Start with a larger ball of clay that can fit inside a child’s hand.

Split a little bit off the hunk of clay. The bigger chunk of clay can be rolled into a ball.

Have kids push one hole with their thumbs as far as they can go without going through.

Use hands to pinch around the edge and make sure not to make walls too thin. The walls should probably be around 1/8” thick to support the shell when flipped on its side.

Kids can squeeze the shape of their pinch pot to make it a little longer like an actual body of an animal.

Begin creating the head of your elephant by creating a small slab with some of the extra clay. Use a wooden skewer to cut out the basic ear shape.

Construct a head and trunk out of more clay. Use a skewer and fingers to pinch the end of the trunk for a more realistic feel.

Add score lines to the back of the head and elephant ears. Use a little water to create “fake slip” and attach the head and trunk.

Follow the same scoring method with water to attach the head to the pinch pot.

Carefully flip the clay pinich pot over. We supported our elephant with paper towels so that we could work on making clay feet without smashing the head.

Build similar sized clay feet that will be able to support the weight of your clay pinch pot and head.

Attach clay feet to the bottom of your pinch pot. Make sure that you put the front feet as far up the pinch pot as possible.

Flip the clay elephant over and adjust the feet as needed to balance the weight. The ends or feet of your elephant may become a little larger, but that works if it is supporting the weight.

Kids can use water to smooth out any rough areas. We always instruct them that a little goes a long way and to not make “mud pie”.