![[Childcare] Creative ideas for making delicious sweet potatoes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jTtnLJRl2jM/sddefault.jpg)
[Childcare] Creative ideas for making delicious sweet potatoes
When the weather turns chilly in autumn, nothing hits the spot like a fluffy, freshly baked sweet potato!
Some of your children might even be going sweet potato digging on preschool or kindergarten outings.
Why not preserve the memory of those delicious sweet potatoes—and the ones your child worked hard to dig up with friends—as a single creation?
In this article, we’ll introduce sweet potato craft ideas for kids.
Most can be made easily with everyday materials, and they’re all simple to try—perfect for creating a memento of autumn!
[Childcare] Tasty Sweet Potato Craft Ideas (1–10)
Torn-paper collage sweet potato
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMU-wPNDNVa/This is a torn-paper sweet potato craft that even preschoolers can try.
Use colored construction paper or origami in red, purple, brown, and other shades to make it.
For children, it can be hard to tear the paper as-is, so first crumple the construction paper or origami to add wrinkles and soften it—this makes it easier for little ones to tear.
They can enjoy that step too.
Basically, you paste the torn pieces onto a template with a sweet potato shape drawn on it, but if you use a base that makes the sweet potato three-dimensional—such as one built up with newspaper—you can enjoy the texture, and it will also look more impressive when displayed.
Resist painting sweet potatoes
https://www.instagram.com/p/CiPmbgPpe-p/A uniquely colored sweet potato drawn by combining crayons and watercolor paint.
Many people often draw with crayons, but adding paint gives it a fresh new feel.
Since the paint repels the crayon, the crayon-drawn parts stand out more—that’s the key point.
It’s fun to see the difference in atmosphere created by using the two tools, and the distinctive look of the paint resisting the crayon makes the process itself enjoyable.
It might also be interesting to decorate with origami, and so on, to express that the sweet potato grows underground.
newspaper sweet potato
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cih6choplx4/Let’s make sweet potatoes by coloring rolled-up newspaper with paint! You can choose any size and shape you like, so it’s a very flexible craft.
Since rolled newspaper tends to spring back, securing the thin tip with tape will make it look more like a sweet potato.
Just be careful not to use too much tape because paint won’t adhere well to it.
In addition to the sweet potatoes, try making vines with green plastic cord and leaves with construction paper, then connect them together.
Once you’re finished, everyone can enjoy a pretend sweet potato digging game!
Pop-up roasted sweet potato
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjsV-KdrYnD/Let’s make a fun toy where a roasted sweet potato pops out like a jack-in-the-box! Prepare two paper cups.
On one cup, draw a campfire; on the other, draw a delicious-looking roasted sweet potato, or make them with origami and paste them on.
Attach a string to the bottom of the roasted sweet potato cup, thread that string through a hole you’ve made in the campfire cup, and place the sweet potato cup inside the campfire cup—that’s it! When you pull the string, the roasted sweet potato jumps out from the campfire!
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!
Sweet potato painted with a tampo (stamp/dauber)
Let’s try painting delicious sweet potatoes using a tampo made with gauze and cotton! A tampo is made by putting cotton or a sponge inside gauze.
Dip it in paint and dab it onto paper to create your picture.
Unlike drawings made with crayons or paintbrushes, the dabbing motion is a fun, engaging point for children! The colors come out soft and fluffy, so it’s easy to make a piping-hot baked sweet potato.
It’s also great fun to dab boldly and create a big sweet potato! Be sure to try using a tampo to enjoy painting autumn’s tasty sweet potatoes.
Wall decoration: sweet potato
This is a decoration that depicts pulling long vines to lift sweet potatoes out of the ground.
Roll red-purple origami to make the sweet potatoes, and use green origami to create the vines and leaves.
The inside of the sweet potatoes is made by crumpling scrap paper.
The key to making them look appetizing is to pack the paper tightly with a sense of density.
Adding firm wrinkles to the paper also helps express the soft look of the vegetable.
Make the vines thin and the sweet potatoes large, and differentiate the colors from the person doing the digging; this will create a design that emphasizes the sweet potatoes.