Coil Pot

I was the teacher today in art class along with Ms. Rozell.  We taught our fourth grade class how to make a coil pot out of air dry clay.  We connected the coil pot back to the Egyptian culture and the importance of pots to them.  We had each student start with a lump of clay about the size of their fist.  The first step with the clay was to knead out all of the air bubbles.  Once the kneading stage was completed, we checked all of the students' clay with the wire cutter to be sure all air bubbles were gone.  After that we had students tear off a piece of clay that was a bit larger than their thumbs.  This was used as the bottom or base of their coil pot.  We flattened it out into a circular flat shape.  After that we taught the students how to make a coil.  They started with a ball of clay and applied even pressure with their finger tips while rolling back and forth to create a snake like piece of clay that was slightly thicker than a pencil.  After that we combined the two pieces together.  We scored each piece; scoring is when you make small lines or indents into the clay to help it stick to the other piece of clay being attached.  Students then stacked coil on top of coil till they had their desired height of coil pot.  The students used water, clay tools, and their hands to smooth the inside of the pot out.  The pots then had to sit out overnight before they could be painted with acrylic paint.    

One requirement was to use a clay tool to make a design on the coil pot.  

I used a need tool to achieve these designs.  

After the coil pots were dry, students were required to paint them with acrylic paint.  They must include both a primary and secondary color.  Another requirement of this project was either incising or painting on a symbol that is important to their own personal culture.

The primary color I chose to use was red.  My secondary color choices included purple and green.  

The symbol I chose to use was a heart.  This heart represents my family.

An extension activity could be researching pottery from different countries.  Each student would be assigned a different country and be responsible to make an example of pottery from their specific country.  This could be linked to a social studies or geography class.