Grateful for Fun!!!

Traditionally celebrated the second Monday of October, Canadian Thanksgiving includes wild displays of colourful turkey art on elementary school walls. Shades of orange, red, brown and green fill our classrooms where creative minds glue autumn leaves to paper rolls, and vibrant feathers to paper plates. There’s skill and pride in pumpkin carving. Reputations are at stake and communities come together to praise the artistic creations of our neighbourhood champions. Leave it to your imagination. Thanksgiving season is fun!

My friend April also reminded me of homemade potato stamps she made as a child. A classic Thanksgiving activity, potato prints using potatoes are a great craft activity to share with kids.

Tips: If you are too young to handle a small kitchen knife, ask someone older to cut the patterns into the potato for you. Cut simple stars and primary shapes, then experiment with more detailed designs. Use a separate potato stamp for each bold colour, unless you want the colours to mix. Create new stamps for that special occasion when a personalized card is the perfect gift.

You will need: Paper or fabric, a few potatoes, metal cookie cutters, small kitchen knife, paper towel, a sponge to dab off excess paint, acrylic or fabric paint to dip the potatoes in.

Step 1: Cut potato in half

Step 2: Have kids push cookie cutter into the potato

Step 3: Adults cut around potato about 1 inch down from the top (almost to the bottom of the cookie cutter

Step 4: Pull out cookie cutter (the shape should be sticking out from the potato), clean up sides with the knife

Step 5: Stamp potato into paint or ink and create!