How to Throw a Paint Your Own Pottery Birthday Party for Kids

Those little pottery shops where you stop in paint some pottery with your friend and then let them fire them are all the rage lately. The problem is they are so expensive. They may be affordable if you are only paying for yourself, but if you have a group of kids or even a birthday party at one of these pottery stores, then you better be ready to spend some big bucks. Painting and glazing pottery is such an easy project to do and there are lots of materials out there that make this craft perfect for doing at home. You don’t need a kiln or expensive glazes to do this. Making and decorating your own pottery at home is the perfect activity for a group of kids, the entire family, and even a creative girls night in.

What You Will Need To Throw a Paint Your Own Pottery Birthday Party:

Active Clay (Enough for Your Group)
Paints (Water color, tempura, or acrylic)
Clear Acrylic Spray Paint
Various Clay Tools (You can buy store made ones or make your own, directions will
Follow)
Newspaper
Paint Brushes (in a variety of sizes)

Activ-Clay is sold at Michaels Arts and Crafts. It is durable air dry clay that does not need to be fired in a kiln. This feature makes it perfect for a kid’s birthday party. The neat thing about this product is that when it dries it looks like fired clay. Other benefits to using Activ Clay is that it is lightweight, durable, carveable, and made of all natural materials. You can buy it in a few different colors like white, terra cotta, and green. I recommend buying it in white if you want to paint the pottery, especially with watercolors, which are every translucent. Activ-Clay works just like natural clay. You can make the same exact craft project out of it; you just don’t have to fire it.

This project is perfect for a sleep over birthday party for your child because the kids can make their own pottery the night they get there. Let the Activ-Clay creations dry overnight and then the kids can paint their pottery the next morning before they go home.

If you need to complete your pottery party in one night you don’t have to start from scratch. Buy pre made pain pottery for your guests to paint. You can find great unpainted pre made pottery at Old Time Pottery and Michaels Arts and Crafts.

Let the kids make whatever they want out of the Activ-Clay. Dog bowls; mugs, and plates are all easy projects. You can give the kids a little instruction by showing them how to make coils out the clay. Simply break off a piece of clay. Roll it out on the table with the palm of your hand until it is a long coil. You can wrap this around and around in different shapes. This is an age old way of making pottery.

Other tips when making your own pottery is to teach the kids how to score. Scoring is when you use a pencil or a toothpick to make some X shaped patens in the edge of you clay and then press it to another piece of clay. This is a great way to attach a handle to a mug.

You can also make a slip to attach pieces of clay. Simpley dip your finger in water and rub it on the clay. It will make natural glue that is perfect for adding details like eyes, nose, handles, and even dots.

Once the Activ-Clay has dried you can let the birthday party guests paint their clay pottery. While you won’t be glazing your pottery you can easily paint them to get the same results. Watercolor, acrylic, and tempura paint all work well on this clay material. Set out plenty of newspaper, lots of plastic or foam plates, paint, and paint brushes. You should also set out a lot of cups of water to clean brushes with.

Once the paint has dried put your painted clay pottery creations outside on some newspaper. Lightly spray them with the clear acrylic spray paint. This will seal and protect their artwork. Best of all it allows the kids to use their creations for pet food bowls, candy dishes, key holder, and more.

Tips:

-Never put your clay pottery creation in the wash. Hand wash them only.
-Spray the entire surface front, back, top, and bottom with the clear acrylic spray paint if you know it will need to be washed.

The paint will dry quickly outside and your partygoers can easily take them home with them when they leave.