Toddler Craft - Potato Stamp Art

Yesterday was just one of those days.  Try as I might, I just could not get ahead.  Someone needed something at any given point in time.  Little Smiling Man surprised me and took his main nap in the morning instead of the afternoon, and so he was just ready to get up as Mini Muffin was going down for her nap, so there wasn't even a moment's respite.  And, Mini Muffin decided that it wasn't a good day for a nap so her mood was precarious throughout the afternoon.  To her credit though, she got up and read quietly in her bed for an hour without any prompting from me when it was her nap time.  Don't get me wrong, we had lots of fun; stickers, playing outside, puzzles, errands and so on, but I just didn't seem to have a moment to spare. 

As dinnertime approached, I was getting pretty desperate for enough time to empty and reload the dishwasher, and to make some special banana pancakes for the kid's supper.  The solution?  Set Little Smiling Man up in his highchair with lots of Little People toys to keep him occupied, and set up craft time for Mini Muffin.  Just giving her paper and scissors, or paper and crayons will keep her busy for a few minutes, but for a good chunk of time I've learned that we need an actual craft.  Wracking my brains for something that would be fun for her and easy for me to set up, I came up with an old 'un but a good 'un.  Potato stamp art!  Memories of preschool craft time anyone?

Ready to go...

Within five minutes she was busy stamping away; all we needed was a potato, some small cookie cutters, paint and paper... and a smock of course!  She had a great time dipping the potatoes in different combinations of paint colours, stamping them and adding some finger painting into the works.  It was a great sensory activity, and let her work on some new painting skills as she experimented with painting her stamps versus dipping them. 

Artist at work!

Before she announced she was done, I was able to achieve my goals - dishwasher emptied and reloaded, kitchen (sort of) straightened, and special banana pancakes well on their way.  Thankfully as we finished up washing Mini Muffin's hands, hubby got home from work so he was able to tidy up the paints and heated our supper of leftovers, while I got the kids sorted for dinner.  With a great sigh of relief, we all sat down to eat together!

Mini Muffin's Masterpiece!

This is definitely an easy and fun craft we'll be going back to in the future.  I'd say it's a timeless classic for a reason - it's simple, fun, allows for lots of creativity and is different every time!