Well, yes, St. Patrick’s day is upon us and is there anything more Irish than potatoes? Follow up question: is there an easier craft than potato stamps? We’re advocates for easy crafts for kids because who wants to follow a thousand instructions?
You’ll Need
- Potatoes – pick a couple that are on their way out (you know, dying…)
- A sharp-ish knife, pen knife, or exact-o knife or a cookie cutter
- A pen
- Paint in a variety of colors
Directions
- Wash the potatoes to get off any dirt off, remember that each potato will make two stamps, so keep this in mind when you are deciding how many to use.
- Cut each potato in half and make sure you make the cleanest cut possible, since any nicks in the cut now will be apparent when you stamp it later.
- Draw the the design you want as your stamp onto the potato and remember to try and keep it simple because you’ll be the one cutting it out later.
- Cut around the shape you just drew or traced about quarter-inch deep or use a cookie cutter in your desired shape.
- 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 shape should protrude out from the rest of the potato.
- Pour the desired paint into a shallow dish. Use different paints according to the project.
- Dip the potato stamp into the paint and start stamping!
- You can reuse the stamps for the duration of your craft but wash it between colors. You won’t want to keep it for more than a day because, you’re playing with food! Remember?
And just in case my directions weren’t as clear cut (get it? A potato cutting joke…) There is a visual tutorial below:
