[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! Sweet Potato-Themed Games & Activities Summary (11–20)
Baked sweet potatoes, hey!
What kinds of foods do you want to eat in autumn? It’s the season when lots of delicious things like apples and grapes come out, but many kids will probably say “roasted sweet potatoes!” Some children may have tried roasting sweet potatoes for the first time with the ones they dug up during a potato-digging outing, while others have had the ones sold at the supermarket.
Hot, fluffy sweet potatoes eaten on a cold day are truly delicious.
This dance tune, “Yakiimo da Hoi!” is themed around roasted sweet potatoes.
It even has fun lyrics that kids are sure to love, like “What happens when you eat roasted sweet potatoes?” So be sure to listen and dance along!
Yakiimo goo-choki-pa
Let’s fully enjoy autumn with “Yakiimo Goo-Chokki-Paa”! By adding gestures that match the lyrics, children can naturally move their bodies while enjoying the music.
Since it uses the rock–paper–scissors hand shapes, kids can learn the rules as they play—that’s the key point.
With lyrics by Hiroo Sakata and music by Naosumi Yamamoto, this song is something caregivers can enjoy together, too.
Combine it with sweet potato digging for an extra autumn vibe! Let’s all sing and dance and make the most of the season.
Playing pretend potato digging
Digging up sweet potatoes is a fun activity for all ages and genders.
Let’s make a play set that lets you do it indoors.
Put about five newspaper-made “sweet potatoes” into a tissue box, then enjoy pulling them out.
It’s best if an adult cuts out the leaves and hands them out.
For the vines, use thick brown yarn; attach it securely to the newspaper potatoes wrapped in construction paper so it won’t come off.
You can make a single-person sweet potato digging set with a tissue box, but making lots of potatoes and putting them in a large container like a cardboard box for a group digging game would likely be even more exciting.
Little potatoes rolling
Let me introduce a sit-and-dance hand play with a catchy melody and fun sweet-potato-themed lyrics.
Because you can enjoy it while seated, it’s great not only for little children but also for older adults as a recreational activity.
Sweet potatoes are an autumn delicacy.
By doing the sweet potato dance in the fall, children can learn that sweet potatoes are an autumn vegetable.
It also helps everyone feel that autumn has truly arrived.
Before eating a sweet potato meal, try the sweet potato hand-play dance and enjoy the autumn flavors that bring color to the table.
Sweet potato stamp
Sweet potatoes aren’t just delicious to eat—you can also have fun turning them into stamps.
While boiling or baking makes sweet potatoes fluffy and tender, when they’re raw they’re nice and firm, making them perfect for stamp carving.
Since the material is a vegetable, it’s safe and reassuring for young children and older adults to handle, making it great for a fun recreational activity.
Depending on how you cut them, the cross-sections change, and you can create one-of-a-kind, unique original stamps.
Satsumaimon
When you think of autumn, many kids probably look forward to sweet potato digging, don’t they? It’s tough but fun to unearth sweet potatoes hidden in the soil.
Here’s a dance song called “Satsumai-mon” that will make potato digging even more exciting.
The choreography includes poses inspired by sweet potatoes and digging motions.
Why not build anticipation for the potato dig while enjoying the dance? Kids might even come up with their own original poses, saying, “Maybe the sweet potatoes are like this!”
[Childcare] Enjoy Autumn! Sweet Potato-Themed Games & Activities (21–30)
Sweet potato made with tissue paper
Festive paper flowers made from colorful paper brighten up events like sports days and school performances.
The material, called tissue paper, comes in many colors.
Thin and soft, the paper layers beautifully like petals when gathered together.
Using this tissue paper, let’s make a sweet potato, a classic autumn treat.
Peel back the purple skin to reveal a fun papercraft where a delicious-looking, vibrant yellow sweet potato pops out.
The sweet potato’s skin is made from tissue paper; by wrinkling it first and then tearing it by hand, we aim for a realistic texture.
Wrinkling and tearing are fun activities for children, too.
Finally, draw a face on the yellow sweet potato to finish.