If you’ve ever pushed your hands into a piece of wet clay, you’ll likely have a sense of the therapeutic properties of the material. The physicality of clay, and its vast potential for creativity, have attracted children and adults alike for centuries. Today it’s a proven method for art therapy. An art psychotherapist recently devised a study to measure the effects of clay art therapy and found that creating objects out of clay improved mood, decision-making and motivation. 

Emotional Self-Regulation

For children that have trouble self-regulating their emotions, clay can also be a good educational tool. It allows you to make mistakes and accept that things don’t always turn out how you expected. You can embrace what you’ve made or start again learning from your experience.  

When the clay has dried, the children can paint it in stimulating bright colours. In the session photographed, some added a splash of glitter.

How pottery can even help with handwriting...

In addition to this working with clay helps children to:

• develop hand and eye coordination as they squeeze, pat and pound it whilst exploring its texture. This in turn strengthens pathways in the brain.
• develop finger and hand muscles – poking, pinching, cutting with scissors rolling and manipulating the clay in just about any fashion builds muscles and dexterity, which improves handwriting.  
• learn about texture, shapes and forms and 3-dimensional objects.
• build attention span and ability to focus.

As with many creative arts it is a great tool for building self-esteem. For those that struggle academically spending periods of the day absorbed in a task they can enjoy and be successful in is paramount.  And the end result made everyone feel like spring was on its way. They can’t wait to do it all again!