[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.
- [Childcare] Creative ideas for making delicious sweet potatoes
- Indoor games and recreational activities recommended for daycare and kindergarten
- [Autumn Activities] Nature Play and Craft Ideas for Fall to Incorporate into Childcare!
- For preschools and kindergartens! Ideas for making roasted sweet potatoes
- [Childcare] For 2-year-olds! November craft activity ideas
- [October] Craft ideas for fall you can use in childcare
- Useful for childcare! Today’s recommended recreational activities, including fingerplay and games!
- Indoor games that different ages can enjoy! Ideas for fun everyone can get excited about together
- Get kids excited for September! A collection of ideas to enjoy autumn events and activities
- [Childcare] DIY Ideas for Circuit Play
- In October childcare, kids will be captivated! A collection of play ideas to fully enjoy autumn
- [Autumn] Seasonal play ideas to incorporate into childcare: Let’s connect with nature both outdoors and indoors
- Summary of activities you can use in childcare in September: autumn-themed play such as crafts and fingerplay.
[Childcare] Enjoy Autumn! Sweet Potato-Themed Games & Activities (21–30)
[Song] Debu Imo-chan, Chibi Imo-chan
![[Song] Debu Imo-chan, Chibi Imo-chan](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AtLRrw6T8MY/sddefault.jpg)
In November, many preschools and kindergartens probably hold sweet potato-digging events.
Let’s sing a fingerplay song about digging sweet potatoes.
This song, created by two renowned figures in the world of children’s songs, Michio Mado (lyrics) and Akira Yuyama (music), has a charming, evocative quality.
If your preschool or family is planning a potato-digging outing, we recommend trying this fingerplay beforehand.
It helps children learn that big and small sweet potatoes grow underground and that creatures like earthworms and moles live in the soil, and it will make them even more excited to go potato digging.
Christmas wreath made of vines
Sweet potatoes are popular for meals and snacks, and you can enjoy not only the tubers and their flesh but even the leaves and vines.
After having fun digging up the potatoes, why not use the leftover vines to make a Christmas wreath? Choose vines that are as straight as possible.
Right after harvesting from the field, they’re still fresh and contain moisture, so they feel a bit heavy.
Because they shrink as they dry, shape them into a wreath while keeping the final size and look in mind.
Once the formed wreath has dried, pick up dried flowers, ribbons, and other decorations from a 100-yen shop and decorate as you like.
Your long-lasting, handmade sweet potato vine Christmas wreath is complete.
[Childcare] Enjoy Autumn! Play and Activity Ideas Inspired by Sweet Potatoes (31–40)
Roasted sweet potatoes made with paper
This is a hyper-realistic sweet potato papercraft you can make using only newspaper and colored paper.
Adjust the finished size by changing how much newspaper you stuff inside.
By crumpling the newspaper, you can shape it as you like and make it look more realistic.
Once you’ve balled up the newspaper, cover it with yellow colored paper—this yellow part represents the sweet potato’s flesh.
Apply glue thoroughly to the back of the colored paper as you stick it on.
For the purple sweet potato skin, tearing origami paper by hand creates an even more lifelike effect.
Give this papercraft a try and capture the look and texture of roasted sweet potatoes, a classic autumn treat.
In conclusion
We introduced finger plays and recreational activities themed around sweet potatoes.
Hopefully you found plenty of ideas to enjoy both the appetites of autumn and the sports of autumn at the same time.
It was a collection of recreation ideas related to sweet potatoes—delicious to eat and fun to play with.
Be sure to give them a try!