1st Grade Model Magic Fishies

I believe the first time I saw pinch pot fish was on Mr. E's blog.  However, in my case, I had just finished up coil pots with 2nd and 4th grade and was starting African Face jugs with my 5th graders, and was running dangerously low on clay.  I had a few boxes of colored model magic leftover from last year and improvised.  

I only gave the students red, yellow, and blue, and as a primary and secondary color review, had them mix the rest to create their fish.  

The results came out cute, but I'm not a big fan of model magic. I find that no matter how much you 'smush' the pieces together when they dry they fall off and that although the texture of the clay is nice, its isn't stiff enough to support any pressure while working which ended up making for many a sagging and sinking pinch pot fish. 

To add a minor bit of insult to injury, after the project was over I found 6 50 pound boxes of extra clay I had stored in my supply closet and forgotten about when I unpacked all the clay over the summer!  Ah, I'll give the fish a go with real clay next year!