If your kids are into Mr. Potato Head, or maybe they don’t have one, making this homemade potato man is fantastic! What a great way to get kids talking and increasing their vocabulary! I am in love with this creation from a fellow huddler, Lena! (Join us in the Huddle!)
Olivia has never really taken the initiative to engage in anything before without being shown or prompted first.
So when Olivia came over one evening looking very interested at the spuds, I was about to prepare for dinner, I was intrigued! She motioned to ask if she could have one, so I let her (she is 2.5 years, but doesn’t say much yet).
I followed her around without interfering just to see what she wanted to do with it.
At first, she enjoyed smelling it, but then she started talking to it and carrying it around for a longer period of time.
I asked her if we should give it some eyes, then she could better see it. So we put some googly eyes on and drew on a face. We actually drew two faces, one on either side.
This way she could make up one side herself, and I drew a simple face on the other, that way she could choose herself which one she wanted to look at.
You could also draw two different moods.
We then took some matches (with the match head removed, or use toothpicks) and added buttons on the ends for hands and one for a hat.
The buttons had holes that were just big enough to press the end of the match into one of them.
We glued a few pom poms on the hands and the hat for fun.
After Olivia had broken off the legs a few times by bouncing him too hard, I ended up cutting off the bottom bit of the potato, so it had a flat piece on which it could stand. Seemed easier than trying to balance on legs.
Suddenly we had ourselves a potato man!
I’m sure there are more sturdy options out there for these things, but this was what I could come up with on the spot.
Olivia approved straight away, and took it around with her everywhere she went. She started telling it about the alphabet, she sang to it, jumped with it and took it through her obstacle course.
Find 6 more ways to increase your child’s vocabulary through play
This turned out to be a great thing to get her speaking – and just speak without thinking about anything else. It was so great to see as she has never shown any interest in that before.
Just be aware that this has small parts that can fall off, so never leave your child unattended.
Make Your Very Own Homemade Potato Man on handsonaswegrow.com
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