Play dough definitely has it’s benefits. It doesn’t make the kids hands dirty and it comes in small containers. But it  certainly does get all over the place, with small pieces sticking to shoes and carpets and hair.

Depending on what the needs of your children are, play dough doesn’t come close to the satisfaction that gray clay gives to children. Clay and kids is a natural match. Aside form being so much fun it definitely is a very  therapeutic  medium for children to use. Think of this way. Wouldn’t you rather your child pound the clay than pound his sister.

It’s more messy than play dough and takes more to take care of but the pleasure kids get out of it plus the art that kids can do with it is worth all of the mess and bother.

You need to be dedicated and want the best for your children. If you just don’t want to be bothered than this wont work for you and you will revert back to the good old play dough

Gray clay is an honest to goodness art experience.

There are a few things you need to know before jumping in to giving the children this type of clay to use.

1. It is bought it blocks. I think 5 lb. blocks and up to to 20lb or 25lb.
2. It needs to be cut with a wire or string. (see picture )
3. It must always be stored in a closed plastic container.
4. You can keep it in it’s plastic and then put into the container
5. Children should be covered with smocks as it can get very dirty
6. Try not to give the children utensils to work with at first. They should first get used to seeing what they can do with the clay with their hands and fingers.
7. The children should spend a few days playing with the clay before they attempt to make things and let them dry. The more time they spend just using it, the more they learn its properties and what they can and can’t do with it.
8. There is a definite way to make sure there is proper clay storage to be able to reuse another time.

There are many art stores you can buy the gray clay and you will probably want to use the 5lb box if you are doing this at home.  For teachers you will want to purchase the largest amount.

One of the reasons this type of clay is so wonderful for young children is that it is extremely sensory and it allows the children to get dirty in an acceptable way.

I have  a friend who was teaching preschool and had a little girl who refused to use the bathroom.

The teacher discovered that the little girl mom was a clean fanatic since her mother was a bit obsessive  and this little girl was scared to make herself dirty.

My friend started giving this child lots of clay to play with and after a few weeks this little girl was able to use the bathroom. This is like real therapy in action with just a bit of clay.

Playing with the clay gave the little girl an outlet and allowed her to free herself up to be able to use her natural functions normally.

To clean up after a session with clay, you will need large sponges and alot of water.

Sometimes the children themselves enjoy the cleanup process more than the clay playing itself.

You can see pictures of how to store the clay in this post