As part of their history topic work learning about the Ancient Greeks, Year 5 have had the opportunity to develop their creative skills to design and make their own Greek Vase.
After looking at photographic evidence of Ancient Greek pottery, the children were eager to design their own vase. Using clay can connect children to an important natural resource that has been used for the creation of objects for thousands of years – so the link to Ancient Greece was perfect.
The children were given a piece of clay and they were instinctively motivated to explore its qualities and worked with the clay whilst learning how it responded to their manipulation. They quickly learnt how clay behaves and how they could use it to make their design take shape and form. They also learnt that the heat of their hands can quickly dry the clay out during the skill of hand-building.
“Clay reigns supreme as the greatest and most marvellous toy possible…Clay is something that is nothing…but which can become anything and everything.” (Making Learning Visible – Project Zero)
