The Greek village of Kayaköy, deserted during WWI, provides an atmospheric focus for this KS2 clay project. It involves children sculpting their own abandoned community from clay…
In this lesson plan you’ll find ideas for encouraging children to design and build a collection of ghostly structures. They will then combine their individual pieces to create a whole-class sculpture of a deserted village.
There are tips for improving the strength of children’s structures and ideas for experimenting with pattern and texture. There are also suggestions for bringing a little life back to the streets of the ghost town…
Clay KS2 learning objectives
- Experiment with pattern and texture in clay
- Explore how to design and construct clay structures
- Collaborate to create a whole-class sculpture
Starter activity
While the idea of a ghost town is sure to fire up children’s imagination, you might decide to begin the lesson by providing a little historical or geographical context about the village of Kayaköy.
You could, for example, link the lesson to a project on World War I, as it offers an opportunity to explore how local communities were shaped by distant events.
It’s important that children understand Kayaköy is a real place and that it was affected by real events. Images of Kayaköy are easily found online: share them on screen and encourage children to describe what they can see and to suggest reasons why the town looks the way it does.
Decide what background information your children will need to know (depending on their age and experience) before asking them to imagine what life in the town might have been like a century ago.
Explain to children that the town was once home to many craftspeople who would have been busy designing, making and selling their work – and that it is now their turn to design and create something of their own.
Robert Watts is the programme convener for the MA Art, Craft and Design Education programme at the University of Roehampton, London, and the co-author of Teaching Art and Design 3-11, published by Continuum Books. Browse more KS2 art ideas.
