Make World Book Day potato characters

4 potatoes painted and decorated to resemble children's book characters for World Book Day

 

We’ve noticed a growing trend in recent years for schools to favour a book-inspired craft project over the more traditional dressing up for World Book Day.

We’ll hold our hands up and say “we love creating World Book Day costumes” but know that it can be stressful for busy parents to come up with something, especially for more than one child.

So giving all children the opportunity to create their favourite book character from the same simple starting point – a lumpy potato – can be an excellent idea.

We had a lot of fun creating these potato characters for World Book Day last year and hope they might serve as inspiration for any families setting out to make one this year too.

How to make potato characters for World Book Day

The method is simple but you will need to set aside a bit of time to allow for drying.

  1. Start by making a plan. Perhaps your child would like to draw their potato character on a piece of paper first?
  2. Then create a base colour for the character's face using paint. Leave it to dry.
  3. Use more paint or pens, glue, paper and other craft materials to add all the details to the character. Be sure to leave any glue to dry before moving it.

Our favourite book characters in potato form

A potato decorated as The Christmasaurus next to the book The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher
A potato decorated as The Umbrella Mouse next to the book The Umbrella Mouse
A potato decorated to resemble Claude the dog, next to the book Claude on the Slopes
A potato decorated to resemble Mr Gum, in front of the book Mr Gum

 

We’d love to see your final potato characters – why not share them with us on social media using #parrotstreetlife?

For more World Book Day activity ideas you may like to check out 6 fun World Book Day activities to enjoy at home or school or our Guide to ideas for World Book Day costumes and activities.


JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST

Children's book news straight to your inbox

Sign-up now