Year 5 - Art and design
Experimenting with clay for a cake sculpture
Ceramics: cake culture
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
Cake is a central part of many cultures and celebrations, with a rich history and symbolic meaning. Pupils will use the subject matter of cakes to develop their drawing and painting skills before designing and making a cake of their own invention in clay.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to experiment with different clay techniques to create a textured, cake-inspired sculpture.
Key Notes
- Understand the properties of clay and how to manipulate it.
- Experiment with different clay techniques (pinching, coiling, slab building).
- Develop fine motor skills and creative expression through hands-on exploration.
Vocabulary To Learn
- clay: a natural material that can be shaped when wet and hardens when dried or fired
- texture: the feel or appearance of a surface, which can be smooth, rough, or patterned
- score & slip: a technique for joining clay pieces by scratching the surface (scoring) and adding watery clay (slip)
- coil: a rolled-out snake-like piece of clay used for building shapes
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Two pieces of clay can just be pressed together to attach them.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Understand the properties of clay and how to manipulate it. Experiment with different clay techniques (pinching, coiling, slab building).
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'clay'
a natural material that can be shaped when wet and hardens when dried or fired.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Two pieces of clay can just be pressed together to attach them. Correction: Clay needs to be scored and slip applied to create a strong bond, just like glue helps stick paper together.
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