Mood Monsters – Art Sparks

Create small clay creatures that embody different emotions—like joy, sadness, worry, or excitement.  

Students design a creature that shows what that feeling looks like in monster form. A great Social Emotional Learning crossover that encourages empathy, expression, and creativity. 

• Choose an emotion to express—think about how it feels in your body and how it might look as a creature (e.g., spiky anger, droopy sadness, energetic joy). 

• Sketch a quick design showing body shape, face, and texture. 

• Handbuild your Mood Monster using pinch, coil, or slab methods—body can be solid or hollow. 

• Add facial features and textures to show emotion—exaggerate the eyes, mouth, posture, etc. 

• Optional: Add accessories like horns, tails, teeth, or wings. 

• Bisque fire, then glaze using expressive colors and patterns that reflect your chosen emotion. 

Why Stroke & Coat Is Perfect for Mood Monsters

Mayco Stroke & Coat glazes are perfect for bright, bold colors that match emotions (e.g., SC-74 Hot Tamale for anger,  SC-11 Blue Yonder for calm,  SC-6 Sunkissed for happiness). These glazes offer excellent control for small features like eyes and mouths and they don’t run— great for keeping crisp details on small surfaces.