Object inquiry skills
Toddlers put together basic parts of a Potato Head toy.
Be Prepared: For each toddler, provide basic parts of a Mr. and/ or Mrs. Potato Head toy: head, feet, arms, mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. (Other parts are offered in Option 2.) Place unassembled parts of one toy on a place mat at a low table for each toddler. Put together the basic parts of one Potato Head toy for your use during the activity. Place your toy on a place mat you use during the activity.
[Invite 2–4 toddlers to play with a Potato Head toy.]
Our toy is like a puzzle. We can put the parts together and make our toy look like a potato person. Look at my Potato Head toy. There are different ways to use the parts of our toy. This is how I put together the parts.
[Draw attention to your assembled toy.]
Let’s look at the parts of our Potato Head toy. Each of us has the head of our toy.
[Encourage toddlers to hold up or point to the head part of their toy. Continue this process for each toy part on a place mat. Invite toddlers to say the name of the part. Example: Point to an arm on your assembled toy, ask toddlers the name of this part, and invite toddlers to hold up or point to an arm part for their toy. Emphasize that there are two arms.
Demonstrate and describe how a part can be put on the Potato Head. Draw attention to the holes where a part can be affixed. Encourage toddlers to feel a hole on their toy.]
Let’s put the feet on our Potato Head. The feet go on the bottom of our toy head. The feet help the rest of the toy to stand up.
[Lead toddlers in putting feet on their toy head. Provide verbal support or hands-on assistance as appropriate.]
The face is on the top of our Potato Head. What parts should we put on Potato Head’s face?
[Point to the location of the toy’s face. Encourage toddlers to affix mouth, eyes, nose, and ears in any order each toddler prefers. Again, provide verbal or hands-on assistance as appropriate, ensuring each toddler is in charge of putting together his/her toy.]
What parts do we have left on our place mat? (arms) Where do arms go on our Potato Head toy?
[Provide support for affixing arms as appropriate. Encourage toddlers to place arms facing any direction they wish on the side of the toy.
Acknowledge both verbal and nonverbal communication, such as a toddler holding the potato figure toward you. Example: “You are showing me your potato man with a red nose.”]
Each of us put together a Potato Head toy. What parts did we put on our toy?
[Lead toddlers in pointing to and saying the name of each part.]
Fit-together toys offer useful ways for toddlers to explore characteristics of objects and solve problems about how they can go together. Fit-together toys also promote fine motor skills. The most recent ELM Curriculum activity with a fit-together material is Block 21. The toy used in the current activity offers unique challenges compared to objects featured in prior activities. The Potato Head toy is akin to a three-dimensional puzzle. In addition to providing practice in connecting toy parts, the activity helps toddlers identify and name body parts.
Some toddlers who are familiar with a Potato Head toy may promptly begin attaching parts and have little or no interest in discussing body parts as suggested in the opening segment of the activity. If this occurs, consider focusing your initial attention on toddlers in the gathering who may benefit from naming and exploring the toy’s parts, including how to attach them to the head.
Look for opportunities to emphasize the position of various body parts as you describe toddlers’ efforts. Example: As toddlers are affixing eyes, nose, and ears, comment on how eyes go above the nose. The mouth is below the nose.
You may see some toddlers put feet and eyes on the potato shape and believe the toy is complete. Give each toddler support for their existing interest and skills. If a toddler puts a few parts in the holes and moves to another area, offer the activity again at a later point in a one-to-one arrangement.
Extra support
Enrichment
Object inquiry skills
Toddlers put together basic and accessory parts of a Potato Head toy.
Be Prepared: This activity is for toddlers who readily put together a Potato Head toy in Option 1 or a similar activity. For each toddler, provide basic parts of a Mr. and/or Mrs. Potato Head as offered in Option 1 plus a separate group of accessories, such as glasses, hat, and similar items. You also may wish to provide a mustache and different types of mouths. Place unassembled parts of one toy on each toddler’s place mat in two separate groups: basic and accessory. Use a low table. Put together the basic parts of one Potato Head toy for your use during the activity. Put accessories for your toy in a separate group on your place mat. Place your assembled toy on a place mat you use during the activity.
Invite 2–4 toddlers to play with a Potato Head toy at a low table. Explain that each toddler has two groups of parts on their place mat. Invite toddlers to put together their Potato Head toy as they wish, using items in the collection of basic parts on their place mat. Use Option 1 strategies, such as naming body parts, as appropriate. As toddlers put together their toy, comment on the relative position of various parts, such as a mouth goes below the nose and the eyes go above the nose.
After toddlers have attached basic parts to their toy, draw attention to the second collection of parts on their place mat. Provide an orientation to the additional parts by encouraging toddlers to name each accessory part and tell where the part would go on their toy.
While toddlers are attaching accessory parts to their toy, ask if their Potato Head person is getting ready to go somewhere. Some toddlers may have ideas, such as “He is going to get food” or “Mr. Potato is going to play at the park.” Talk with toddlers about their ideas. Consider prompting toddlers to incorporate reasons for certain accessories, such as a hat or glasses, into their plans for the Potato Head toy’s outing.
A toddler may not affix all basic parts to his/her toy. Acknowledge an unused part(s) by emphasizing its function on a body. Example: “I see that you did not put ears on your Potato Head. How will your Potato Head hear things?” Accept a toddler’s decision about what to affix to his/her Potato Head toy. A toddler also may opt to not use all accessory items.
If a toddler reverses the order of features or purposely places parts in the “wrong” place, it may be an expression of toddler humor. Once a toddler has mastered appropriate locations of parts on the figure, he/she may find it humorous to mix up the parts.
Some toddlers may enjoy talking further with you about what their figure is going to do.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: fit-together toys
Rotate manipulative materials so toddlers may practice putting together and taking apart different types of toys. Offer some materials on a low surface and other materials on the floor. Reflect on toddlers’ interests and skills to provide two choices of materials each day. Example: Some toddlers may enjoy star builders, whereas others are interested in bristle blocks.
Materials Needed: manipulative objects to take apart, scarf, box, container with top, knob puzzles, Duplo® blocks, magnetic tiles
Add to the Interest Area materials some items that are likely to be of interest to preschool-age children, such as magnetic tiles, building shapes, and manipulative materials that are smaller and more complex than items appropriate for toddlers. Both toddlers and younger preschool-age children may enjoy knob puzzles and Duplo blocks.
Infants may enjoy pulling a scarf through a hole in a box or taking the top off a clear container to get ahold of a toy. Encourage mobile infants to pull infant snap-lock beads apart as you put them back together.
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