Decorative Tiles

       This decorative tile was made with air dry clay.  To begin the lesson, we first learned about the different building techniques used when working with clay such as wedging, scoring, additives and subtractives.  Some of these techniques would be used to make our decorative tiles.  The first step in making our tiles was to roll out a 4x4 piece of clay.  Then we could add whatever shapes, designs, or letters to our tiles.  I added a "splat" shape and wrote my nickname using a needle tool.  For this assignment we were required to use at least two techniques we learned about at the beginning of class.  After we made our designs on our tiles, we then got to paint them.  Another requirement was to include at least 2 colors.  I chose blue, green, and little bit of white.  Those are my favorite colors.
       An extension activity for this project could be for the students to create their own animal or plant using the leftover clay from their tile project.  This project would have to stand on its own to make it more 3-D.   Now, to incorporate this project into another subject, the students could create another tile with a number or a math sign such as a plus or equal sign.  Once the math tiles are made the students could practice their adding and subtracting skills using these tiles.