[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!
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[Childcare] Creative craft ideas with delicious sweet potatoes (11–20)
Paper-cup sweet potato
With paper cups, origami, and felt, you can make a “paper cup sweet potato.” Tear origami paper in colors that look like a sweet potato’s skin—such as purple or brown—and glue the pieces onto two paper cups.
Next, draw a face in the middle of a piece of yellow felt, crumple it into a ball to make the filling, and place it inside so the face shows.
Cover it from the top and bottom with the paper cups, and secure them with glue or tape.
Finally, close the cups completely so the face is hidden, and you’re done.
When you split open the sweet potato with a pop, the face will spring out.
Wool felt sweet potato
The warm, cozy texture of wool felt is perfect for the chilly autumn and winter seasons.
Let’s try making sweet potatoes—one of autumn’s seasonal delights—using wool felt that gives you a snug, comforting feel.
Wool felting is a craft technique where you shape felt by repeatedly poking it with a needle, and its fluffy texture is safe and reassuring even for small children.
A single piece is cute on its own, and making several to scatter around looks adorable too.
You can turn them into brooches, attach them to hats or clothing—there are so many fun ways to enjoy wool felt sweet potatoes.
Give it a try yourself!
Make-believe roasted sweet potato
Would you like to make a pretend roasted sweet potato that looks three-dimensional, just like the real thing? Playing with handmade toys they’ve created themselves will make children’s pretend play even more fun.
First, color an envelope with crayons or paint.
Next, puff up the envelope and let it dry, then cut it in half.
Shape each piece into a cylinder, twist the ends, and secure them with tape.
Then, wrap torn pieces of origami paper with yellow origami and attach it to the main body.
Combine the two parts, wrap them in aluminum foil, and you’ll have a roasted sweet potato that looks like it’s steaming.
Sweet potato stamp
Potato stamps you can use for message cards and New Year’s postcards.
Make them with a halved sweet potato and an illustration drawn on paper.
Place the illustration over the cut surface of the sweet potato and trace it with a pen.
Next, carve along the lines with a carving knife to finish.
Please have a teacher or adult help with this step.
Brush paint onto the stamp surface and press it like a stamp to print the illustration.
Try making stamps of autumn-themed foods or characters!
fluffy, warm roasted sweet potato
A cozy, delicious roasted sweet potato character room decoration.
Dye two coffee filters purple with paint and stick them together with double-sided tape to make the sweet potato skin.
For the inside, crumple yellow flower paper into a ball and place it inside the taped coffee filters.
Draw a mouth with a pen, then prepare white round stickers, draw the eyes on them, and stick them on.
Finally, attach blue flower paper as arms, and it’s done.
All the materials are available at 100-yen shops, so give it a try!
Munch-Munch Sweet Potato
This is an item that lets you enjoy watching an animal open and close its mouth to munch on a sweet potato.
You’ll make each part in order, so please have the teacher assist with any tricky steps.
First, attach a chopstick to a cut milk carton and stick on the illustrations for the body and mouth.
Next, draw the animal’s eyes and nose on a circular piece of paper, attach the ear parts, and stick this to the end of the chopstick.
Then, attach the sweet potato and hand parts to a pipe cleaner; curve it up from underneath the body so the sweet potato reaches the mouth, and you’re done.
You can play just by moving the chopstick up and down, so children can take part with confidence.
[Childcare] Tasty Sweet Potato Craft Ideas (21–30)
Cute, freshly baked sweet potato
Let’s fold an autumn treat—sweet potatoes—using a single sheet of origami paper.
As you fold, be sure to make crisp creases.
By freely adjusting the angles, each person’s sweet potato will have its own unique shape, making it even more fun when you finish.
For the white areas, it’s recommended to add color using crayons or paint.
Fold in the corners to give your sweet potato a plump, rounded shape.
It could be fun to display them on an autumn-themed wall, or put them in a basket or bag and use them for pretend shopping play.
