At the end of autumn, when we start to feel the chill little by little, eating sweet, fluffy roasted sweet potatoes warms both the heart and body.
Many preschools and kindergartens probably include sweet potato digging or roasted sweet potato parties as autumn events.
So this time, we’re sharing plenty of craft ideas themed around roasted sweet potatoes.
Incorporate crafting before the sweet potato digging to spark children’s imaginations and build anticipation, or do crafts afterward to reflect on the event and deepen their interest.
If you time the activity for days when sweet potatoes are served at lunch or snack time, it can also support food education.
Try using these ideas in your childcare setting in a variety of fun ways.
Since we’re introducing ideas that make use of children’s free expression, we refer to them as “crafts” in the main text.
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For preschools and kindergartens! Ideas for making roasted sweet potatoes (1–10)
Piping hot roasted sweet potatoes
As the chill deepens day by day in autumn, you can’t help craving a warm, fluffy roasted sweet potato! While imagining a delicious yaki-imo, let’s make one with origami.
Use purple or reddish-purple paper and fold it into the shape of a sweet potato.
To convey that warm, just-roasted feeling, fold it as if the potato has been split open.
To do this, make sure some of the white side of the paper shows on the outside.
Once the shape is done, color the white part yellow to complete your roasted sweet potato.
You can also create it by making the skin and the inside as separate pieces.
Roasted sweet potato wrapped in kraft paper
A roasted sweet potato craft made of paper that even small children can enjoy easily.
You can use any kind of paper, such as construction paper or newspaper.
Put paint on a sponge roller and transform the paper into the color of a roasted sweet potato.
The key to making it easy is to paint first, before rolling it up.
After that, just crumple and shape it into a sweet potato and it’s done! Twist newspaper into thin vines, make leaves from construction paper, and decorate the wall with them together.
Even children who find it hard to hold a brush can paint easily with a roller, so it’s highly recommended!
Make-believe roasted sweet potato
Would you like to make a pretend roasted sweet potato with a three-dimensional finish that looks just like the real thing? Playing with handmade toys they’ve created themselves will make children’s pretend play even more fun.
First, color an envelope with crayons or paint.
Next, puff up the envelope and let it dry, then cut it in half.
Shape each piece into a cylinder, twist the ends, and secure them with tape.
Then wrap torn pieces of origami paper in yellow origami and attach them to the main body.
Combine the two parts and wrap them in aluminum foil, and you’ll have a roasted sweet potato so realistic it looks like it’s steaming.
Roasted sweet potatoes in crumpled aluminum foil
Here’s a craft idea that lets kids enjoy the crinkly feel of scrunching up aluminum foil while making roasted sweet potatoes! Wrap thick cardstock with yellow construction paper to create the potato, then cover it with purple construction paper.
Next, place the crumpled aluminum foil over the top, and when you tear the purple paper by hand—voilà, it’s done! This activity helps children develop fine motor skills and nurtures creativity.
Be careful not to crumple the foil too tightly, or it’ll be hard to spread out again.
Remember, mistakes are stepping stones to success, so teachers should watch over the process with a warm heart.
Sweet potato craft
Autumn sweet potato digging is one of the big events for children, isn’t it? Many kids look forward to digging up a big sweet potato! That said, for two-year-olds, digging up real potatoes is still a bit difficult.
So how about trying a sweet potato craft that lets them enjoy “potato digging” indoors? Cut cardboard into the shape of sweet potatoes, and have the children glue on long, single-cut strips of construction paper.
Finally, add some leaves, and your sweet potatoes are complete! Hide the potato part and let them enjoy a pretend potato-digging activity.
Clay sweet potato
These are miniature sweet potatoes made with resin clay.
First, knead in yellow acrylic paint to create the flesh.
For the skin, mix brown, red, and blue, then roll it out thinly with a cotton swab.
Next, wrap the flesh with the skin, add lines with a toothpick to create texture, and you’re done! For a halved sweet potato, cut the finished piece and rough up the cut surface with tweezers to recreate the fluffy, freshly roasted look.
It’s easy to make with resin clay and paint, but the result looks surprisingly authentic—give it a try!
Fluffy, warm roasted sweet potato
A room decoration featuring a delicious, fluffy baked sweet potato character.
Dye two coffee filters purple using paint and stick them together with double-sided tape to make the potato skin.
For the inside, crumple yellow flower paper into a ball and place it inside the taped coffee filters.
Draw a mouth with a pen, then prepare white round stickers, draw the eyes on them, and stick them on.
Finally, attach blue flower paper as arms, and it’s complete.
All the materials can be found at 100-yen shops, so give it a try!
