Clay animals

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 20 minutes

Read together

Squeeze the clay. Roll it. Pinch it.

A ball for a body. A small ball for a head.

Do it

1. Give your child play dough or air-dry clay and a mat.
2. Show how to roll a ball, a snake and a flat pancake.
3. Build an animal: a ball body, a head, legs from small snakes.
4. Name it and tell a short story about it. Let it dry if it is air-dry clay.

Talk about it

• What animal did you make?
• What does it say?

For the grown-up

Squeezing and rolling clay builds strong hands for writing. Check the label on clay and dough for safety, and for wheat if there are allergies. Do not let a child eat it.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

This is a play and practice activity with no factual claims to source.

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.