![[Early Childhood Education] Enjoy Autumn! Play and Activity Ideas Inspired by Sweet Potatoes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vXoeVQAcjSI/sddefault.jpg)
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! A roundup of games and activities themed around sweet potatoes (1–10)
[Hand Play] Sweet Potato-Digging Bus
This is a hand game you can play as if you’re digging up sweet potatoes while riding the bus.
When you dig in the soil, you find all kinds of potatoes—big ones, thin ones, small ones, and more.
Because you can imagine the fun of a potato-digging outing while you play, it’s sure to be a hit with kids, teachers, and even parents and children together.
You can add call-and-response chants like “Heave-ho!” or include the names of different kinds of potatoes so everyone can enjoy it.
Try incorporating a variety of hand games to make your potato-digging time even more fun!
[Fingerplay] Sweet Potato Train
![[Fingerplay] Sweet Potato Train](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CBXw9Tp2mPk/sddefault.jpg)
“Oimo Densha,” sung by Baku, an active nursery teacher and creative play author.
The lyrics, which liken sweet potatoes to a train, are funny and adorable.
The “stations” include things like “bonfire,” “steamer,” and “oil,” which can also lead to learning moments like, “So that’s another way to eat them.” The onomatopoeia like “shoo-shoo” and “hoku-hoku” is fun, making it perfect for a class of four-year-olds.
With its slow melody and simple hand motions, it’s a song you can try right away.
Roasted Sweet Potato Search Game
@hoikusi1 How to Make a Roasted Sweet Potato Treasure Hunt Game: Craft Ideas for Preschool Teachers. We’ll clearly explain how to make a roasted sweet potato treasure hunt game through a video. It’s useful content that can serve as a craft idea for preschool teachers.ChildcareNursery teacher / Childcare worker#NurseryTeacher#FirstYearNurseryTeacher#Childcare Crafting#Nursery School Craft#Making PlayorigamiOrigamiOrigami playEarly childhood education materials#Childcare topicAspiring childcare workersolidworkTranslation#Yakiimo#Yakiimo
♪ Original Song – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers
A “Roasted Sweet Potato Hunt” game that’s fun to make and to play.
First, make the roasted sweet potatoes.
You’ll need newspaper, brown, purple, and yellow construction paper, aluminum foil, glue, and so on.
Start by crumpling the newspaper into the shape of a sweet potato.
Next, glue the colored paper over it and wrap it with aluminum foil.
Now you’ve got a fine roasted sweet potato.
Then tear newspaper into small pieces, put them in a box, and hide the potatoes inside.
You can have the children search for them, or split into groups of hiders and seekers—enjoy it with all kinds of ideas!
Roasted sweet potato kendama
@hoikuno_hondana ⋈—-⋈—-⋈—-⋈ Sweet Potato Kendama 🍠 I wonder if we can make delicious roasted sweet potatoes? In the end, it’s surreal but they say it’s cute 😂 ⋈—-⋈—-⋈—-⋈Bookshelf of ChildcareNursery teacher / Childcare workerKindergarten Teacher#Nursery schoolnursery school#KindergartenAfter-school childcareNursing care facilityNursery School PracticumKindergarten PracticumStudent TeachingChildcare student#NurseryTeacherMom#AtHomePlayProduction ideasworkProduction
♬ cute holiday songs(1424955) – Patricia
How about making a cute kendama inspired by roasted sweet potatoes? First, decorate a clear cup with colored cellophane and round stickers.
Next, crumple tissues into the shape of a sweet potato, wrap them with purple origami paper, and secure with cellophane tape.
Add eyes and a mouth to the sweet potato with round stickers to make it cute.
Then poke a hole in the bottom of the cup, thread a string through, secure it with cellophane tape, and connect it to the sweet potato.
Try it together with challenges like: “Can you get the potato into the cup?” and “How many times can you land it before the whistle goes beep?”
[Warabe-uta] Imohori Jiisan
![[Warabe-uta] Imohori Jiisan](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vi3AvZgvjHU/hqdefault.jpg)
This is a children’s hand-play song themed around sweet potatoes called “Imohori Jiisan” (Old Man Digging Potatoes).
It’s done in pairs, so have children partner up with each other, or a teacher can pair with a child.
One person extends a hand, and the other holds it.
In time with the song, gently stroke the extended palm as if digging in the soil, and pinch with your fingers.
Use your fingertips to “climb” up the arm like stairs, and finish with a little tickle.
The timing of the tickle is up to you—add a playful feint or two to delight the children.
Dig those potatoes—hooray!
A fun sweet potato digging song and dance that’s perfect for getting into the autumn spirit.
The lyrics trace the journey from planting sweet potato seedlings to the harvest, starting with tilling the fields and even mentioning the flowers and vines, so it could be a great way to talk about farmers’ hard work and observe the plant itself.
Everyone can sing the easy, catchy chorus, and dance to a light rhythm that blends everything from country music to Okinawan folk.
It would be lovely to finish by holding hands and forming a circle!
Association game of satsumai
@mitinoko Which association would be good?#Michinoko Nursery School#Nursery schoolNursery teacher / Childcare workerNursery school teacher#SweetPotatoPotato digging#🍠RecommendationWord Association GameHashtag Bazure
Satsumaimon – ichigo club
Sweet potatoes come in all sorts of shapes—it’s fun, isn’t it? After digging them up, try turning those different shapes into a game.
You could imagine them as birds or animals, show relationships like parent and child or twins, or see them as parts of the body.
Kids might come up with unique ideas that adults would never think of.
It could be exciting to have everyone strike a pose while announcing what shape they see.
After you’ve had your fill of fun, try drawing them, too!