Two examples of projects made with the Clay Sculpting Station | Source: Crayola

Inside almost every kid, big or small, there’s an artist who’s eager to express themselves. While drawing and coloring are the go-to, mess-free art projects for many, Crayola‘s Clay Sculpting Station is a new way to help kids model their own ideas using Crayola’s air-dry clay

The sculpting station comes neatly packaged in a green carry case and is filled with art supplies designed for kids ages 6 and up. One side of the case stores the four packages of air dry clay, 12 different paints, and two paint brushes. The other side of the case has a sculpting tool, two texture plates that kids can use to imprint designs on the clay, and a pottery wheel. 

The set also comes with a booklet full of sculpture ideas, including a penguin, a dog, and some little pots, but kids don’t have to follow the directions in the booklet to make the most out of this set. There really is no limit to what a kid could make with this set as long as they have enough clay to work with. 

The Clay Sculpting Station comes with all the supplies budding sculptors need. | Source: Crayola

Parents may want to put kids in old or less sentimental clothes while they are playing with the sculpting set because the clay may leave residue behind, especially as kids start to mold the clay into the desired shape. The texture plates snap together to form a circle for kids to put clay into to create a pot. Kids can use the plate to press designs like swirls or triangles into the sculptures to make textured pottery that looks like a pro did it. The other project ideas have more of a freestyle play pattern, so kids can follow the designs as closely as they want to (or not). 

The booklet says that the clay only needs to dry overnight before it’s ready to paint, but I found that it takes much longer for the clay to harden into a solid sculpture. Artists may notice some cracking once the clay is dry, but it isn’t very noticeable. 

[relatedposts_postid=87389]

When the clay is finally dry, parents should put their kids back in their messy-time clothes because it’s time to paint! Kids can put their sculpture on the spinning wheel and rotate the piece as they paint it. The set comes with 12 small paint pots that are more than enough to paint the four packages of included clay. Parents can purchase additional clay refills in any colors kids like for even more sculpting options.

Kids will be able to flex their creative muscles over several days with this sculpting station. While the process can be messy, that’s part of the fun, and kids will end up with small sculptures to display in their play areas, desks, or bookshelves. With any luck, parents will have the next Michaelangelo on their hands.

About the author

Ashley Pelletier

Ashley Pelletier

Ashley is assistant editor for The Toy Insider, The Pop Insider, and The Toy Book with a Master's in journalism from Quinnipiac University. When she isn’t writing her latest story, she is reading a fantasy novel or rewatching one of her three favorite TV shows over and over again. She’s also a big fan of showing people pictures of her two dogs and cat.

archivearrow-chevron-downarrow-chevron-left-greyarrow-chevron-leftarrow-chevron-rightarrow-fatarrow-left-blackarrow-left-whitearrow-right-blackarrow-rightarrow-roundedbookscalendarcaret-downclose-whiteclosedocumenteditorial-archiveeyefacebook-squarefacebookfilesgifthamburgerheadinghearthomeinstagram-squareinstagramlatestlinkedin-squarelinkedinmailmedia-inquiresmessagenewsopen-boxpagination-leftpagination-rightpauseplayprintproduct-archiverecent-productssearchsharesort-filterspotifysunteamtiktoktime_purpletimetrendingtvtwitter-squaretwitteryoutube