Besides Sebastien, the other children in the group took some time to warm up to the clay and even then they weren't too sure about it. When it was first put out for the children you can see Sebastien trying to get the other children's attention to come over to the clay.
It really took me getting into the clay myself to draw the children closer to the clay. This made it more difficult to document their experiences since my hands were covered in clay. However, once the children engaged more with the clay I was able to step back and observe their interactions with the clay more thoroughly. I was particularly struck by the introduction of a tool by Xavier, which becomes a sought after object and then adds a new layer to the experience allowing the children to explore the clay in a different way.
Max ran through a multitude of ways to explore the clay. Watch as he pinches, scrapes, pats, tastes, scratches, grabs, shakes and tries to wipe the clay. He even gives up a ball to get both hands into the clay.
Although the clay doesn't quite have the wow factor that painting does, I feel like this first encounter was appropriate for the children and I have a few thoughts on how to change up the clay to highlight it's presence and entice children to interact more with it.
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