As an educator working closely with children who have diverse learning needs, I’ve learned that concepts become clearer when students can touch, shape, and experience them. One of the most successful lessons I’ve conducted was teaching fractions through clay modelling — a simple yet powerful tool that transformed confusion into clarity.
The Cognitive Connection
Children with learning difficulties often struggle with abstract ideas because their cognitive processing is more concrete. Fractions, for instance, can feel like invisible numbers until they are seen and felt.
Clay provides a tactile and visual bridge — it activates multiple areas of the brain at once: sensory, motor, and conceptual. This multi-sensory approach enhances cognitive understanding and retention, helping students link symbols (½, ¼) with real, physical experiences.
How We Did It
We began with colorful clay balls. Each student rolled, flattened, and then divided their clay into halves, quarters, and thirds.
When a student cut the clay circle into two parts, they could see and feel “one-half.”
When we combined pieces again, they grasped how fractions make a whole.
The room was filled with excitement — students who previously avoided maths were suddenly leading the activity, eager to show their “pizza fractions” to their peers. The lesson naturally invited discussion, reasoning, and collaboration.
Why It Works
For children with learning disabilities, hands-on engagement builds both confidence and comprehension.
Clay modelling:
Strengthens fine motor coordination, aiding focus and control.
Encourages visual-spatial reasoning, crucial for mathematical thinking.
Reduces anxiety around “getting it wrong” — because clay can always be reshaped.
Supports memory formation through tactile feedback — students remember what they did more than what they heard.
Reflections
That day, I saw how learning support isn’t about simplifying content — it’s about amplifying experience. Every child deserves a pathway that matches how their mind learns best. Clay modelling reminded me that understanding begins in the hands before it reaches the head.
Conclusion
Integrating sensory-rich activities like clay modelling into mathematics can be a powerful way to reach students with cognitive and learning challenges. It nurtures curiosity, strengthens conceptual understanding, and builds emotional connection to learning.
As educators and LSAs, our creativity is often the bridge between confusion and comprehension. Sometimes, all it takes is a ball of clay to shape both concepts — and confidence.