A staple in many cuisines around the world, potatoes are both inexpensive and delicious. They contain high levels of important vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, potassium, and iron. We could share some potato recipes with you, but where’s the fun in that?! Instead, we want to talk about…

Crafts With Potatoes

That’s right. Potato craft ideas, just in time for that last-month-of-summer when you’ve run out of all of your other activities to occupy the kids. Here are just a few things you can do with those extra tubers:

Potato Stamps

Create a stamp cut from a potato. Experiment with different combinations of shapes and colors to make personalized wrapping paper (brown craft paper works well for this project).

1. Cut a potato in half lengthwise
2. Press a metal cookie cutter into the flesh of one half.
3. Remove a thick slice of potato from around the cutter and remove the cutter, leaving the shape behind.
4. Blot the potato shape surface with paper towel.
5. Press the shape into craft paint and stamp onto paper.

Edible Play Dough

Homemade slime and kinetic sand are all the rage these days… why not try mash potato play dough for another unique sensory experience? (Though technically edible, we never promised it would taste good.)

1. Bake 5-6 potatoes and allow to cool.
2. Remove the skins.
3. Mash the potatoes. Let the kids to help!
4. Add around 3/4 cup of flour for every 1 cup of mashed potatoes. Add the flour gradually kneading the dough as you go. The more you knead the dough, the more malleable/less sticky it will become.
5. Add a few drops of food coloring as you knead to experiment with different colors.

Potato Head

Save yourself $20 and make your own “Mr. Potato Head”.

1. Buy the largest potato you can find. Bonus points if you can find one that looks like it has a nose!
2. Gather an assortment of items from around the house to build your potato (yogurt containers, plastic lids, tops of liquid dish soap bottles, thumbtacks, googly eyes, felt or fabric scraps, construction paper, chenille stems (pipe cleaners), pom-poms, etc).
3. Use a hot glue or glue stick to attach your materials to the potato.

Potato Experiment

Sprout a potato in your own kitchen. Let your kids monitor the progress and learn more about how food grows. Try an organic and traditional potato simultaneously to see if there are any differences.

1. Stick 3-4 toothpicks into a sweet potato (they make for prettier plants).
2. Put the sweet potato into a glass jar. The toothpicks should hold the potato a few inches away from the bottom of the jar.
3. Add enough water to the jar so that the bottom of the potato sits fully in the water.
4. Place the jar on a sunny windowsill.
5. Check the jar every day, adding water to keep the bottom of the potato wet.
6. You will start to see sprouts forming on the bottom of the potato (roots beginning to emerge). In about a week, you will see small leaves growing from the top. Keep the water level the same in the jar, so the sweet potato bottom stays wet. After 2-3 weeks, you will see several long vines with green leaves. You can continue watering your potato as usual in the jar or transplant it into a pot with soil. Your sweet potato will continue growing into a green, leafy houseplant!