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Play with Clay
Grab
Tub of white air-dry clay or reservations at a pottery studio
Washable paints, brushes
Miscellaneous clay-carving tools
Go
Roll up your sleeves and get ready to create a masterpiece! If you’re making your clay creations at home, clear a workspace on a table or countertop. Begin working a small piece of clay in your hands until it softens. Take your clay and use the tools you have at hand to form animals, miniature plates of food, tiles, ornaments, bowls, or whatever else you can dream up. Roll the clay into a long rope and coil it to form a small jar or pot. Moisten your fingertips with water and smooth out the clay with your fingers. Use toothpicks or other tools to carve letters or a design into the soft clay. Roll out a piece with a small, smooth drinking glass and use cookie cutters to cut out various shapes. The end of a straw is useful for imprinting circles or cutting out a small hole to hang the artwork from once it’s dry.
Place your finished pieces on a tray covered with wax paper. Place the tray in an out-of-the-way spot until the pieces have dried. (Remember, larger, thicker pieces will take longer to dry than small, thin ones.) Once the pieces have hardened, have a great time adding color with paint.
If you’re decorating clay items at a pottery studio, have fun choosing from the pieces available. Allow the staff to guide you as you select and create your artwork. Set a time to return to the studio to pick up your kiln-fired pieces. Display your daughter’s amazing creations for everyone to enjoy!
Grow
Sometimes God is described as a potter. This is because just like you used your imaginations to create clay figures, God used his imagination to create you and me!
Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Isa. 64:8)
Ask your daughter these questions:
Did the clay argue with you about what it wanted to be?
Do you ever wish you could look like someone else?
Do you ever wish you had a different personality or talents than you do?
Do you ever get frustrated with yourself when you make a mistake?
Sometimes we wish we could have a makeover or a “do-over” with our life. We’d like to be better looking, more talented, a better student, or more popular. When it comes down to it, we sometimes think we’re just a big mistake! The Bible challenges this kind of thinking in Romans 9:20:
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”
When we wish we could be someone else, we’re really telling God that he made a mistake when he made us this way. Take a few minutes to write a list of the things that make you unique and special, both inside and out.
Dear Father,
Thank you for being the potter that made us! Help us to trust your wisdom for making us the way we are. Please forgive us for the times we complain and put ourselves down. You have an awesome imagination. We thank you for loving us so much that you made each of us one-of-a-kind. You know us better than anyone, and you love us no matter what! Amen.