A Z Potato Activity Package - 26 Complete and Comprehensive activities that cover all things

A to Z
 Potato
 Activity
 Package
 26 Complete and
Comprehensive activities
 that cover all things
 potato.

AMAZING
 Anagrams
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters
of a different word or phrase. See if you can match the words on
the left (our potato and farming words) with the words on the right.

vegetable ivy tear
climate rent lap
variety arc trot
fertile dock pad
acre ref ram
tractor origin rita
spud earth revs
harvester fire let
crop bevel gate
agriculture pat too
potato corp
irrigation puds
paddock ice malt
planter cruel guitar
farmer care

 B

BINGO
 Bonanza
 There are so many foods and meals that contain potatoes! Play a
 game of BINGO to see if you can identify them all.

 Some of them you may be familiar with, some you may never have heard of
 before! You will need to photocopy the following sheets, so everyone has their
 own. You may even feel inspired to cook one of these after playing.

 YOU WILL NEED:
 Bingo Cards, food item words, container

 HOW TO PLAY:
1 Photocopy the Bingo cards for players (next page)
2 Photocopy the bingo potato food items (below) and cut up. When cut up, place
 in a container that you can pull them out from.
3 Pull out a food item word one at a time, reading the word out loud. Each player
 needs to find the word on their card and mark it. Pull out all the food items
 until a player fills in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) and calls out
 ‘Bingo!’

 Food List Items

 soup Potato skin burgers Potato bake

 pizza smashed Roast potato

 hasselbacks latkes croquettes

 fritter casserole Loaded

 Hot chips Hash brown Potato chips

 salad mash Wedges

 Omelette Stuffed spuds Frits

 gratin galette Gnocchi

 Potato skins

BINGO
 Bonanza

 pizza Salad Frits hasselbacks Hot chips Bingo!
Potato chips Galette Smashed Omelette Stuffed spuds

 Latkes Roast potato Potato bake Soup Casserole

 Fritter Potato skins Loaded Gratin Mash

Potato skin Hash browns Croquettes Wedges Gnocchi
 burgers

Bingo!
 Potato bake Fritter Wedges Salad Roast potato

 Loaded Stuffed spuds Gnocchi Smashed Pizza

 Hash Brown Mash Hot chips Galette Omelette

 B Gratin Frits Casserole Potato skins Potato chips

 Soup Croquettes Potato skin Hasselbacks Latkes
 burgers

BINGO
 Bonanza

 Soup Pizza Smashed Roast potato Hash brown

Bingo! Hot chips Potato chips Salad Mash Hasselbacks

 Omelette Wedges Frits Stuffed spuds Gratin

 Fritter Casserole Latkes Croquettes Loaded

 Galette Gnocchi Potato skins Potato skin Potato bake
 burgers

 Bingo!
Roast potato Mash Fritter Soup Gnocchi

Hash potato Potato bake Pizza Salad Frits

 Hot chips Hasselbacks Stuffed spuds Potato chips Smashed

 Casserole Wedges Galette Latkes Omelette

 Gratin Potato skins Loaded Potato skin Croquettes
 burgers

CRACK THE
 Code
 Use the key to decode each of the words which will reveal a fun fact
 about the humble potato!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

20 8 5 23 15 18 4

16 15 20 1 20 15

3 15 13 5 19 6 18 15 13

20 8 5 19 16 1 14 9 19 8

23 15 18 4 16 1 20 1 20

POTATO FARM
 Diorama
A diorama is model that represents a scene. It is a great craft
project to do on your own with someone else. This one will
represent a potato farm, so you will need to make sure the
following items are in your diorama to make sure the farm works
properly!

YOU WILL NEED:
A cardboard box (a shoebox is perfect), different types and colours of papers,
pop sticks, matchsticks, cotton balls, different coloured paints, small farm
toys if you have them.

OBJECTS TO REPRESENT ON YOUR FARM:
shed, house, hay bales, potato crop, potato bins, tractor, harvester, people,
fences, cows

Some useful websites provide some great ideas and resources to help make
your diorama. Once you have completed your diorama, please send it to us so
we can admire them!

https://www.thenaturalhomeschool.com/make-a-farm-diorama-printable-sets-included.html

http://theinfiniteyums.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diorama

 Infographic vector created by macrovector - www.freepik.com

Everyone
 Loves Potatoes

 Everyone loves potatoes, but do we all like the EXACTLY the same
 way? I really do not like mashed potatoes, but I LOVE hot chips – I
 wonder what is everyone’s most favourite way to eat them? Let’s
 make a survey to find out.

 Ask a selection of people what their most favourite way is to eat potatoes and
 record it in a tally chart below (the first one I have put in as an example);

 Way to Eat Tally Total

 Roasted III 3

1 What is the most popular way to eat potatoes?

2 What is the least popular way to eat potatoes?

3 Why do you think this is?

FARM
 Fun
Farms are full of lots of things to see and everything there helps in
the running of the farm. Using the map below, answer the questions
on the following page to find your way around the farm. I hope you
know your directions!

 N
 W E
 S

FARM
 Fun
1 Is the dam north or south of the chook pen?

2 If I walked from the gate to the hay bales, in
 which direction would I be walking?

3 List all the items that are south of the dam

4 Name two things that are west of the hay bales

5 Are the water tanks south or north of the house?

6 In what direction does the fence run?

7 In what direction is the shed from the house?

8 In which two direction are there crops from the hay bales?

9 Write down the directions you would give someone if you were directing them
 from the shed to the hay bales. You may want to use words like; straight,
 around, left, right.

Grow
 Your own potatoes

 Potatoes can be grown in most parts of Australia; you just have to
 get your timing right! Spuds can be grown all year round in areas
 without heavy frosts, but as the weather gets hotter, pests and dis-
 eases can start to appear.

 Seed potatoes (or tubers as they are known) are the ones that are planted.
 Each seed needs to have one or two eyes (the eyes of a potato are the little
 indents or pits you see on their skin) on each piece. If you have some potatoes
 growing eyes at home – these are ready to be planted! If you do not have any
 sprouting at home, just put aside one or two potatoes in a cool, dry place and
 watch them sprout.

 YOU WILL NEED:
 Vegie patch (or even a bucket will do if you do not have a vegie patch), seed potatoes, soil,
 fertiliser, water,

1 In your vegie patch, prepare the soil, making sure it is well drained (perhaps add a layer of
 gravel to the bottom) and add a fertiliser BEFORE planting the seeds.

2 Very gently, push the seed into the soil with the
 sprouts/shoots pointing up. Add some soil over the top
 to cover the potatoes. Your crop will need to be watered
 well, especially during hot weather.

3 The potato plants will soon sprout green leaves above
 the ground, this means your potatoes are growing be-
 low the ground – woo hoo!

4 When the leaves and flowers of the plant die – your
 potatoes are ready for digging!

5 Remember to keep some of the potatoes to use as seeds again.

Hot
 Potato

 (Game for the whole family)

 YOU WILL NEED
 One large potato (well washed preferably), music, people standing or sitting in
 a circle, one person controlling the music who is NOT part of the circle

 HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

1 Everyone is standing /sitting in a circle (in can be whatever size you wish)

2 The youngest person in the group starts – they are holding the potato as the
 music starts.

3 Starting clockwise, the potato is passed around the circle.

4 When the music STOPS, the person holding the potato is out.

5 The music starts again, and the game continues until there is only one person
 left in the game – WINNER!

6 The person controlling the music MUST NOT be able to see the passing of the
 ‘hot potato’

Investigation
 The Numbers

How good are your mathematics skills – especially when it comes
to potatoes? Let’s put it to the test!

YOU WILL NEED:
a set of kitchen scales, one potato (choose the biggest one you can find from
the pantry), measuring tape or ruler.

DIRECTIONS:
Have a good look at your potato, hold it in one hand, look at the length and
then complete the following. REMEMBER you need to estimate your answers
first!

 Draw your potato here

 I think my potato is __________________________________ cms long

 I think my potato is ___________________________________ gms heavy

 My potato has _______________________ eyes

 NOW, you can use the scales and ruler

 I KNOW my potato is ___________________________ cms long

 I KNOW my potato is ___________________________ gms heavy

 HOW accurate were you?

JUST
 Joking
 Everyone loves a good joke, right? Read these following
 jokes and rate them between 1 – 3 as to how funny you think
 they are. 1 is not funny at all, 2 is funny like a dad joke and 3
 is laugh out loud. joke is
 Circle how funny the
 Q: Why do potatoes make good detectives?
 1 2 3
 A: Because they keep their eyes peeled.

 Q: Why did the potato cross the road?
 1 2 3
 A: He saw a fork up ahead.

 Q: Why shouldn't you tell a secret on a farm?
 1 2 3
 A: The potatoes have eyes, the corn has ears, and the beans stalk.

 Q: Why did the potato sit down?
 1 2 3
 A: Because he was a "couch potato"

 Q: What do you call a monkey that sells potato chips?
 1 2 3
 A: A Chipmunk

 Q: What does a British potato say about a sunny day?
 1 2 3
 A: It's mashing!

 Q: What do you call a baby potato?
 1 2 3
 A: A small fry

 Q: What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo?
 1 2 3
 A: A pouch potato.

 Q: What do you call a potato after it's been sliced?
 1 2 3
 A: Chip.

source: www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/foodjokes/potatojokes.html

Kitchen
 Capers

Who loves to cook? Who loves to eat? What are some of your favourite potato
recipes? I have too many to choose my favourite, so I have just listed some
of them. You may want to make one you are familiar with, or you may want to
challenge yourself with something different. If you make any of the following,
please send in pics to us so we can drool over your lovely food. You will find
lots more ideas on our website https://www.todatoes.com.au/potato-recipes/

 Potato Salad Potato Bake Hasselback Potatoes

 Gnocchi Stuffed Spuds Roast Potatoes

 Wedges Hash Browns Potato Mash

Label
 THAT Plant

Potatoes are vegetables and they are important part of the world’s
diet. They are relatively easy to grow, provided they have all the
right elements of soil, sun and water. The plants are usually pol-
linated by insects such as bumblebees and that is why they have
flowers. I wonder if you know the other parts of a potato plant.

The parts of a potato are fairly easy to identify BUT what if we gave them
different names? Would people know what we were talking about? What is we
were to change the names to something a bit tricker? Let’s give it a go!

 Flowers are now called

 Stem is now called

 Leaves are now called

 Roots are now called

 Potatoes are now called

Masher
 Art

Potato mashers aren’t just for mashing potatoes!
They make a great tool to use when creating some
wonderful artwork. Make sure you check with
Mum before you start using the masher as she
may want to use it for dinner tonight!

YOU WILL NEED:
A potato masher
Different coloured paints.
A flat work surface that has newspaper covering it to catch any splashes!
Sponges to put the paint on.
Your imagination!

The following images below provide some great ideas of how to use your
masher to make lots of different animals.

These ideas and more can be found at
https://happytoddlerplaytime.com

What’s in a
 Name?
There are 100s of varieties of potatoes, and there are some with
some very unique names. See if you can match the following
potatoes with their country of origin – some are more obvious than
others!

Strobrawa Canada
Amandine United Kingdom
Black Champion Australia
Red Pontiac Poland
Laura Germany
Agata Netherlands
Pink eye Sweden
Home Guard Ireland
Anya United States
Dejima France
Kipfler Austria
Almond Scotland
Red Gold Japan

OH
 Oobleck!
Oobleck is a substance that acts both like a liquid and a solid. It is
like the sand at the beach, you can crush it up to make it crumble or
you can mould it together. Usually made with corn starch, you can
also use potato starch instead!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 cups of potato starch
1 cup of water
Large container
Food Colouring (1-2 drops)

Mix all ingredients together – and that is it! Have fun!

Potato
 Stamping

 Want a quick and easy way to make home-made wrapping paper?
 All you need is some large sheets of white paper, paints, brushes
 and some potatoes!

 YOU WILL NEED:
 Large potatoes, knife, variety of paint colours, cookie or scone cutters, paper
 towel, flat surface covered in newspaper in case of any spillages!

 DIRECTIONS:
1 Cut the potato in half lengthways

2 Push the cookie/scone cutter through the flat (white) side of the potato

3 Holding the potato flat on the surface, break or cut away the extra potato bits
 so the cutter shape ‘stands out’

4 Dry the cutter shape of the potato

5 Cover the cutter shape on the potato with paint using a paint brush (be careful
 not to put too much on).

6 Press the potato onto the paper firmly. You may need to hold the paper down
 with your free hand to make sure the stamp comes away cleanly.

7 Continue on to cover the whole paper, reapplying paint when necessary.

8 When you want to change colours, wipe the remaining paint off the potato and
 reapply with a different colour.

9 Throw potato away when finished and leave paper to dry.

Quick
 Draw

How hard is it draw a potato? It is actually trickier than you think
because potatoes are not perfectly round or smooth. They have
lumps, bumps, ridges and eyes.

The following youtube clip will guide you through (very easily) how to draw
potatoes that actually look like the real thing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfn43qDkMbE

Once you have drawn, experiment with different colours, shapes and shades to
see how many different varieties you can represent.

Don’t forget to send us your drawings – we would love to see them!

Rebus
 Story

A rebus story is one where some words are represented by a
symbol or picture. Can you work out the following rebus story,
where you will find out information about a very famous toy!

Did you know that the original Mr. Head was missing a head.

An American called George Lerner came up with the idea of a toy that children could design

themselves. He sold the toy as a set of plastic body parts - noses, , mouths,

and accessories such as hats, and a pipe. Children could then decorate

a potato (or any vegetable actually).

Originally Lerner sold his idea to a company who would put the plastic

parts in the cereal box as prizes.

Hasbro Company really liked the idea of the toy with plastic parts and so paid the

company to production. They then paid Lerner 500 in advance

and percent royalties for every set sold.

In 1953, Mr Head got a family! Mrs Potato Head, their children Yam and Spud, and the

children’s friends Kate the and Oscar the Orange.

Soon the whole family also had a and a boat!

SPUDS AND
 Straws
 Air pressure is a powerful force. The following experiment is a
 great example of how we can use this pressure to place force on an
 object.

 YOU WILL NEED:
 potato, plastic straw (MUST be plastic, paper does not work as well!)

 DIRECTIONS:
1 Hold the straw WITHOUT blocking the hole at the top.

2 Push the straw into the potato. Are you able to push the straw in? Probably
 not!

3 NOW try that again, BUT this time, put your thumb over the top hole of the
 straw so you are blocking it.

4 Are you able to push the straw in now? Congratulations!!

 BUT HOW?
 When you placed your thumb over the hole at the top of the straw, you trapped
 the air that was already in inside the straw. This trapped air provided enough
 pressure for you to then force the straw into the potato.

TWO
 Together
Some things just naturally go together…like fish and chips! See if
you can think of the matching partner for the following items.

Chips (you can’t say fish as this was the above example!)
Spaghetti and
Shoes and
Knife and
Sweet and
Needle and
Pencil and
Song and
Pins and
Mashed potatoes and
Bacon and
Soap and
Back and
Salt and

Untrue
 OR Not?

Potatoes are quite fascinating when you learn all the weird and
wonderful things about them. See if you identify the following facts
as true or false.

Fun Fact True OR False?

The word potato comes from the Spanish word patata. T / F

The sweet potato is NOT a direct relative of the potato family. T / F

Potatoes contain a lot of starch . T / F

Potatoes are 80% water. T / F

Potatoes are part of the nightshade family, alongside tomatoes T / F
and eggplants.

In order to popularize potatoes in Switzerland Antoine-Augustin T / F
Parmentier placed armed guards around his potato fields,
instructing the guards to accept all bribes and allow people to
“steal” the crop.

The Great Potato Famine occurred in Australia. T / F

The “French fry” was allegedly served in the U.S. for the first time T / F
by Thomas Jefferson at a presidential dinner.

There is a potato variety called ‘Russian Banana”. T / F

A potato has more chromosomes than a human being. T / F

The potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. T / F

Potatoes can be grown in a bucket of salty water. T / F

VANISHING
 Vowels
There are thousands of varieties of potatoes in the world. Some of
them are listed below, however the vowels have been removed to
work out how many you know. Have a go by yourself before you ask
others to help ‘fill in the blanks!”

 1 C __ r __ s m __

 2 R __ y __ l B l __ __

 3 L __ __ r __

 4 N __ d __ n __

 5 W h __ t __ S t __ r

 6 K __ p f l __ r

 7 P __ r p l __ D __ l __ g h t

 8 R __ d __ __

 9 M __ l __ n

 10 D __ t c h C r __ __ m B

Word
 Search

 Where’s the Potato?
O V T V H B S T E Y V P L A N T E R W F
V A H Q E S C P W Q W C A J C J U A Z Z
I R Z T C H F D R Y U F P F A R M M Z R
L I B H T V V A M X N I E O C I O F J B
S E H H A H E J R O G K P R T I Q P G F
E T T I R L J G U M L M C M T A A C R E
E Y R V E H L D E U E W I K E I T Y Q M
D J A G X A H P T T H R S F W N L O V R
X A C B J R J W A T A P L Z W B T E E M
C P T G U V A K T G O B G W T T N I L S
C A O K I E D J L Z R J L B L Z P M C L
S D R H Q S S P B C Z I S E U M V H U D
S D W P N T R O S H E D C S A D R V Q Y
P O Y I C E K T B I H I G U V S D J P T
U C R P T R Q A P P S R G S L N L A N D
D K G E E M Z T E S X N K Z J T T X E A
N H R S M R R O K C L I M A T E U W P G
L A M F I R R I G A T I O N Y H B R S R

agriculture potatoes chips
equipment tractor spud
 climate hectare farmer
 potato pipes harvester
 seed farm variety
 land vegetable planter
 acre paddock mash
 irrigation fertile shed
 crop

Extra
 Y and Z

Here is a little EXTRA activity to finish off with.

YOU WILL NEED:
Supermarket catalogue, scissors, glue

DIRECTIONS:
Read the task inside each box. Using your catalogue, find what the task has
asked you to do. Cut out that picture from the catalogue and glue inside the
box.

 Find some potatoes in the catalogue. Find a green food that would go well
 with potatoes.

 Find a food that costs more than the Find a food that you can keep in the
 potatoes. pantry
 (where you keep your potatoes).

 Find a food that is grown as a crop, like Find a food that is made of potatoes OR
 potatoes. has potatoes as one of its ingredients.

 Find a product grows from seed, like a Find a product that would help you cook
 potato. or prepare food.

Answers
AMAZING ANAGRAMS NAMES

vegetable bevel gate Strobrawa Poland
climate ice malt Amandine France
variety ivy tear Black Champion Ireland
fertile fire let Red Pontiac USA
acre care Laura Austria
tractor arc trot Agata Netherlands
spud puds Pink Eye Australia
Harvester earth revs Home Guard UK
crop corp Anya Scotland
agriculture cruel guitar Dejima Japan
potato Pat too Kipfler Germany
irrigation origin rita Almond Sweden
paddock dock pad Red Gold Canada
planter rent lao
farmer ref ram

CRACK THE CODE REBUS

Hidden Fun Fact: The word potato comes from the Potato, eyes, glasses, cereal/breakfast, cereal/break-
Spanish word for patata. fast, stop, dollars, five, carrot, car

FARM FUN TWO TOGETHER

1. North. The following are the more ‘obvious’ answers. Feel
2. North. free to discuss with your family other possibilities!
3. Chook Pen, fence, gate, house, shed (you could also
have crops as part of them are south of the dam) chips salt
4. Dam, water tanks, crops, house, shed, chook pen, spaghetti Mince/meatballs
fence knife fork
5. North sweet sour
6. West – East needle Thread/pins
7. West pencil paper
8. West and South Song Dance / music
9. There are a number of turns you could take but the pins Needle
important element is that you would be heading East. Mashed potato gravy
 bacon eggs
 soap Water
 back Front
 salt Pepper/vinegar

Answers
UNTRUE/TRUE? WORD SEARCH

1. True
2. True
3. False – potatoes contain NO starch
4. True
5. True
6. False – he did it in France
7. False – it occurred in Ireland
8. True
9. True
10. True
11. True
12. False – they need soil and not salt.

VANISHING VOWELS

 agriculture vegetable
1. Charisma
 equipment paddock
2. Royal Blue
3. Laure climate fertile
4. Nadine potato chips
5. White Star
 seed spud
6. Kipfler
7. Purple Delight land farmer
8. Rodeo acre harvester
9. Malin
 irrigation variety
10. Dutch Cream
 potatoes planter
 tractor mash
 hectare shed
 pipes crop
 farm