Sep 15

Sep 15 Crafty spuds, two ways

art, craft, pre-schoolers, shapes, vegetables

Is there a more versatile veg than the spud? Humble, earthy and honest, it’s a super tuber that has earned its place in most pantries by being a reliable and cheap addition to many meals. An ancient native of South America, we tend to identify it with the Celtic tradition. Maybe it’s the Irish in me, but in our house you’ll always find a big bag of spuds stored in our darkest cupboard, and my tribe love them - baked or boiled, roasted or mashed, chunked in a curry, crispy as chips, or smooshed into soup.

Thankfully potatoes have some pretty solid nutritional credentials, and can proudly boast healthy levels of potassium, iron, vitamins B and C, protein and fibre. And if all that goodness isn’t enough, the good old spud is also flexible enough to help out with some creative fun for kids.

Here are two easy ways to get crafty with spuds:

Potato prints

Printmaking is simply a way of making a repeated image, usually by adding inks to a surface. Soooo, what if that surface was made from a cut potato?

Potato printing is a type of relief printing, that means you cut away the background. Think lino printing, but much simpler - basically you’re making a potato stamp.

Here’s how it’s done with children:

Grab a potato, a knife, cookie cutter, paper towel, paint, paintbrush and paper to print on. Choose a potato of a size that fits your child’s hand and is easy for them to grip – with paint on these can be slippery little critters!
Safety comes first, so this cutting part is a job for a grown-up. Slice the potato in half (long-ways or across the middle depending on what shape suits).
You could print the flat cut surface now to make a simple oval shape, or you can cut parts away to make another shape. Remember that any parts you slice away won’t appear in the print, as it’s the raised or ‘sticking out’ parts that create your design.
Potatoes are usually soft enough to press metal cookie cutters into, so that can also be a fun way to make shapes (see the red stars in my pic above). Use a cookie cutter that fits within the surface of your potato, then press it into the potato flesh and leave it there while you use a knife to cut away the excess around the cookie cutter.
When your shapes are ready to print get the kids to pat them with paper towel to remove some moisture (this will help the paint stick).
Apply paint to the printing surface with a paintbrush (you’ll find this easier than dipping the potato into paint as the potato can become stuck and be tricky to lift).
Once coated with paint, the kids can press each potato stamp firmly onto paper. Lift, re-coat with paint and repeat.

Printmaking is not an exact science, and prints are rarely perfect. As with all kids crafts, don’t get too fussed by the neatness of the end product - the value is definitely in the process. This process makes awesome gift wrapping paper, and looks cool on cards and gift bags. But the very best outcome is to have some creative fun together.

This cleanly cut surface will print an oval shape.

Printed shapes can be used to start drawings.

Cut areas away to make a shape of your choice.

Spud buddy

With the addition of a few bits and pieces, your child can transform a potato into a quirky character. Let them use a texta to draw on a funny face and offer sticky tape and paper to inspire some creative clothing. Limbs are easily made using materials that can be poked into the potato, like twigs, matchsticks or toothpicks. Before you know it they’ll have a walking talking spud buddy (well, to be honest… that walking and talking bit may be up to you! Got any funny voices in your repertoire?).

Have fun!