[Early Childhood Education] Enjoy Autumn! Play and Activity Ideas Inspired by Sweet Potatoes
Many schools and daycare centers probably hold sweet potato digging as a regular autumn event.
Even though everyone gets covered in dirt, they work hard together to dig up the potatoes.
Those memories make you grow so attached to them that you almost don’t want to eat them! In this article, we’ll introduce play ideas related to potato digging—that is, to sweet potatoes! They’re perfect for soaking up the autumn mood, so be sure to include them in your recreational activities in September, October, and November.
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[Childcare] Enjoy Autumn! A roundup of games and activities themed around sweet potatoes (1–10)
[Puppet Theater] Mr. Sweet Potato’s Outing
![[Puppet Theater] Mr. Sweet Potato’s Outing](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ccl8GSQ43D8/sddefault.jpg)
The paper puppet show featuring Mr.
Sweet Potato is sure to delight the children.
With Mr.
Sweet Potato—an iconic autumn food—as the main character, he goes to meet his vegetable friends.
We’ll present clues as a quiz about which vegetable it is, and let the children guess.
By watching the main character, Mr.
Sweet Potato, in action, the children will likely become interested in a variety of vegetables.
It would also be exciting to transform the sweet potato paper puppet into different vegetables.
I hope this becomes a great opportunity for the children to take an interest in vegetables!
Dig up the sweet potatoes.
Singing songs about seasonal foods with children is so much fun, isn’t it? Let’s sing while rolling sweet potatoes made from cloth or newspaper, or holding them in our hands and blowing on them to cool them down.
The children can enjoy singing and moving as they expand their imaginations—digging them out of the soil and getting their hands dirty, rolling them around, or roasting them.
If the teacher uses big, expressive gestures, it will be easier for the children to understand and join in.
Please give it a try and have fun!
Roasted Sweet Potato Matching Cards
Using memory cards featuring sweet potatoes—a very popular autumn food—looks both engaging and a great way to spark interest in food.
Write the names of different sweet potato varieties on cards, place them face down, and whoever flips over two cards with the same name gets to keep them.
The player with the most cards wins.
Since sweet potatoes come in many colors, shapes, and flavors, playing this sweet potato memory game might turn you into a sweet potato expert.
It’s recommended to make the cards in whatever way is easiest, such as with illustrations or photos.
[Childcare] Enjoy Autumn! Sweet Potato-Themed Games & Activities Summary (11–20)
Sweet Potato Quiz
A delicious taste of autumn, sweet potatoes are warmly sweet and popular in both cooking and desserts.
They’re a familiar veggie that brightens up our everyday tables—but how much do you really know about sweet potatoes? For example, could you tell just from the leaves sticking out of the soil, “That’s a sweet potato!”? If you can identify sweet potatoes just by the leaves you see in the field, that’s something to brag about.
Answer lots of fun quizzes, and before you know it, you might become a sweet potato expert!
Potato Digging Song
How about incorporating the song “Imohori no Uta” (Sweet Potato Digging Song), which even little children can enjoy, into your autumn childcare activities? Sing about digging sweet potatoes to a slow melody and have fun with simple choreography.
Use both hands and the whole body to act out pulling the vines, digging hard, and showing big and small sweet potatoes.
Even if you don’t have real potatoes, you can use craft-made ones to create a sweet potato digging experience with this song.
It’s perfect for autumn, so be sure to enjoy it with the children.
Potato-Digging Rock ‘n’ Roll
In autumn, there are some days when the temperature is low, and some kids start to feel cold.
So why not warm up in a fun way with this dance song, “Imohori Rock ’n’ Roll”? It’s a lively, fast-paced tune that will surely make the children want to dance.
The choreography is simple—just mimic pulling up a sweet potato! There’s also a hand-play section that shows letting out a little fart after eating the potato, so even kids who aren’t good at dancing can enjoy it.
On chilly days, dance and sing to warm yourselves up from the inside!
Sweet Potato Exercise
Sweet potatoes are a familiar vegetable even little children know.
How about doing a fun exercise routine with a song themed around sweet potatoes? Even though it’s called an exercise, the rhythm is slow and relaxed, so the movements aren’t difficult.
The laid-back song and rhythm perfectly match the cozy image of sweet potatoes.
Hold hands with friends, teachers, or family and move your body to the music like a dance.
When sweet potatoes appear on the dinner table, you might remember the Sweet Potato Exercise and find yourself dancing without thinking!