This lesson was inspired by Ancient Egyptian scarab beetle amulets. The students used clay to create their own protection beetle amulet using different clay techniques!
The students learned a little bit about Ancient Egypt and what the scarab beetle symbolizes.
They learned that a beetle is an insect and not a bug because they have 6 legs.
They learned the 3 different parts of a beetles body (Head, Thorax, Abdomen)
The students planned what their clay beetle would look like by drawing it and adding pattern to each part of the body.
They learned how to transform their 2D drawing into a 3D clay sculpture.
They learned the process of how soft clay becomes hard and permanent and different clay building techniques: Pinching technique for the abdomen; Making coils for the thorax, head, and legs; Slip and scoring
They learned how to scratch their pattern into the clay.
After building the beetle, the students glaze it- First they used a base color on each section of their beetle's body and then added patterns using other colors of glaze (this was to prevent a lot of unglazed clay)