The Pocket Potter Kit

A screen-free clay-making experience from Creative Gunning & Whistle & Page

The Pocket Potter Kit is a thoughtfully designed, hands-on clay experience created especially for the Creative Gunning community.

Developed by Whistle & Page, the kit brings the joy of working with clay into homes, classrooms, homeschooling spaces and family life, giving children the opportunity to make, experiment and create with their hands.

Through Creative Gunning, these kits are being offered at a heavily subsidised price of $30 per kit, making a genuine pottery experience accessible to more local children and families.

This is not about producing a perfect pot or following a set of rules to create an identical finished piece. It is about getting your hands into clay, trying something new, figuring things out as you go and discovering what you can make.

A little clay, a few tools and some time together can go a surprisingly long way.

Who is The Pocket Potter Kit for?

The Pocket Potter Kit has been designed primarily for children and families and is suitable for:

• Children approximately 5+ years old (younger children may need additional adult support)

• Families wanting a screen-free creative activity

• Homeschooling families looking for hands-on Creative Arts learning

• Children who enjoy tactile and sensory experiences

• Parents, carers and grandparents wanting to make alongside children

• Families looking for an activity that encourages creativity, concentration and conversation

• Children who enjoy experimenting rather than being told there is only one right way to do something

The kit can be used as part of homeschooling, during school holidays, on a rainy afternoon or simply when everyone needs something to do that doesn't involve another screen.

What is inside the kit?

Each Pocket Potter Kit contains everything needed to get started with your clay projects.

Each kit includes:

• 1kg of mid-fire stoneware clay

• A beginner clay tool set with essential tools for shaping, carving and decorating

• A reusable fabric work surface

• A reusable thick plastic to protect your clay and clay creations from drying out

• A simple rolling pin that’s easy to use

• Step-by-step project instruction cards

• Optional QR codes linking to guided video demonstrations

The printed instructions mean the kit can be completed entirely screen-free.

The videos are there if you would like some extra guidance, but you don't need to watch anything to enjoy the experience.

Stoneware clay

The Pocket Potter Kit uses stoneware clay, the same type of kiln-fired clay used in professional pottery studios.

Unlike air-dry clay, stoneware needs to be fired in a kiln to become a durable ceramic piece. This gives children the opportunity to experience real pottery from beginning to end: making something from clay, seeing it transform through firing and eventually having a finished ceramic object to keep.

The clay is suitable for handbuilding projects and encourages children to explore different ways of shaping, joining, carving and decorating.

For simpler, less fragile decorative pieces, there is also the option to let the clay dry naturally and decorate it with acrylic paint once completely dry. These pieces are intended for decorative use only and will remain more fragile than kiln-fired ceramics.

If you would like your creations to become durable ceramic pieces, they will need to go through the kiln-firing process. Because this is real pottery clay, there is an additional firing process after making.

What happens after you've made your pieces?

Once your creations are finished, they need to dry completely before they can be fired.

Stoneware pieces are generally fired twice:

1. Bisque firing
The first firing hardens the clay and prepares it for glazing.

2. Glaze firing
A second firing melts the glaze onto the surface and transforms the piece into finished ceramic.

Firing is not included in the $30 Pocket Potter Kit.

Families who would like their pieces fired will need to arrange kiln firing separately. Local pottery studios may offer community firing services, although pricing, kiln availability and acceptance of outside work vary between studios.

Please do not put stoneware pieces in a domestic oven. Pottery clay requires a specialist kiln capable of reaching the appropriate firing temperature.

Information about local firing options and any Creative Gunning-specific firing opportunities will be provided separately where available.

How it supports creative learning

The Pocket Potter Kit is particularly well suited to hands-on learning because clay naturally encourages children to learn by doing.

Making with clay can support:

• Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination

• Creative problem-solving

• Concentration and sustained attention

• Spatial awareness

• Confidence through experimentation

• Sensory exploration

• Patience and persistence

• Open-ended creative thinking

• Following instructions while still making independent choices

Clay doesn't care whether you think you're artistic. You can start with an idea, change your mind halfway through, accidentally make something completely different and still end up with something worth keeping.

How it works

Choose a project from your instruction cards, prepare your work surface and begin.

You can follow the suggested steps, use the tools to experiment with texture and shape, or let your child take the project in an entirely different direction.

There is no expectation that everyone's finished piece will look the same.

The instructions provide a starting point, not a test.

The QR codes provide optional video guidance for families who would like to see the techniques demonstrated, but the kit has been intentionally designed so that children can make without needing a screen.

A little note about the making process

Clay is wonderfully unpredictable. It can crack. It can warp. Something that looked like a brilliant idea at the beginning might turn into something completely different by the end. That is part of learning to work with clay. Children are encouraged to notice what happens, make adjustments and keep experimenting rather than worrying about getting everything right the first time. The aim isn't perfection. The aim is to make something that didn't exist before.

Why Creative Gunning and Whistle & Page created this opportunity

Creative Gunning exists to create opportunities for people in the community to experience creativity, connection and new ideas close to home. The Pocket Potter Kit extends that idea beyond a workshop or a single afternoon. It gives children the chance to take creativity home with them and continue making in their own time, with their family, carers or friends.

For Whistle & Page, this is also about making pottery feel accessible.

Real clay can seem like something that belongs in a specialist studio, but children don't need expensive equipment or years of experience to begin. They need some clay, a few simple tools, encouragement and permission to have a go.

With Creative Gunning's support, these kits are offered at $30 per pack, well below their usual value, so more local children and families can experience working with real stoneware clay.

$30 per Pocket Potter Kit

One kit. One kilogram of stoneware clay. Plenty of possibilities.

Made by Whistle & Page.
Supported by Creative Gunning.
Created for curious hands.