Fine Motor
Literacy & ABCsToddlersPreschoolers8 Comments
If your kids are into Mr. Potato Head, or maybe they don’t have one, then making this potato craft is fantastic! It’s a great way to get kids talking and increasing their vocabulary! I am in love with this creation shared by a fellow huddler, Lena! (Join us in the Huddle!)
Olivia has never really taken the initiative to engage in anything before without being shown or prompted first.
So when Olivia came over one evening looking very interested in the potatoes that I was about to prepare for dinner, I was intrigued! She motioned to ask if she could have one, so I let her (she is 2.5 years old but doesn’t say much yet).
I followed her around without interfering just to see what she wanted to do with this potato.
At first, she enjoyed smelling it, but then she started talking to it and carrying it around for a longer period of time.
I asked her if we should give it some eyes so that she could better see it. We put some googly eyes on and drew on a face. Actually, we drew two faces, one on either side.
This way she could make up one side herself, and I drew a simple face on the other, that way she could choose which one she wanted to look at. (You could also draw two different moods; a happy face and a sad or angry face.)
We then took some matches (with the match head removed) to use for arms and legs sticking out each side of the potato. Or you could use toothpicks. We added buttons on the ends for hands and one for a hat, to make this potato craft into a potato man figure.
The buttons had holes that were just big enough to press the end of the match into one of them.
We glued pom poms on the hands and the hat for fun.
After Olivia had broken off the legs a few times by bouncing him too hard, I ended up cutting off the bottom bit of the potato, so it had a flat piece on which it could sit flat on a surface to ‘stand’ upright.
Suddenly this potato craft turned into a potato man!
Olivia approved of the potato craft man and took it around with her everywhere she went.
She started telling it about the alphabet.
She sang to it.
She jumped with it and took it through her obstacle course.
Grab a free week to learn any letter using hands-on activities.
This turned out to be a great thing to get her to speak and use more words.
It was so great to see as she has never shown any interest in that before.
When your child is done playing with their potato craft, you can turn it into potato art and do some potato drop painting, or shake art!
Just be aware that this has small parts that can fall off, so never leave your child unattended.
Craft supply ideas to make your potato craft man:
- a big potato
- toothpicks or matchsticks
- pipe cleaners
- googly eyes
- markers
- pom poms
- buttons
- craft sticks
- construction paper (make different mouth shapes to change out to different moods)
- glue
Find 6 more ways to increase your child’s vocabulary through play.
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Joann Durham says
It looks so cute. I really love it which is intereting.
Jenny @ eatsleepandplay says
What a fantastic idea! layla is always pulling the onions and potatoes out of the cabinet- I think we’ll stay away from a mr onion man though ha!!
Helen @ Witty Hoots says
Simple, fun and does not cost lots of money – a brilliant post, thank you for sharing it on Frugal Family Linky this week!
Su {Ethan & Evelyn} says
I love this! Such a good idea and very easy to follow for he kids to make. #pintorials
Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says
What a great idea to buy yourself some time to make dinner. Thanks for posting. Hello from Family Fun Friday.
Kim says
I love how creative you can get with this activity and really personalizing it. I hope you will come by Made for Kids and link it up.