I would recommend giving infants clay in large blocks on the ground on a large mat or plastic surface.  See what they do with it.  Encourage them to push it, touch it, tear pieces off. You could also cut large slabs from the whole block and let them build with it.  If you are using Magic Mud, it is not toxic and edible.  So, if infants put it in their mouths, it is pretty much the same as eating sand or dirt.  Not great but it won’t hurt them.  Some educators have utilized pacifiers when having infants work with art materials to help them not mouth the material.  This depends on individual philosophies around pacifier use.

In regards to toddlers, you can start of with a large block or slabs and transition to small amounts of material.  Toddlers love to explore - the material is the motivation but I would encourage teachers to find creative ways of introducing it to them to keep their interest alive - perhaps one day present the clay in big balls, another day in long coils or snakes, etc… Constantly reuse it.

At some point in the year (But not too early in their exploration), it is wonderful to save their marks - teachers can create slabs and let the little ones press their fingers into it or some natural or made-made textures.  Teachers can then poke a hole in the top of the slab and then fire them to preserve the marks. It makes a great take home gift.  If you don’t have a kiln, Magic Mud can be brittle when made into a slab but if the dried slab is painted with a few coats of Elmer’s Glue or Acrylic sealant, it should hold up.

Using Clay Is Easy

Clay is one of the easiest art materials to use with young children. All you need is clay, a work surface and a wire cutter. Clay can be used directly from its original bag from the manufacturer. Make sure you have at least one pound of clay per child. Simply take the clay out of the bag, place it on a clay board or other hard surface. Using a wire cutter slice through the clay block and cut off the needed amount. Each cut slice is called a slab. You can create balls of clay from the cut slabs by tearing the slab in half and forming it into a ball. One half of a slab is plenty for a child to begin to work with.

The larger the amount, the more the child will usually want to pound it. If you give a child a small ball that fits in his/her hand a different type of interaction will occur with the clay. The child might roll the ball, model it in the hand or squeeze it between the hands. Experiment with different sizes of balls and shapes and amounts of clay with the children. Notice how the shape and/or size influences the child’s work.

What happens if you offer a group of children a whole block of clay?

Why Clay Boards?

Working with clay on a board helps define the child’s workspace and makes clean-up easy. When a child works on a defined surface, the edges of this surface give the child boundaries. These boundaries are helpful for young children. A defined work surface helps focus attention and limit distractions.
A wooden board has the capacity to absorb excess water, can be cleaned with a wet sponge or paper towel, and is made from a natural material. Using clay on a plastic mat seems contradictory to the essence of clay and also causes clay to either slip around and/or stick to it. Masonite boards may also be used or a canvas cloth. Some clay studios staple or tack the canvas right to the table so it doesn’t slip around while the children are working. If you choose to use canvas or masonite, there is no need to clean with water. Simply have the students scrape off any clay left on the work surface with a popsicle stick. Once the clay has dried, the excess bits can be dusted off in the garbage. Be careful though to not inhale the clay dust. Boards can then be stacked away until their next use.

Sometimes it is beneficial not to work on individual boards, especially when the children want to engage in group-work or want to explore clay with their bodies. In this case, provide a large canvas cloth or a large piece of cardboard for the children to work collaboratively. If you want the children to explore clay with their bodies, place the clay on the floor on a piece of canvas. The cloth will determine where the exploration occurs.

Water- Less Is More

Natural clay needs water. As the children use the clay, the air and the children’s hands absorb the water from the clay. Within approximately 30 to 40 minutes or less in dry climates, the clay will start becoming hard and brittle. Before the clay becomes too dry, the children should be taught how to add water to the clay.

If the children are young, they should use a defined amount of water through the wet paper towel method or the wet paper towel pad method.
For the wet paper towel method, give each child a wet paper towel and teach how to squeeze out the water onto the hands. The hands can then add water to the clay. To make a paper towel pad, wet a folded wad of paper towels and place in a dish. The children can then pat the wet pad with their hands to add water to the clay.

If the children are older and more mature, you can teach them how to dip their fingers into a shallow dish of water to remoisten the clay.
All methods focus on having the hands wet the clay and offering a defined amount of water.

Natural Clay Is Reusable

Natural clay can be used as an open-ended material and be reused over and over again. One teacher has reported on using the same block of clay for two years by following the method below.
Purchase or find a bucket that has a close fitting lid and line the bucket with a plastic kitchen garbage bag. This liner is essential and will help to keep the clay moist. After working with the clay and before returning it to the bucket, add water to the clay. One way to do this is to have the children make a clay ball from their remaining clay on their boards and poke a hole with their thumb into the clay ball. Add water into the hole and close it by pinching it together. The dry ball will drink the water overnight and will be soft and supple by morning.

Observe the next day if there is any water left in the clay balls and adjust accordingly.

Was there excess water in the ball?
Was the ball soft enough?
How much water is the right amount?

During my workshops, I have spoken about the power of clay as an art material: how clay is grounding, how it calms the nervous system, and how the child is drawn into the material. In my teaching, I have seen children’s energy focus, dexterity develop, and imagination flourish. However my encounter with Armando, a three year-old boy, was the first time I saw a child’s sadness shift through clay.
     
The Beginning
I walked into a Head Start classroom at 9:30 on a Monday morning with a bucket of clay and a bag full of boards. As I began to set out the boards on the tables and prep the clean-up cloths by wetting individual paper towels, a few children came up to help and to watch. Their excitement about working with clay was apparent, "Can I have some clay now?" "Where is the clay?" "Can we watch you?"

After prepping the tables, I gathered the children on the rug to introduce them to a clay song I made up. I find that singing to the children before working gathers their attention and creates a rapport. The clay song teaches them about clay, where it comes from and how clay is different then play dough.

As the children came to circle I noticed a little boy crying to himself. His teacher informed me that he didn’t speak English and was having a hard time transitioning to school. His mom had been coming into the classroom to help with the transition but today she had to go to a doctor’s appointment.

After the song, I demonstrated some possibilities of using clay and then how to clean-up and store the clay. The children were full of ideas and were ready to begin.

 
Working With Clay
As we transitioned from circle to the tables, I noticed a bit less sobbing from Armando as he came to the clay table. He, however, still seemed sad. His eyes were crestfallen and he sat with his arms at his side as the clay was distributed. The children around him were excited to explore this new material and began to touch it and work with enthusiasm. Armando’s teacher noticed his lack of engagement, pulled up a chair and began to encourage him to touch the clay as she took a handful herself.

Once he began to touch the clay, she left his side to engage with others who needed her attention. Armando went right to work, rolling coils, one after the other. At first his coils were thick but became thinner the more he rolled. Each one was the exact same size in length. As he worked, he carefully placed one coil next to the other in a snake pattern across his board. He worked diligently and with focus. With each coil, the tears disappeared and a calm, serene expression formed over his face. He was fully engaged in the material.

Armando worked with the clay tearing, rolling and placing the coils, one after the other, while the other children at his table worked forming pancakes, towers, trains and airplanes. Armando continued to work while the other children cleaned up. He continued until all of his clay was carefully turned into a coil and arranged on his board. Because he was the last one left, I was able to sit next to him and talk to him about his work using English and basic Spanish. He seemed to enjoy the attention. I then helped him form his coils back into a ball, drill a hole and fill his clay ball with water. He returned the clay to the bucket and happily came back to wash his board off with a paper towel. After washing his hands, he went to play with the others. He showed no signs of sadness. The clay absorbed it all.

 
Teacher’s Reaction
This was a remarkable experience for his teacher. She commented that this was "his best day yet" and marveled on his work with clay. She was impressed at his ability to put the clay away and clean-up with little direction. She also was pleased with his focus on the material and not on his loss of his mother.

     
Final Thoughts
As I was cleaning up, Armando came over to me with his coat and backpack ready to leave. His clay experience visibly calmed his nerves and quieted his tears, but his desire to be home never left. Clay did not solve his problem but allowed his body and mind to quiet, focus and ground. Working with clay helped him for the day, cope with his feelings and provided him with a time of restfulness and peace. I can only hope that clay might be a medium Armando looks forward to working with in his classroom and then little by little with the warm, loving support of his teacher, his classmates and his parents, he will adjust to being away from home. As I drove out of school, all the emotions I witnessed welled up and I cried tears for Armando and for the challenges our little ones face.

What Happened to Clay?

Before 1955, clay was the primary expressive modeling material in the early childhood and art classrooms across the United States. Victor Lowenfeld, a prominent art education researcher, in his book Creative and Mental Growth published in 1947, writes that clay is a "basic material" along with tempera paint and paper and should not be "dispensed with" in the art classroom. Often older educators have fond memories of using clay with young children. In 1955, the world of modeling materials changed forever with the invention of Play-Doh by Joseph McVicker of Kutol Products, Inc. Kutol Products’ primary product was a wallpaper cleaner, "a dough-like material which housewives laboriously rubbed over the paper to remove dirt" according to a Wall Street Journal article of 1958. The story goes that one day Mr. McVicker came home to find his two year old daughter playing with the wallpaper cleaner. He then took some to his sister-in-law who operated a nursery school in New Jersey. "She was enthusiastic about its possibilities as a ‘creative play material’. It was not oily and wouldn’t stain, as some modeling clay did, and was softer and more pliable. At her suggestion, bright colors for the flesh colored material were developed, and after laboratory tests, some ingredients were removed to make it non-toxic." (Wall Street Journal, 1958)

At first, Play-doh didn’t sell well. Sales were sporadic. However, in 1956, Mr. McVicker decided to boost sales by redesigning the package and offering the Play-doh in 3 packs of red, blue and yellow 11 ounce cans instead of the previous quart cans sold individually. Sales climbed steadily and McVicker organized Rainbow Crafts, Inc. to handle the growing sales and distribution. Play-Doh’s success continued and in 1965 McVicker sold Rainbow Crafts to General Mills who continue to own it today. According to a spokesman for General Mills in a Wall Street Journal article in 1980, Play-Dough’s success can be attributed to the constant "introduction of accessories" and its "simplicity". "The formula of salt, flour, water and ‘magical, mystical ingredients’ has remained basically the same since its invention". (Wall Street Journal, 1980) As Play-Doh became more and more popular in the marketplace, more and more schools and homes decided not to use clay. Clay requires the use of water on a regular basis and requires more clean-up. It is also not as soft.

However, what did we loose when we took clay, an natural earth based primary art material out of the schools and hands of young children and replaced it with a "creative play material" made from flour, salt and water?

A Comparison of Clay and Play-dough (Excerpts taken from Earth’s Magic Mud by Kathleen Bailer. Published in Green Teacher Magazine.)

Clay is an ancient, earth material. It is made from rock that has been transported far from its original rock source. It occurs in seams or beds often near a body of water. Clay has been intertwined with human existence since our early history. The ancient Sumerians in 3000 BC used clay to form tablets on which they wrote messages, lists and kept financial records. In China, clay armies have been discovered in the burial tombs of dynasty leaders. The Aztecs made miniature houses, streets, wagons and people out of clay. Egyptian tomb paintings show clay being dug, dried, formed into bricks and fired in mounds. A trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, reveals clay pots from ancient civilizations all over the world. Today people continue to use clay for pots, bowls and mugs, and are also developing new uses for it. Clay can be found in electrical insulators, artificial hips, wastewater purification facilities, the nosecones of rockets, and on the outside of spaceships. It is one of the most widely used organic materials on Earth. Because clay is from the Earth, playing and working with clay centers, grounds and connects children to the Earth. This connection is especially important when so many children are leading such scheduled, busy, indoor lives and are surrounded by plastic toys and electronic equipment. Using clay allows children’s hands to come in contact with the elements and forces that make up Earth: water, rock, ice and erosion.

Play-dough either bought in stores or made at home, is made up from salt, flour and water. These are cooking materials. Because play-dough is made from baking materials it can be kneaded, pounded, rolled, twisted and balled. It can be formed into basic shapes but can not hold much weight upon itself and can not support details. Clay on the other hand has weight and can hold its shape. It gives children resistance but at the same time is very responsive to the touch. It can become a child’s idea yet be able to change with the slightest pressure. As a result of this basic and most primary difference between clay and play-dough, clay can grow with the child. As children begin to understand clay and what it can do, they will eventually take it way beyond the capabilities of play-dough. If we only are giving our children play-dough, what are we saying to them about their capabilities?