Enjoy the „ride“The best game with modelling clay

I was used to sitting down at the table and slapping together pieces of clay to form pictures, figurines or making accessories – rings, bracelets, etc. Then the children were born and I discovered three more uses of modelling clay.

Eliška started to make a telephone and Kryštof made a walkie-talkie. Learning the word “over” entertained them for a while. For me it was a funny sight to see, as they frantically put the microphone and speaker to their ear, mouth and nose. If they had more than two hands, they would have definitely gotten entangled in them.

Then they got up from the table, slipped the clay under their butt and yelled at me that they can’t hold it anymore and that they were going to poo and then they let the poo-shaped clay fall to the floor. After that they took off their socks and proceeded to step on the clay poo and mark their footprints and their fingers in it, effectively smearing it all over the floor. Of course they cried out with joy about how disgusting it is and how many germs are crawling on them. I watched them for a while and then joined in. It was the first time I ever stepped on clay and I would like to repeat it sometime. It’s as if you were stepping in mud, you can feel it leaking through your toes. The advantage is that you have clean feet after and that you smell of children’s clay.

Finally we come to the best part. The slab of clay looked like the Antarctic according to Kryštof, so we started making continents using our feet. Then the kids brought a box with animals and we started placing them in Africa, Australia, the sea, etc.

It was one of the best games I ever discovered with my children. I let myself be guided and the slapping of clay together turned into an educational game.

Author: Lenka Míkovcová

Translation: Marek Hubbell