Please pass the clay

Steps
Give each student a lump of clay about the size of an
orange. For the rst turn, each student has about 5 min. To complete a simple abstract shape. When you announce that the 5 min is up, each student passes his or her shape to the next person. After another 5 min, students switch again, always passing the clay in the same direction. With each switch, put extra clay on the table as needed. Model what happens when you receive your neighbor's clay. Ask students to look at it from all angles, then add onto it in ways that build on the basic idea of the piece. Be sure to tell your class this rule: You can change it, but you can't obliterate it. If someone pounds it down, he or she is out of the game. Before the end of the class, lay the work out one table and invite responses. What is similar? What is different? What techniques were most successful? Which pieces are repeated forms? Which pieces create a monumental sense of scale? Where is texture used to unify a sculpture?

Extended ideas for older grades: With older student and adults, introduce an element or principle of art as a focal point for each turn.
1. On the rst turn, explain how artists use positive and negative
space in two-dimensional art-making and open and closed spaces in sculpture. Encourage students to create some open spaces in their rst forms. 2. On the second turn or pass, focus on the concept of form. What forms were on the sculpture they received? How can students use repetition of that form to create unity in their piece? 3. On the third pass, introduce the concept of texture. What different types of textures can students create? How can you unify an artwork using texture. 4. Toward the end of the work time, I like to introduce the concept of scale. I do this by holding up a lump of clay and asking if it is big or little. If they say little, I hold up a tiny piece next to it and ask if it is still little- it will look big next to the smaller piece. If they say big, hold up a much larger piece and make they clay seem little. Show them how a tiny piece of clay put next to their sculpture makes the whole sculpture look larger. Ask them to try using the element of scale to make their sculpture look monumental.