Clay Candle Houses: Pottery Workshop for Adults & Kids

Here is another opportunity for you to spend a couple of hours bonding with one of your favourite young people, exploring a new tactile craft that you may not have had the opportunity to experience.

Befitting the winter solstice month, we will make beautiful little candle houses from clay.

Tanja will help participants in this low beginner-level workshop to gain a feel for the clay, create a simple candle house and personalise it. Each piece is unique, and the time spent making it as a team with your hands will leave you with treasured memories. You can free-form a clay house of your own invention or follow a step-by-step process if you are stuck for ideas.

Children especially love the physical-sensual-mental experience of squeezing, pinching and shaping a piece of wet clay into something funny, interesting or beautiful. Clay pottery craft is a fantastic activity for children (and adults) that can benefit them in multiple ways. It encourages them to develop their creativity and imagination as they explore with different shapes, textures, and colors of clay. It also helps improve their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, creating pottery requires patience, focus and perseverance, which can instill important life skills that can apply to other areas of their lives. Finally, the hands-on experience of pottery making can be a calming and therapeutic activity that can help reduce stress and anxiety while boosting self-esteem and confidence.

This session is creative, 100% hands-on, and potentially a bit messy – please dress (yourself and your children) accordingly :) Clay stains may not wash out of some fabrics.

Please note that the candle houses will not be fired – you can take them home straight away :) Unfired work keeps but cannot get wet and is relatively fragile – so please bring a small wooden board or a plate you want to keep your house on.

Limited to 10 adult-child pairs. Sponsorships available (just ask). Bookings essential!

This workshop is proudly sponsored by the Riverside Community Trust. Please contact Tanja (at education@riverside.org.nz) for any workshop questions or to discuss sponsorship options.