Learn how to make a clay penguin using air drying clay! A fun craft activity for home over winter break or at school!
Winter is upon us as is all the cute winter animals and images! By far my favorite winter animal is a penguin.
You might have been able to tell from my roundup of penguin crafts and our cute glass penguin decoration I posted about last year.
So today I have a step by step guide on how to make a super cute little penguin out of air-drying clay but you can also use polymer clay if you want a more durable craft.
The great thing about using foam clay or air dry clay is that it’s so easy to mold (doesn’t even need a rolling pin!) and it dries on its own in 24-48 hours (no need for an oven!).
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To learn more about the differences between the clays, you can read about it here.
The size of your penguin pottery will depend on how much clay you are going to use! Use small amounts for tiny penguins and a large size if you want a big penguin made out of clay.
How to Make a Clay Penguin
With a few different colors of clay, you can mold an adorable penguin together in a few minutes!
Materials
Tools
Instructions
- Gather your materials. We will be using black clay, white clay, orange clay for the beak, and a color of your choice for the scarf (red, purple, pink!).
- The first step is to make the penguin base. Roll some black clay between both of your hands until it forms a ball shape.
- Roll the clay ball back and forward on a flat surface until it forms a cylinder shape.
- Make a hole on the wide side of the cylinder shape to help the bottom of your penguin stand up.
- Roll a piece of white clay in your palms to form a ball.
- As before, roll the clay ball back and forth to form a cylindrical shape.
- On a flat surface, flatten the white clay that you just made.
- This piece is the top part of the face of the penguin, so use a clay tool to press down the top-middle part of the clay on the narrow side. The eyes will go under this!
- Attach the white clay on to the black base pattern.
- Form a ball shape with a small amount of orange clay. Place the orange piece on the head part of the penguin figure.
- Then squeeze the orange clay until it's a beak shape.
- Roll the color of clay you are using for the scarf into a rope shape.
- Then flatten the rope shape.
- Place the scarf under the penguin around the neck part.
- Then wrap the scarf around the neck.
- Use a clay tool or your fingertips to smooth and adjust the shape of the scarf.
- Use a Sharpie to draw the eyes and blush shapes on the penguin's face.
- Now, let's make the penguin feathers. Roll a small amount of black clay into a cylinder-like shape.
- Divide the clay into two even parts.
- Flatten the two pieces and form wing shapes with them.
- Attach the two wings on both sides of the penguin's body and you're all done!
If you are a teacher having your students make these clay crafts at school, you might also want to grab our free penguin coloring pages and penguin paper bag puppet instructions to go along with a penguin unit!
I hope these simple instructions helped you make an adorable little penguin craft! If you are a fan of clay crafts, make sure to check out our clay ghost project.
Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!