Maya Bird Whistle
| Category | Activities |
| Time to allocate (mins) | |
| Outcome | |
| Resources | Clay – 3 balls of clay each about the size of a golf ball 2 Popsicle sticks – cut off the rounded end on one to make it square Metal and wooden tools for making textures Pencil Water and small natural sponge Piece of wood – for shaping thumb pots |
| Instructions | 1. Make 2 thumb pots with the balls of clay. Flatten the top edges. Use your piece of wood to shape the pots by patting them, smooth the surface of the pots as much as you can.  2. Scratch into the top edges and wet with some water or slip (wet clay). Join the 2 thumb pots together, smoothing over the join so it can’t be seen.  3. Gently pull the clay upwards at one end to make a neck using your fingers, and make a tail shape at the other end, then cut it off square. Smooth the surface with a bit of water (not too much!) and your fingers.  4. Take some clay from the third ball of clay and make a head and beak, press this firmly onto the neck. Model and smooth, adding more clay if needed to make a nice shape.  5. Make a wedge shape about 2 cm x 1 cm for the mouthpiece of the whistle.  6. Wet the wider end of the wedge and stick it firmly on to the tail of the bird. Then take a popsicle stick and carefully push it right through the centre of the wedge into the body.  7. This is the hard bit! Take the popsicle stick with squared-off end and push it in underneath the body at an angle of 45 degrees towards the tail until it hits the first stick. Make an opening.  8. Take out the sticks, and clean up the opening very carefully with a pottery knife or tool, making the hole a bit larger. Blow through the mouthpiece and see if it whistles, if not, then push the sticks in again and make sure the edges of the clay are very clean and sharp.  9. Decorate the bird by drawing lines with the pencil and pressing into the clay with the wood and metal tools. Add some wings and feathers if you like! If you are using clay, leave your whistle to dry; then it can be fired and you can paint it with some bright colours.  |