Monday, October 18, 2010

Pumpkin Potato Stamps

The potato.
Your only necessary item for stamps.


Make the cut as clean as possible. Cut the ends off, too, so you can keep your tators in place while cutting your shapes.

The kids can draw or trace the design they want onto the potato.
Then -you- cut down into the lines they just drew. These cuts only need to be about a quarter-inch deep.
(I used a very sharp paring knife, and didn't want even the older kids to work on the cutting part.)

Next, slice from the side of the potato about a quarter of an inch deep towards your shape. Be careful to stop when the extra piece of potato is loose. Do not cut through your shape. The design should protrude out from the rest of the potato.

I had the little boys mix their own orange paint. You can dip the potato stamp into the paint, or paint it on. We prefer to paint it on, to keep the image from getting too drippy or clumpy. (you'll laugh later, I'm sure)


Press down on paper. Then I made a mistake.
I cut out bat stamps for the boys.

And gave them BLACK paint. My LittleLad took advantage of my trust.
Oh my. We're memory-building over here... right??





8 comments:

Laurel said...

Oh my! Do tell us how mama responded to little one covered in black paint???

Wendy said...

Honestly, I just let him keep at it, while I took pictures. ;) It's hard to get mad when I actually let them paint their arms for certain projects!-- like the fall tree that I plan to do after school today.
We laughed, took the paint away, and declared bath time. He needed a lot of rinsing!!

Unknown said...

Love it! I'm a creative homeschooling mama too! Our two are teens now, but we the early foundation in the arts is still with us. Pop over and see what we're up to sometime! I'm following you now! Oh, found you from Jimmie's blog!
Happy CREATIVE homeschooling~
Off to get MY coffee now!
Deb~

denise said...

the black paint is SOO funny! When it's not mine - ha! We'll have to try the stamps! thanks for sharing.

Allison Jones said...

This really took me back to my pre-school years. I remember carving into the potato with a sharp knife. Was someone watching? I guess I survived.

Thanks for taking me back.

Soaring High said...

bwhahahahaha!!!! I'm laughing because it's not my tub I have to scrub. I'll remember to keep them away from the black paint because that's exactly what mine would do.

Christie - Childhood 101 said...

You are a brave and tolerant mama :)

Love that creative ideas like potato printing are lasting through the generations.

LJ said...

You're a much braver mama than I am...but it did look like fun! :-)