Pottery Class

Through our homeschool group, we had the opportunity to sign Arin up for two pottery classes and one mosaics class with a local art cafe.  Today, was the first pottery class.  Arin LOVED this.  It was supposed to last about an hour and fifteen minutes, but Arin managed to drag it out an hour and forty-five minutes and would have loved to stay longer.

Waiting for Class to Begin

Ella was too young for the class, so she passed the time by painting an already made piece.

The Raw Clay

Tool Used to Cut Clay

Cutting the Clay

Arin's Piece of Clay

Loving this Experience

Patting the Clay Before Rolling it

Rolling the Clay

Feeling the Smooth, Flattened Clay

Using Water and Sponges to Smooth the Clay More

Using a Wooden Skewer and Paper Template to Cut the Clay

Smoothing the Clay Again

Stamping Designs in the Clay

Ella was allowed to make designs in a scrap piece of clay.  This will not be dried.

Arin's Finished Clay

Arin's clay will take about a week to dry out, before it is fired. Once that process has taken place, she will go back and paint the plaque :)

Trees

We recently read the poem:

        Trees

by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's hungry breast;

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree!



After reading the poem, we went outside to look at the different types of trees in our yard.

Next, we worked on an art project of painting a picture of a tree.

Color Mixing Experiment

Today, we did a fun color mixing experiment to go along with our Before Five in a Row story, which I will be posting in a few days.  I had done this experiment with Arin several years ago, but she had forgotten it and Ella had never seen it, so they were both very excited!
First, fill six spots in an ice cube tray with water.  In two sections (with water), add blue food coloring, red food coloring in a different two sections, and yellow food coloring in the last two sections.  Once the cubes are frozen, place a red ice cube in a baggy with a blue one, a red ice cube in a baggy with a yellow one and a yellow ice cube with a blue one.  Seal and label the baggies. 

Place the baggies in a pot of hot water. 

It's really hard to be patient and wait for the water to melt the ice cubes, so you may have to help speed up the process :)

Once the ice cubes melt, the primary colors will mix, resulting in new secondary colors.