5th Grade Clay Pinch Pot Sports Spheres

5th Graders were very excited about this project.  For this project students made 3 different pinch pots to form a sports sphere of their choice. The challenge was that our sports sphere needed to be hollow.  Students wondered why we couldn't just roll one big piece of clay into a ball an call it good.  

1. It's a waste of clay.

2. There is a greater chance of air bubbles and the piece could break.

3. It would cause the piece to be heavier than what it needed to be.

Steps in making our sports sphere:

--Students started by rolling two even balls of clay. 

-- They formed two pinch pots that needed to be about the same size.

--They slipped and scored the rims of both pinch pots and put them together.

--Student then worked on smoothing their pinch pots together so it looked like one piece of clay.

--Once smoothed, students made another pinch pot for the stand.

--They slipped and scored the sphere to the pinch pot, placing the pinch pot upside down.

--Students then used a clay tool to draw into the clay showing what type of sport they chose.

--After they dried students used acrylic paint with a coat of clear acrylic to add color.

Pieces waiting to be painted.

Finished Examples: