4 Clay Character Projects for Kids

Begin by dividing one packet of white clay into 3 pieces. Make a very small, a medium and a large piece. 

Wrap the small and medium pieces in the plastic wrap and place back in the packet to stop them drying out. 

Roll the large piece between your palms to make a ball shape, this will be the body. 

Tip: the firmer you press as you roll, the smoother your ball will become. 

Gently press the ball down so that the bottom becomes flat, pressing with the palm of your hand helps keep the round shape on the top. 

Take the medium piece of clay and roll this into a ball shape to make the head.

Flatten the bottom by gently pressing the top. 

Optional: Make the head a little wider at the bottom by pressing around the top of the ball with your palms. 

Place the head on top of the body, gently twist a little to help attach it. 

Tip: if the clay has started to dry out and you are struggling to join pieces together, wet the tip of your finger with a little water and rub the surface of the clay until it feels sticky. 

To make the mouth, make two tiny balls of white clay from your leftover piece and join them together.  Stick them on to the middle of the face. 

Make a slightly smaller ball for the chin, stick this below the mouth. 

To make the arms, take two pieces of black clay and roll them into balls. 

Roll the balls into tube shapes with one end slightly wider than the other.

Gently squeeze the wider end to flatten it, this will make shoulder area and will create a smoother join to the body.  You will now have a small paw and a wide shoulder.  Bend this piece up a little at the paw end to make a curved shape. 

Attach both arms to the sides of the body just below the head. 

Roll two smaller balls to make the feet, press them on to the front of the body. 

Make a tiny black triangular shape, or just a tiny ball, for the nose. Attach it to the top of the mouth parts. 

For the black eye markings make two small balls, roll them into a teardrop shape, then press flat. Attach these to the face with the narrow end at the top.

Make two small black balls for the ears, flatten them slightly, then press the bottoms of the balls flat and stick them to either side of the head.

To highlight the eyes, make two small white balls and two slightly smaller black ones.

Press them all flat to make circle shapes, then stick the black circles onto the white ones.

Stick the eyes on to the black teardrop shapes.

The finishing touch is a small ball of black clay to make the tail. 

Leave the clay to set overnight, it will become firm and ready to play with, or display, by the next day. 

Divide the orange clay into two pieces, a smaller and larger one. Wrap the small piece in the plastic wrap and place back in the packet to stop it drying out. 

Take the larger piece and roll it into a ball. 

Tip: the firmer you press as you roll the smoother your ball will become. 

Roll the ball on your work surface pressing at one side to make an egg shape. Flatten the wider end by gently pressing and twisting it onto your work surface. 

Next, flatten the narrow end by again gently pressing and twisting it onto your work surface. 

Roll the shape on it's side one more time to flatten out and smooth. 

Place on your work surface with the narrow end at the bottom, press again if it's not quite flat enough. 

Roll the smaller piece of orange clay into a long thin tube. 

This clay is pretty sticky and can be hard to roll flat, to help you do this you can wrap the piece of plastic that came with your clay around the tube, then using the flat side of a tableknife, press and run the knife along the surface of the tube to flatten it into a strip. 

If the edges aren't very straight gently press them into your work surface to flatten them out. 

Cut each end of the tube to give it a flat edge. 

Wrap the strip around the top of your pot, join it at about halfway down the strip to leave a hollow part in the middle of the pot. 

Tip: if the clay has started to dry out and you are struggling to join pieces together, wet the tip of your finger with a little water and rub the surface of the clay until it feels sticky. 

Cut when you reach the end and remove the excess clay, if it looks a bit messy use the flat edge of a knife to press and smooth the surface. 

If the rim looks a bit wobbly, gently roll the pot on it's side to flatten it out. 

Separate the green clay into a large and smaller piece. Wrap the small piece in plastic and place back in the packet. 

Roll the large piece into a ball, then roll into an egg shape. 

Flatten the narrow end, then roll it on its side again if you need to smooth it out some more. 

To make segments in the cactus, press the edge of your knife around the cactus to divide it into two segments. 

Tip: It's better to press the detail in rather than dragging the knife over the surface, as dragging can create rough edges. 

Press in another line around the cactus to make four segments, this will make a cross shape on the top. 

Press two more lines around the cactus to divide each of these segments in half. You should now have eight segments in total.

The cactus arms are made using the same technique as the body. Take the smaller piece of green clay, make two small balls and then roll them into egg shapes. 

At the narrow end press them flat and at a sloping angle, this will make a better shape to join to the body. 

Use your knife to press in four segments, using the same technique as before.

Join the arms to the sides of the body by gently pressing and twisting. Place one arm higher than the other, and don't place the lower arm too far down or your cactus may not fit in the pot.

Using yellow clay, make lots of tiny balls, all the same size.

Stick the balls onto the cactus running down each of the segments. Leave the area where the face will be for now. 

Make two balls of black clay for the eyes, flatten them then join to the front of the cactus. 

Make a smaller ball of black clay, press flat then cut in half to make a smily mouth. Join between the eyes. Once the face is complete you can add more of the yellow balls down the segments.

The clay on your pot may have dried out a bit too much, add a little water to the hollow area on your pot and rub until it feels sticky. Place your cactus into the pot to test how well it fits. If it fits snugly you can simply press and twist it into the pot and your cactus is complete. 

If there is a bit of a gap around the bottom of your cactus, you can add some soil. Mix red and green clay to make brown. You may want to add a little black to make a darker brown.

Make a flat shape that will fit in the hollow area of your pot, then use something with a pointy tip like a pencil to poke lots of tiny holes in the surface. 

Press the soil into the hollow area of your pot, then join your cactus on top of the soil. 

Your cute cactus is complete, leave the clay to set overnight, it will become firm and ready to play with, or display, by the next day. 

Begin by dividing one packet of light blue clay into 3 pieces, small, medium and large.

Wrap the small and medium pieces in the plastic wrap and place back in the packet to stop them drying out. 

Roll the large piece between your palms to make a ball shape, this will be the body. 

Tip: the firmer you press as you roll the smoother your ball will become. 

Roll the ball on your work surface pressing at one side to make an egg shape.

Flatten the narrow end by gently pressing and twisting it onto your work surface.  This is where the head will be joined. 

Take the medium sized piece of clay and roll it into a ball shape.  This will make the head. 

Make this into an egg shape by pressing and rolling one side of the ball, as before. 

Place the head on the body and twist slightly to join. 

Tip: if the clay has started to dry out and you are struggling to join pieces together, wet the tip of your finger with a little water and rub the surface of the clay until it feels sticky. 

Press the clay at the top of the body (neck area) up against the head to make the join a little smoother. 

Take the smallest ball of clay and separate it into four pieces, two larger and two smaller.

Put the smaller balls to one side wrapped in plastic for now.

Take the two larger balls and roll them into egg shapes.  Press the wider end flat at an angle, this will make a better join to the round body. Repeat for the other leg. 

Join the legs to the bottom, middle of the body.

Now we will make the tail.  Using your medium sized piece of clay roll it into a ball then roll it into a long cone shape in the same way we made the egg shapes but press more at one end to make a pointy tip. 

Join the tail to the back/bottom of the body, press the edges of the tail right up to the body to make a smoother join.   

Tip: When I'm joining pieces I like to support the body against the palm of my hand to avoid pressing my fingers into the soft clay. 

For some optional detail use a table knife to press in some lines to create a scaled belly and underside of the tail. 

Tip: It's better to press the detail in rather than dragging the knife over the surface, as dragging can create rough edges. 

To make the arms take the two small balls of clay you made earlier.  We will use the same method as we used for the legs.  Make egg shapes the press a flat sloping edge at the wider end. 

Join to the sides in the middle. 

Make some spikes from dark blue clay. Start by rolling out some small balls of clay, make some smaller for the tip of the tail and top of the head. 

Gently squeeze them to flatten a little, then press them into a triangular shape. 

Join them down the back of the dinosaur, starting with smaller spikes at the tip of the tail. Add some larger spikes to the middle of the back, then finish with a smaller spike on the top of the head. 

Make some dark blue spots by rolling out lots of tiny, different sized, balls of clay then press them flat. Join them randomly over the back and sides of the body.

I've added a few over the joined parts to help hide them.

Make two small black balls for the eyes and join them to the top of the head. 

Use a knife to press in a little smile at the front of the face. 

For an optional bit of detail, add a gleam to the eyes by adding some tiny white circles. 

Your cute dinosaur is complete!  Leave the clay to set overnight, it will become firm and ready to play with, or display, by the next day. 

Divide the purple clay into two pieces; make one a little larger than the other.  Wrap the smaller piece in the plastic wrap and place back in the packet to stop it drying out. 

Roll the large piece between your palms to make a ball shape. This will be the octopus's body. 

Tip: the firmer you press as you roll the smoother your ball will become. 

Unwrap the smaller piece of clay and divide it into eight equal pieces. These will make the tentacles of the Octopus. 

Roll each of these into a ball. Then roll each piece into a long cone shape by pressing and rolling one side of the ball against your work surface. 

Flatten the wide end of the cone by pressing and twisting this into your work surface.  Roll the side on the surface again to smooth if it's looking a bit bumpy. 

Before joining the tentacles, place them around the body to make sure they will all fit.  If they are looking a bit too wide roll out the wider part of each tentacle to thin them down a little.

Take one of the cones and flatten the the wide end. Gently squeeze the end and try to give it a sloping edge. 

Press the thin part of that sloping edge on to the bottom of the octopus body.   

To help attach the tentacles to the sides of the body press the clay around the edge of the tentacle up and into the body. 

Tip: if the clay has started to dry out and you are struggling to join pieces together, wet the tip of your finger with a little water and rub the surface of the clay until it feels sticky. 

Add a second tentacle next to the first using the same method. 

Add two more tentacles. Make sure they only go half way around the body so you have room for the rest. 

Add the remaining four tentacles. 

Curl the ends of each tentacle either upwards or downwards.

Using pink clay, make some suckers by rolling four balls; two smaller, two slightly larger. Stick these onto the underside of the tentacle.

Repeat for each of the remaining tentacles.

Make some spots for the octopus by rolling lots of tiny balls in different sizes. Press each ball flat, then stick them to the surface of the body; but leave the area where you would like the face to be.

Roll two small balls of white clay to make the eyes, then roll two smaller balls of black clay for the pupils.

Press them all flat to make circle shapes, then stick the black circles onto the white ones.

Stick them on to the front of the body. 

For the mouth make another small ball of black clay, press flat then cut in half,  Stick this between the eye shapes to make a cute smiling mouth. 

Finish by adding a few extra pink spots around the face area, then your octopus is complete. 

Leave the clay to set overnight, it will become firm and ready to play with, or display, by the next day.