Kindergarten Clay Handprints

As you know, this is my first try at teaching K. I am absolutely LOVING it too!!! At first I was so surprised at how much help the kids needed and I didn't realize that they would be so needy. I guess that is expected after 13 years in 3rd grade. Anyhow, I am constantly amazed at just how fast they learn and the growth curve amazes me every time I look at the data.
Anyhow, I thought I would give clay a try since it was December and I did need to make something special for the holidays. I searched pintrest and couldn't find anything that caught my eye so I went traditional. We did the most beautiful clay hand prints. There was a definite learning curve here, and several pretty BIG mistakes. Let's just say that we started with 29 handprints and by the end of it there were only 22 left.
First take your 25 pound of clay and divide it into 30 equal pieces. I use a long piece of string to cut it with. It pulls so nicely through the clay and allows for easy distribution.
I did this project entirely guided and modeled with my own clay and the kids did awesome. First I had them turn their chunk of clay into a nice smooth ball. I told them to squeeze and massage it and then roll it between their hands and on the table to turn it into a ball. Once the balls were forming, I called the kids over to my kidney table and helped them roll the ball into a flat patty. I used a bowl to trace the edge to create a perfect circle. Side Note: I went to the ceramics store and they had a circle tile cutter for $80!!! No way was I going to buy that, the manger told me to go to a kitchen store and get a muffin cutter or use the top of a paint can. Anyhow, I didn't have time for either of those, so I found a bowl. Once the clay was flat and round, I pushed their hands super hard into the clay so you could actually see the shape. Then, I write their name and 2015 somewhere on the clay. Finally I poked 2 little holes through the top to put a ribbon on later. After letting it dry over the weekend, I fired it.
Now, here's where these precious little projects got slightly unique. The children each painted the entire hand plaque in regular glaze. When they were finished I used a Crystal Glaze by Mayco to fill in the handprint itself. I had no idea if it would show up, but it did and looks so cute. The little pieces of glass exploded so you can really see the shape and size of the hand. <> Now for my tips to ending up with just as many as you start with. Don't let the kids play with the clay too long. It seemed to weaken it. Don't roll it too thin, it WILL crack. Push very hard on the hand, the deeper the print the better it will look. Don't forget the holes at the end of the project, I did and there is no going back once it dries.