Clay Modelling - Woodland Creatures

Have fun making these friendly and cute little woodland creatures using air drying clay and natural objects found outdoors.

Whilst out and about this Spring I have been noticing lots of different shapes of leaves, and I have seen lots of wild animals.

Here are instructions to make a rabbit and a hedgehog, but you can have a go at making other animals too - have a look at what's growing in your garden or the park, and see what interesting-looking leaves and twigs you can find, and see if you feel inspired to create something with them!

You will need:

- some air drying clay

- a thin twig

- sycamore seeds or small leaves

- some pine needles or thin twigs

Take a lump of clay, roughly the size of an avocado stone, and roll it in your hands to make an egg shape.

Flatten the base so that it sits without falling over.

To shape the head, carefully push in all the way around, about two thirds of the way down.

With your finger and thumb, pinch out a bit of the head to make the rabbit's nose.

Take a new piece of clay and roll it into a ball to make a tail, then attach it to the rabbit's bottom.

Smooth over the join to make sure it is securely attached.

Now for the ears!

Take your sycamore seeds and gently pull apart the two seeds. Carefully push the ends into the top of the rabbit's head.

To make the whiskers, take your pine needles and attach them to the rabbit's cheeks by poking them into the clay, three on either side of the face.

The last step! Make the eyes by marking two dots with the end of a thin twig.

And there you have your woodland clay model rabbit! Why not make a few?

To make the hedgehog, take a new piece of clay and roll it into an egg shape, with a pointy top.

Place your egg shape on its side.

Make the prickles by poking pine needles all over the hedgehog's back, making sure they are all pointing backwards.

Take care, pine needles can be sharp!

If you don't have any pine needles, you could use little pieces of twigs instead.

Make the eyes with a twig in the same way as for the rabbit.

And your hedgehog is finished!

What other woodland creatures could you make?