[5][6] In that role, she emphasized the need for physical training and manual skills for all children,[7] declaring that "When a child is reared in such a manner that he considers physical labor menial and unbecoming, he has lost the power of correct judgment; he lives in an unreal world, where all things have fictitious values, and he begins to talk of the 'occupation' of owning money".

[13] She wrote against "the selfishness of men in public", citing excessive smoking, loud whistling, crowding, and other noisome behaviors.

[14] Books by Bayliss included In Brook and Bayou: or, Life in the Still Waters (1897),[15][16] Lolami in Tusayan (1903),[17] Two Little Algonkin Lads (1907),[18] The Little Cliff Dweller (1908),[19] Old Man Coyote (1908), Philippine Folk Tales (with Berton L. Maxfield, W. H. Millington, Fletcher Gardner, and Laura Estelle Watson Benedict),[20] A Treasury of Indian Tales,[21] and A Treasury of Eskimo Tales (1922).

[22] She also wrote about Illinois history for the Illinois State Historical Society,[23] about birds for The Auk,[24] about geography for the School News and Practical Educator,[25] and contributed to The Child-Study Monthly, which was edited by her husband.

Clara Kern Bayliss died in 1948, just before her 100th birthday, at a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.