The Organized Clay Project

Tips and tricks for keeping clay projects organized in the elementary art room. 

I use my "clay cart" for almost everything! It holds clay, tools, and projects at various times during each clay project.  You'll see that I also use the yellow totes from NASCO (not an affiliate) for almost everything as well.  

The totes are stackable and although they are not airtight, they keep clay moist when combined with damp pieces of fabric.  You could use any plastic box with a lid that is a similar size.  I ordered 25, which was enough to accommodate most grade levels plus storing clay scrapes.  

A little tip for keeping clay hydrated.  Notice in the picture below (left), that I've scored the clay in the plastic bag on top.  I spray it with water before folding over the plastic bag.  The water soaks in over time and keeps the clay nice and wet without getting too gooey. 

Another trick is to give students little dishes with damp sponges (pictured below on the right).  I cut the sponges up and have just a tiny bit of extra water in the dish.  I demonstrate how to squeeze the extra water out BEFORE using the sponge.  Students can smooth out cracks when the clay gets too dry.  

Students can use a little water with the sponges before joining two pieces of clay, and for smoothing out the clay after joining.  It works as good as slip when both pieces of clay are still wet. (Slip is best for joining leather hard clay.)

The little orange things (pictured on the left) are finger stamping tools.  The students love them!  They work for stamping in clay and as well as for printmaking (stamping with paint on paper).

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Do you need to rehydrate clay?  You can see some ideas here.

More about the yellow bins ... I got them from Nasco. They were a "splurge", but really made a difference in how I could manage the clay. They are sturdy enough to stack. If they got a little heavy I turned every other one 90 degrees to make them sturdier. Here's a link to the product online. https://www.enasco.com/p/Yellow-Plastic-Tote-Tray