get a strike.  

Guess the equation before four strikes!

What are your favourite family maths games?  Please tell us in the comments!

Thanks for visiting our blog.  You might also be interested in our favourite maths books or how we learn to tell the time.