No-Bake Clay Sorting Hat

Here is a super easy no-bake clay sorting hat.

You will need:

• Pottery clay
• Sculpting tools
• Brown paint
• Clear varnish
• Gold and red ribbon
• Round wooden box
• Red and Yellow M&M's
• Quick drying epoxy

You will need your gold and red ribbon. Cut a "V" shape out of the bottom of the gold ribbon. Place the red ribbon on top of the gold ribbon and trace the "V" shape and cut it out. Once you have the "V" shape cut out of both ribbons, glue the red ribbon onto the gold ribbon. Now the banner is complete.

Paint your box with brown paint. This will probably take several coats. Add a coat or two of clear varnish once the paint has dried.

I used pottery clay because it is cheap and I find it really easy to sculpt. I used cake decorating tools for sculpting as they were what I had on hand and they work very well with this clay.

Make a rough a circle that is just a tad bit smaller than the lid of your box.

Sculpt the hat.

Put a little bit of water on the base of the hat and stick the two pieces together. Make sure you don't press too hard when putting it together because you don't want to squish them.

Leave the hat out in a safe place to dry for 1-2 days.

Once the hat has dried for a couple of days, coat the whole thing even the bottom in two layers of varnish. Let the varnish dry completely between coats.

Paint the hat with several layers of brown paint. Next, take a darker shade of brown paint and go over all the creases and the eyes and mouth. Once this is dry add 1-2 layers of the clear varnish.

Apply the epoxy to the bottom and press the hat onto the lid of the box. Hold it into place until dry.

Glue the banner to the inside of the box lid. Make sure that the front of the banner is facing the same way as the front of the hat.

Fill the box with red and yellow M&M's or similar candies. Accordion fold the banner and put the lid on the box.

Now you have a sorting hat.