Heart-Shaped Clay Bowls

Messiness: High
Age Range: 3y - 4y
Estimated Time: <1 hour

Activity Designer

Stephanie Sims
152 Projects

This project makes a darling seasonal gift--perfect for holding candies on Grandma's table, or found treasures such as pinecones or walnuts.

What You'll Need
print instructions we did this project

clay (natural)
paint
glitter (optional, but provides a nice finish)

small bowl
cutting board (or scratchproof surface)
non-sharp knife

How We Did It

We make little bowls regularly at our house: flowers and butterflies in the spring, leaf-shaped ones in the fall, and (of course) heart-shaped ones for Valentine/s Day.

The first thing to do is to flatten out the clay... sometimes we choose to use hands, and sometimes the adventure of a rolling pin is called for.

This time the clay also got tossed into the air, and was made extra fine by singing a "Pizza dough, pizza dough..." song--this could very well be the most important step!

The clay needs to be nice and thick (about 0.5" or so), so that the bowl will be pretty sturdy.

When it's flattened, finalize your shape (with fingers, large cookie cutter, butter knife, whatever).

With a wet finger, smooth it to your satisfaction (one of us prefers licked fingers, and one of us prefers a small bowl of water)...

Then pick the clay up carefully, and place it over your rounded bowl. Form it lightly around your mold, then leave it to dry. Waiting... waiting... waiting...

The next day, take it off your mold carefully, and now your bowl's ready for paint. (It probably isn't completely dry yet, but it should be hard enough to paint It will dry and further harden over the next couple of days.)