Thrifty Kids Thursday: How To Make Potato Stamps

We are going to start featuring a new post here on The Thrifty Couple on Thursdays called Thrifty Kids Thursday.

There are many ideas that we have for fun, thrifty, homemade, or cheaply purchased projects for your little kiddos to express their imaginations and fun without breaking the bank.  There will be quite a range of ideas shared from activities, crafts, food ideas, and more!

So for the first week……. How To Make Potato Stamps!

Our kids love to paint and do art projects – love, love, love it! In fact, most kids we have met or been around love to get their hands and right brains into anything!

One thing that is fun to do, is find different ways of creating those art projects. So potato stamps were our latest try.  It is easy and cheap to make!

To make potato stamps, you will need:

• 1-4 potatoes or more each potato makes 2 stamps, so you decide!
• Non-toxic washable tempera paint (we stock up when we find them on clearance, but Walmart or a craft store like Michael’s with the 40% off coupon in the newspaper is an affordable way to go!)
• Paper or newsprint – we highly suggest newsprint and cover the entire painting surface with paper! You can pick up the ends of newsprint from your local newspaper for CHEAP.

Steps To Make:

• Wash and dry the potatoes. Then cut them in half with as much of a straight cut as possible.
• Then,  using a paring knife, “draw” the shape into the potato flesh with the tip of the knife.

• Then dig along deeper into the initial pattern that you drew with the knife to where it is about 1/4 or more inch deep.
• Then along the outside edge, cut off a slice, ending and the design in the middle and rotating your knife around the design. Then a ring with a design in the middle should pop right off.

• You may have a few edging to clean up, but then you are good to go on the stamping!

Here are the 4 stamps we made! Heart, Zig Zag, Rectangle, and Diamond.

• Stick the potato stamp into the paint and stamp your paper or newsprint

A Few Tips:

• Be sure you are using washable non-toxic tempera paint, especially with kids and especially for mess clean-up! We also have old t-shirts that we use for the kids to wear.  We just let the paint dry on it and they wear them over and over.
• Use softer potatoes that are beginning to turn.  It is a great way to use them before throwing them out and the softer flesh is easier to cut!
• Do not carve your potatoes until right before you start stamping as they will go brown after a bit.  Our kids think it is “gross” when they do that!