Carver’s before and after-school program, After the Bell at Brookside Elementary School, is always bursting with creativity and joy, as shared in this story.
Today, a Brookside Elementary School story begins with one slice of clay. A blank canvas receptive to endless explorations by our ingenious students.
Squishing and pulling pieces off. Using a tool to make markings and indentations. Exploring how clay can hold an object upright. Making textures and impressions. Working with the small pieces – focusing on the details.
Manipulating (squishing, squeezing, pulling, pushing) a piece of clay helps develops the child’s dexterity and fosters eye-hand coordination. It builds a child's ability to focus and builds their attention span. Mathematical understandings include pattern making, experiential understanding of three-dimensional shapes, and tactical experience of size and weight differences. Literacy growth includes a new vocabulary – pound, pinch, roll, flatten, poke, tear squeeze, coil, stretch, squash, twist, and bend! And then there is the creative storytelling with each of these clay pieces our students created.
Playful learning helps our children develop social relationships and connectivity, which are important to a child's persistence in school, love of learning, and self-efficacy. Play is essential to learning.
