Clay Creations: Insects Come to Life!

Our preschool has been buzzing with creativity as the children began working with Alice and Sam on a special clay project — making their very own insects inspired by our new leafy stick insects!

Using real clay, the children explored the fascinating process of moulding, pounding, and shaping this natural material into tiny creatures. With curious hands and big imaginations, they learned how to roll, pinch, and smooth the clay, giving form to bodies, legs, antennae, and other unique features.

One of the most exciting parts of the project was learning how to join separate pieces together using slurry — a watery mixture of clay that acts like glue. With guidance from Alice and Sam, the children carefully connected different segments of their insects, making sure each part held strong and stayed in place.

They also added intricate details using small tools and their fingers, carefully pressing patterns and textures into the clay to make each creature special. It was wonderful to see how much thought and care went into their creations, and how closely they observed the real-life stick insects for inspiration.

These beautiful sculptures are now proudly displayed at the entrance to our preschool, each one labelled with the name of its creator — a lovely way for the children to showcase their work and feel proud of their artistic achievements.

This hands-on experience helped build fine motor skills, sparked imaginative thinking, and deepened the children's connection with the natural world. Most importantly, it showed them that their ideas can take shape — quite literally — with a bit of clay and a lot of creativity.