Pinch Pots lesson by Trey Frederick

Pinch Pots were made using clay that hardens while air drying. A kiln is not used with this clay. We talked about symbols that were interesting and we could relate to us. We then practice on drawing these symbols. Then we wedged the clay to make sure that all of the air bubbles were out of the clay. We worked on rolling the clay into a ball. Once we had the clay into a ball then we stuck a hole in the center and turned the pot while pulling the clay up an out. Once we had the clay into the shape and size of the pot we wanted, we then carved our symbols onto our bowls. Then the symbols and the bowl were painted and allowed to dry.
Another activity for this lesson could be to have the students also make coil pots. You could also talk about the first discovery of pottery from past civilizations as well as archeological digs, and how they are done and what archeologist find.