“Painting is another word for feeling” John Constable

At the end of last term we received a call from Madri Schuch of Youth4Life telling us that they had a donation of clay animals which could be painted, she thought they might be useful therapeutic tools for our therapists and she was eager to share.

When we went to collect them we were greeted with boxes and boxes of wonderful characters; it was raining that day and it felt as if we had stumbled into Noah’s ark.  Thank you Madri for thinking of us and for being willing to share with us.

Biscuit (also known as bisqueware) refers to pottery that has been fired in a kiln to become durable. This can be a final product such as biscuit porcelain or unglazed earthenware (often called terracotta) or an intermediate stage in a glazed final product.  Basically it means that the animals won’t easily break, and we can paint them !

Now that schools have opened for the 3rd term, the animals are making their way to our CK rooms.  One of our Social Workers said: “I was not expecting them to be so big, somehow I pictured small animals – but these are really nice.  I remember when I was at school I had the opportunity to paint a plate.  I painted it for my Granny and she hung on the wall for years, I loved doing that craft project and I felt very proud.”