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A fictional demo: the library, the young artists and their artwork are invented, and every image was made with AI. About this demo
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Clay Animals

Most of these animals started as a bag of air-dry clay from the Clay Critters workshop in July. Some have googly eyes, one is wearing a real sock, and all of them are a little lumpy, which is how you can tell they were made by hand.

  • Lumpy green clay frog sitting upright with a crooked yellow crown and a tiny gray sword, uneven eyes and a red painted smile.

    Sir Hops-a-Lot

    Nora, age 7 · 2026

    He is a frog but he is also a knight. His crown fell off two times so I glued it. He likes eating flies and fighting dragons, but only little dragons.
  • Three polymer clay turtles in a line, a mother and two babies, with green bodies and brown and orange shells patterned with toothpick dots and swirls.

    Turtle Parade

    Mateo, age 9 · 2026

    This is a mom turtle and her two babies walking to the ocean. I made the patterns on the shells with a toothpick. The littlest one is the slowest, like me in the morning.
  • Purple clay octopus with worried eyebrows; six arms wear painted clay socks, one wears a real striped baby sock, and one arm is bare.

    The Octopus Who Lost a Sock

    Hazel, age 10 · 2026

    Octopuses have eight arms so they need eight socks. This one only has seven, which is why he looks worried. I made his worried eyebrows with a paperclip. The socks are clay except the striped one, which is a real sock from my baby cousin. I asked first.
  • Clay hedgehog curled up a little, its back covered in hundreds of snipped clay spikes painted brown with pale tips, a cream face with bead eyes and a tiny pink nose.

    Snip the Hedgehog

    Owen, age 12 · 2026

    I made the spikes by snipping the clay with little scissors over and over, about a million times (really about 300). He's curled up a little because he's shy. If you crouch down and look under him, he has a tiny pink nose.
  • Long clay blue whale with a pale belly, scratched throat lines, a smiling eye and three white clay bubbles on a wire above its blowhole.

    Bubbles the Blue Whale

    Elijah, age 8 · 2026

    A real blue whale is as long as three school buses. Mine is as long as my arm from my elbow to my fingers. That's the biggest I could make before the clay ran out. Her name is Bubbles.
  • Very lumpy cream clay chicken with two different-size googly eyes, a red comb, orange craft feathers and a small brown clay egg beside her.

    Pancake the Chicken

    Rosie, age 5 · 2026

    This is Pancake. She is our real chicken. She lays brown eggs. I gave her big eyes so she can find worms. (Rosie told this to Ms. Dana at the library.)

Octopuses have eight arms so they need eight socks. This one only has seven, which is why he looks worried.

— Hazel, age 10, The Octopus Who Lost a Sock

Library craft table with lumps of air-dry clay, wooden tools, water cups and paper plates of unfinished clay animals, with children's hands pinching clay.

Clay Critters workshop

Thirty-one kids learned to pinch, roll coils and join pieces with score-and-slip at the Clay Critters workshop on July 11, and everyone went home with a bag of clay.