Clay Rocks for Sensory, Outdoor, and Fine Motor Play

We’ve been having a ton of fun with clay recently.  One sunny afternoon, Big Sister and Little Guy got creative and covered a big rock with clay.  It sat out in the sun and got pretty soft.  


It’s a great way to encourage development of fine motor skills and hand strength in a fun way! 

This post has been sitting as a draft for weeks!  We made a clay rock a while ago and before this was published, I wanted to see what our rock would do in the rain.  It worked!! Check it out:


Sensory Play with Clay and Rocks

What great sensory play!  Pressing that clay around was such a neat sensation.  They could smear the clay around into such a pretty design!


Fine Motor Play with Clay and Rocks

Pressing the clay was a great fine motor strengthening activity.  They could isolate individual fingers, press and push the clay into the other colors.  The resistance of the clay worked their little hand and finger muscles.

So, after the rock sat out in the HOT sun for a while, we noticed that the clay was becoming warmer.  We wondered what would happen if we baked the whole rock and clay. 

Mom put the rock on a piece of aluminum foil and baked the rock on a cookie sheet at 350 for about 15 minutes.  When this rock came out, the color was spread all over the rock!  What a pretty rock for our yard.

I wanted to wait and see what would happen to our rock after it was out in the rain and sun for a few weeks.  It is still looking very bright and pretty!  The clay hasn’t seemed to come off at all in the elements. 

This was such a fun experiment.  Every time Little Guy sees the rock he says: “Hey Mom, Look at that rock, that was SO FUN!”