Pinecrest Gardens At Home Activity: Potato Stamps & Prints

From Pinecrest Gardens:

September 24, 2020

Today I'll show you in just 4 steps how you can make stamps from veggies laying around your house!

This week of rain brought what felt like a precursor to fall weather. We had a few windy, slightly cooler days in Miami, and because of that I maybe prematurely pulled out all of my Halloween decorations and fall scented candles. We need something to look forward to this year....right?!

Step 1: choose your veggie and cut accordingly

As I was digging through my things, I found some old artwork from last season's
little lizards fall program where we did an activity with plant-based stamps.
It was a great reminder that these stamps are easy to make at home, and a
fun way to welcome fall.

If you are not quite ready to carve pumpkins, but need something to do
in the meantime to shake that creative kick, I've got something for you! Making plant-based
stamps is a perfect way to teach about different plant parts, and of course the
way that we use plants. Root veggies make great stamps, but you can also try
with leaf, stem and even flowers!

Veggie Stamps & Prints:

Materials
- Paper or fabric to stamp on

- A few potatoes (whatever you have)

- Metal cookie cutters

- A carving or paring knife (not for the littles!)

- Paper towels

- Paint brush, roller, or sponge
applicator

- Craft, acrylic or fabric paint

- Patience and a steady hand for
carving (parents, I'm counting on you for this part)

Step 2: Simple cookie cutters work great!

What I love about this activity is
that its very interchangeable. You can use any materials on hand and
this will still be a fun, hands on adventure.

Here's how its done:

At the bottom, find a quick
how-to-video from What's up Moms.

1. Cut the potato in half, press the cookie cuter of your
choice into the center of the potato firmly until secure. With the cookie
cutter still in the potato, you can carve a about 1/4 an inch off of the edges
of the potato, so that the part inside of the cookie cutter is left in tact.
You'll want to use a sharp knife for this part. After carving, the design will
be left as a raised surface on your potato.

2. Using the paper towel, gently sponge off the cut part of the
potato, so that it is dry. If you have time, you can leave the potato to air
dry, too. Note, this step is crucial, because a wet potato will prevent the
paint from adhering properly!

3. Apply
the paint with a paintbrush onto your potato. Using a paintbrush will allow for
multiple colors on your design without mixing. Be mindful how much paint you
apply, because if there is too much paint, it could slip when you go to stamp
it.

4. Start stamping! I recommend doing 1 or 2 trial
stamps before stamping on your final design. This ensures the paint is applied
evenly. You should get many stamps out of the potato before you need to
reapply paint. Also, if you want to change colors on your stamp or start over,
just rinse your potato off with clean water and use again!

Step 3: Apply PaintMake as many potato stamps as you like. If
you don't have cookie cutters on hand or don't feel like carving, you can still
use potato as stamps! All you have to do is cut the potato in half, and you've
got a circle, and in quarters, you've got a wedge shape. Use these shapes
to make scenes or pictures. For examples, a circle 1/2 potato can become a sun,
a pumpkin, a piece of candy, an apple, the body of an animal, a face, etc!
A quarter of a potato (the wedge shape) can become a watermelon slice, ears on
an animal, or even a body. Get creative!Step 4: Stamp!

Have other veggies in your house?
try cutting the stalks off of your celery and using the base as a stamp. They
make lovely flowers, or fish scales. Apples, heads of lettuce, even radish make
great stamps too! When you're done with your veggie stamps, simply rinse them
off and add them to your compost pile- just make sure there's no paint left.

Here's a great video tutorial from What's up Moms on
potato stamping!

Not keen on Halloween? Try fall stamps like these leaves from Say Yes:Share your creations with us by tagging us on Facebook or Instagram. I'd love to see what you come up with! Happy Digging!

This press release was produced by the Pinecrest Gardens. The views expressed are the author's own.