» Lets work with potatoes! Nurture Our Child with Love and Patience: Importance of Nurturing Our Child in Their Early Childhood Development

Lets nurture our child’s creative development with potatoes! We can find potatoes easily at home. They are very low cost materials for a craft too. Before we begin any activity, lets talk about potatoes with our child. Some children tasted potato chips, french fries and potato soup but never see a real whole potato before! Therefore, show the child a real potato and let him feel it. Cut the potato into half and show him how it looks like. After that we can talk about the type of food made from potato that he has tasted before. If your child is learning phonics sound, we can introduce the sound “p” or reinforce his phonics memory of “p” sound.

As we know that our child has a lot of energy, so lets divert his energy in produce some potato printing crafts.

Materials

potato
Poster colors
painting papers
plastic mat or newspaper
wet cloth for wiping
apron

Step 1 : Cut the potato into half. On each half of the potatoes, carve some shapes on the surface using a knife. If you like your child to the carving himself (for children above 5 years old as their fine motor skills are stabled and controlled), you may use a butter knife! You may show him how to do it using one half of the potato and let him continue with the other half. Be careful while handling the knife!

Step 2 : Prepare other materials. Reinforce the child’s memory by inviting him to name the colors that you have chosen. Protect the table with a plastic table mat or newspaper.

Step 3 : Put on an apron for your child. Show him how to perform potato printing if this is the first time he’s doing it. Dip the carved potato in the poster color and then press it on the painting paper. Let your child make his own pattern of printing. Your child will be fascinated with the printing and pattern that he has produced.

Step 4 : A beautiful pattern made from potato printing by a 3 years old boy! Hang the paper to let it dry. Let the child continue the activity if he still wants to proceed. Replace a new painting paper! One of my child in school just refused to quit the activity. She was so engrossed into it and happy with her own work. This is one activity to build our child’s concentration and at the same time occupy him with useful activity.