This art project for kids is uses minimal materials and is a fun way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!
Did you ever use potatoes to printmake as a child?
Printmaking with potatoes is a classic children’s art activity. It not only introduces the art technique of printmaking to little ones, but the concept of pressure as well.
Potato prints would be a great art project to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or segway into discussing the famous Potato Famine.
Here’s how you can do it at home.
Supplies:
- Cutting board
- Knife*
- Potato
- Fork (optional, but highly recommended)
- Washable paint in 2-3 colors
- Paper plate or plastic lid for each color of paint
- Sheet of paper
- Placemat (optional, but highly recommended)
*As with all projects posted on my blog, this project should be done under the supervision of a trusted adult
Directions:
- Use the knife to carefully cut your potato in half.
- Flip your potatoes so that the skin-side is facing you. Stick a fork into each potato half.
- Squeeze a dollop of paint onto each plate/lid.
- Set a potato half on each plate/lid and coat the interior-side of the potato with paint.
- Stamp a potato down onto your sheet of paper. The fork helps reduce mess when printing, but if there is any trouble getting your potato to print evenly just use your fingers to apply additional pressure.
- Reapply paint to your piece of potato and continue printing onto your sheet of paper to fill the space as desired. When printing potatoes, you can create a pattern for added interest.
Looking for another art project that uses food in the printmaking process? Check out this Georgia O’Keeffe inspired printmaking project that uses apples.
Needing another art activity to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Check out this blog post on making Nature Shamrocks.
Happy creating, friends!
