In-Progress Relief Sculpture Plates with 3rd Grade

These plates are turning out so great that I just couldn't wait until they were completely finished to post about them!  I was inspired by the awesome ceramic plate projects over at Fun Art 4 Kids, and adapted it to be more open ended.  The students were challenged to create a plate design of their choosing (lots picked Christmas themes because I told them these would be completed and ready to go home before break) that had both high and low areas.  They created two different design ideas on manila paper and chose the strongest one to sculpt.

To make the plates, I rolled slabs of clay on our slab roller and then the kids used Dixie paper dessert plates to use as a pattern to cut around.  Then they molded the cut-out circle onto their paper plate with a paper towel in between the plate and the clay.  From there I showed them how to attach clay and how to press down into it without poking all the way through.  I'm so proud of their different ideas and how well they are coming out!  I will post an update when they're finished!