This is a sample of beginner through intermediate projects for the clay program I developed for "Little Artist Lab".  The little round house in the center of the image is one of the basic projects I developed for the younger children in the program.  They range from ages 4-5.  It consists of making a basic ball shape cut in half and poking holes for windows, carving out a simple doorway with the wooden clay knife.  Then adding a little chiminey made by rolling a small ball of clay into a small cylinder, then using a piece of toothpick to attach it to the round  "house" form and poking a hole wirh a rubber poker.  Although very basic, it envolves several techniques that introduce the young children to a process of construction that is consistent throughout my clay coriculum.  Next are the square houses project.  This is for slightly older boys and girls for ages 4-7.  It requires a little more manual dexterity in making a cube from a ball or sphere, using spatulas and/or the surface of the table to flatten the ball into a cube.  The roof is made by rolling a thin sheath of clay and then cutting with either spatula or wooden clay knife and then attaching them to the cube by using slip.  The windows and doors detail are simply carved with a thin wood clay knife.  The chimney is almost the process same as the round house's, except the small cylinder is also converted into a rectangle by using spatulas or clay knife and then attached with slip and toothpicks.  The Cylindrical towers are the next projects for slightly more experienced kids ages 4-7. They require a little more manual dexterity to roll a larger more perfect cylinder out of a ball, using hands and/or spatulas, which ever the child feels more comfortable with.  I encourage the student to try both techniques to train themselves to master hand control and tool control.  The roofs are also a bit more challenging because it requires pinching a ball of clay but only on one end to create the cone shape in the case of the cylinder towers.  In the case of the rectangular house, the roof is triangular.  It is achieved by shaping a cube or rectangular quadrilateral and then cutting it in half.  Then the tile detail is carved with a pointed clay tool.  This is a good exercise for steady hand control, as well as a lesson in geometry.  The edge of the clay spatula can also be used to achieve the effect.  I again encourage students to try both techniques to enrich their experience and develop dexterity.  Once the 4-7 students get more comfortable with this process, I introduce the "Kitchen Project".  As the young sculptors get better at generating and giving shape to the various geometric forms, they discover how most objects in daily life are geometrical in nature. First the room with 3 dimensions is made from cutting 3/4 " slabs of clay and glued together with slip using a wooden base.  Then they are free to fill the room with any appliance they choose, thus allowing the child's personal creativity to come into play!  It is very interesting to see how each student's personality and experience play out in the creation of objects that fill their individual rooms.  This project is also for the entire house.  I have made a variety of rooms including: Kid's Room, Living Room, Bathroom, Play Room and other rooms of the house projects.  The "School Bus" and the "Speed Boat" projects are the next level up.  I recommend these two projects for children ages 5-9.  They consist of the same basic geometric shapes techniques described above, but taken a little further.  The "Airplane" and "Fire Truck" projects are the next projects and these are for children 6-10.  Again, the process is the same but taken to the next level in creating more realistic detail.  For these two projects I introduce some basic drawing techniques for the side, front and top views of the vehicles to help the students understand basic principles of design.  The same goes for the "Big House" project which is a more ellaborate version of the little houses project.