Clay Play for Successful Learning

By Krutika Patel, Executive Director Sajeevta Foundation

Im often asked whether creative learning
experiences can be part of a childs learning every
single day; today I want to share how a typical week
of learning can be made from the childs world of
imagination.
Our little learners have just emerged from exams
and wed spent the last few weeks asking them to
practice what theyd be tested on. They did not
find it fun, and we had to encourage them to get
ready for the unpleasant experience of being tested
and graded against their peers.
With the system of regular testing I feel the love of
learning is being asked to sit quietly in the corner
and forget how learning can stretch out and be
whatever a childs mind wants it to be.
With the exams over, I decided to ask the children
what theyd love to learn. Of course they shouted
out the Ganesha Festival which is on their streets
and in their minds. I decided to ask the children
how to this festival can be made as environmentalfriendly as it is enjoyable.
We all see the humungous plaster-of-paris Ganesha
competing with each other to wow us in height and
magnificence, and after joyful worship they are
immersed in waters only to inelegantly break up
and float back on our river banks and coastlines. So
our challenge for the students was to think of a
different way to celebrate, and using the lovely
mess of mud and joy of creativity to make their own
Ganesh.
I first demonstrated how clay can be rolled and
joined in different forms to create as our mind
imagines. The children then went home, and the
next day I was completely surprised to find the
children excitedly presenting how they had
extended on this activity by adding bird feathers,
small shells, leaves, grains and coloured stones and
other natural articles they found in park. You

would not recognise these as the same children

who just days back looked so sad and unmotivated
when they had to practice the rote learning for
their school exams.
It was a great surprise to
see children own the
learning experience and
decide their own
decoration, presentation
and exchange of ideas
amongst themselves.
Thankfully these surprises
are regular for Sajeevta
Foundation, we are
committed to give clear
child-friendly guidance and then let go so children
independently learning in their own way, which I
feel is exactly what every child wants: not to be told
and forced to write exactly, but to freely create
what is joyful and meaningful for them.
I was schooled in the typical way, where the
teacher transfers knowledge from the books to our
brains, and then we as students must move what
sticks in our memory on to the exam paper. I dont
know if anyone enjoys this testing. I cant see the
opportunity to be creative in exam papers, and I
dont see the job adverts: Rote Learners Apply
Here, but I do see all around me that employment
and life need creativity and innovation for success.
Playing with clay does not sum up learning. What I
do want every child to have is the excitement of
being invited to grab an idea and then create from
their level. At Sajeevta Foundation every week we
review the level of each childs learning and then
we plan out lessons for the whole week with an
exciting theme and where children have to produce
something by the end of the week.

We have a set weekly structure that begins with a

positive welcome for every child, they then start
the week sharing with us their thoughts and
experiences at school at home. We run a friendly
quick-quiz every week which tells us what levels the
children are at, so we know how to help them
individually to progress from their own level. Next
we introduce an idea for learning and demonstrate
what they can create, and by the end of the week
they present to us what they produced. Production
has been story books, poems, cartoon strips,
mathematical puzzles, and clay Ganesha. Our team
spends time to lovingly plan out a whole week of
learning in a set format that is quality checked a
week in advance. What we are most excited about
is planning out this sequence so we have children
grabbing these ideas to then learn and produce
with their own minds, and not to be limited to our
thinking, then there is no limit to what they can
learn.