Pots from clay

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 30 minutes

Read together

People have made clay pots for thousands of years. They store food and water.

You can make a pot with coils.

Do it

1. Roll a flat circle of clay for the base.
2. Roll long snakes and coil them up the sides, pressing each to the one below.
3. Smooth the inside and outside with wet fingers. Press a pattern into the outside.
4. Let it dry. Put a candle or a small plant in it, or give it as a gift.

Talk about it

• What will your pot hold?
• What pattern did you press?

For the grown-up

Air-dry clay pots are for decoration, not for food or drink, unless made and fired as food-safe ceramics. Many cultures, including the Philippines, have a long clay-pot tradition.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• The British Museum, learning pages on pottery and coil-building
• Rice, P. M., Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook (University of Chicago Press, 1987)

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